Today in Minsk ESJF CEO Philip Carmel met with the Belarus Deputy Minister of Culture, Mr. Aleksandr Yatsko and officials from the Culture and Foreign Ministries to discuss practical cooperation with national and local authorities in Belarus for the national survey, currently being undertaken in collaboration with the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

We are extremely grateful to the Belarusian authorities for making key archival material and historical data available for this project, as well as facilitating cooperation on the local level with town and village councils across the country.

At the beginning of July the ESJF began its groundbreaking national survey of Jewish cemeteries in Belarus. Around 500 sites are to be visited in the coming weeks.