The Minsk ghetto was established in July 1941 shortly after German forces occupied the city. These personal histories describe the experiences of Jewish men, women, and children who were forced into the Minsk ghetto.
Berta Rivkina
Berta was the youngest of three girls born to a Jewish family in Minsk, the capital of Belorussia. Before World War II, more than a third of the city was Jewish. Berta's father worked in a state-owned factory building furniture, an occupation in which several of his relatives also made a living.
1933-39: Berta and her family lived on Novomesnitskaya Street in central Minsk, only a few blocks from the Svisloch River. Her older sister, Dora, loved to swim there in the summer. By the time Berta was in the fourth grade, there were many Polish refugees in our city. Germany and the USSR had divided Poland, and Poles were fleeing eastward. Many stayed in Minsk because it was still close to "home," being only about 20 miles from the Polish-Soviet border.
1940-44: Berta was 12 when the Germans reached Minsk in 1941 and set up a ghetto. A year later, trying to escape a roundup, Berta and her mother hid in a warehouse. When they were discovered by a German guard, Berta was so scared that she began talking gibberish and started to run--the guard followed her. As she fled she slammed into another woman who appeared out of nowhere. Just then the guard fired his gun. They both fell and Berta was sure she had been hit. But she stood up and found that she wasn't wounded. The other woman lay motionless.
Berta was taken to be executed but managed to get away. Later, she escaped from the ghetto and joined the Soviet partisans. She was liberated by the Red Army in July 1944.
Item ViewIosif Rivkin
Iosif was born to a Jewish family in the Belorussian capital of Minsk. He fought with the Tsarist troops in World War I and was taken prisoner by the Germans. When he returned to Minsk after the war, he began working in a state-owned factory building furniture, an occupation in which a number of his relatives also made a living.
1933-39: By the early 1930s, Iosif was married and had three daughters, Hacia, Dora and Berta. The family lived on Novomesnitskaya Street in central Minsk, near the Svisloch River. Throughout the 1930s, the girls attended Soviet state schools and were involved with the Soviet youth organization the Young Pioneers. By the late 1930s Minsk was filled with Polish refugees fleeing the German invasion.
1940-43: On June 27, 1941, the invading Germans reached Minsk. The Rivkins' home was bombed the next day, and they were forced into the street. They slept by the river with numerous other refugees, until German guards threatened to shoot them all. German posters in Minsk declared that the Nazis had come to liberate the Soviet Union from Communism and the Jews. In August the Germans set up a ghetto, where Iosif was put to work as a carpenter. When the ghetto was liquidated in October 1943, Iosif and his family were deported.
Iosif's daughter, Berta, escaped from the ghetto before it was liquidated. Iosif and the rest of his family were never heard from again.
Item ViewDora Rivkina
Dora was the second of three girls born to a Jewish family in Minsk, the capital of Belorussia. Before World War II, more than a third of the city was Jewish. Dora and her family lived on Novomesnitskaya Street in central Minsk. Dora's father worked in a state-owned factory building furniture.
1933-39: As a young girl, Dora was athletic and excelled at swimming and dancing. When she was in the second grade, she was chosen to dance the lead part in a New Year's performance. She was also a member of the Young Pioneers, a Soviet youth organization that held lectures on Soviet history, and also organized camping trips.
1940-43: The invading Germans reached Minsk in 1941 and Dora's family was ordered into the Minsk ghetto. In 1943, when the ghetto was emptied, 19-year-old Dora escaped from a transport and joined the partisans but the Germans soon captured her band. When the guards ordered them to identify any Jews, everyone remained silent at first. But after a guard threatened to shoot them all if they didn't speak, a woman pointed at Dora. The Germans bound Dora's hands, tied a rock around her neck, threw her in a river and shot her.
Some young girls who were in the partisan band later related the story of Dora's death to her sister, Berta, the only surviving member of Dora's family.
Item ViewHacia Rivkina
Hacia was the oldest of three girls born to a Jewish family in Minsk, the capital of Belorussia. Before World War II, more than a third of the city was Jewish. Hacia's father worked in a state-owned factory building furniture, an occupation in which several of his relatives also made a living. Hacia attended Soviet public schools throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s.
1933-39: The Rivkins' home was in central Minsk, on Novomesnitskaya Street. Hacia was a talented singer and was known as being the best singer in her neighborhood. As a young girl she was a member of the Soviet youth organization, Young Pioneers. By the late 1930s Minsk was filled with Polish refugees fleeing the German invasion.
1940-43: The invading Germans reached Minsk on June 27, 1941. Hacia's house was bombed the next day, and the family lived on the street until forced into the Minsk ghetto that August. On November 7, the anniversary of the Russian Revolution, Hacia and her family hid in their ghetto apartment during a German roundup of Jews. Leaving meant risking deportation or death. Waiting was agonizing. They were certain the Germans would come at any time. To soothe his family's nerves, Hacia's father recited stories from Jewish history.
Though they escaped deportation in 1941, Hacia's family was deported two years later. Hacia's sister Berta escaped the ghetto, but the others were never heard from again.
Item ViewArthur Menke
Arthur was born to a Jewish family in Germany's largest port city, Hamburg. His father owned a small factory that manufactured rubber stamps. In the early 1930s, Hamburg was home to the fourth largest Jewish community in Germany, which had numerous social and cultural institutions.
1933-39: By 1935 conditions for Hamburg's Jews were bad. Arthur's family was moved to another part of town and in 1938, the Nazis seized his father's business. On national holidays many German citizens unfurled red, white and black Nazi flags to show patriotism. Arthur and his sister made their own "Nazi" flag and hung it out of the window. But his parents got angry with them and reeled it back in. Arthur and his sister didn't understand why they couldn't support their own country.
1940-44: In 1941 Arthur was deported 800 miles east to Minsk ghetto in the USSR. The ghetto there was vast, with 85,000 people. He was put to work in a nearby German army base, cutting peat for fuel. The soldiers were regular army and didn't abuse the prisoners as badly as did the SS. Walking to and from our labor site, he would push the guard's bicycle for him. Food was so scarce that one day he locked Arthur in the potato cellar so he could steal potatoes for him. He let Arthur take some for himself. They smuggled them back to camp on his bike.
After two years in Minsk, Arthur was deported to various camps in Poland where he was put to work welding planes. He was liberated while on a forced march to the Dachau camp in 1945.
Item ViewElse Rosenberg
Else, born Else Herz, was one of three children born to a Jewish family in the large port city of Hamburg. Her father owned a grain import-export business. As a child, Else attended a private girls' school. In 1913 she married Fritz Rosenberg and the couple moved to Goettingen where they raised three children.
1933-39: With the onset of the Depression in the 1930s, Else's husband's linen factory went into decline. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they confiscated the Rosenberg's factory. Deprived of their livelihood, the family was then evicted from their home. They relocated to Hamburg where they relied upon financial support from relatives and whatever earnings two of the children could bring in as sales apprentices.
1940-43: In late 1941 the Rosenbergs were deported 800 miles east to the Minsk ghetto in the USSR. Else was put to work cleaning snow and ice from railway tracks at night. In July 1942, after the work brigades left the ghetto for the day, it was surrounded by SS men. Else's brigade heard gunfire from the ghetto. For three days the laborers were kept at their sites; unrest grew by the hour. When allowed to return, Else saw hundreds of corpses on the ground; miraculously, her family was still alive. Some 30,000 had been killed.
Else's son Heinz was taken to the Treblinka killing center in September 1943. Two weeks later, the ghetto was liquidated. Else and the rest of her family were not heard from again.
Item ViewFritz Alexander Rosenberg
Fritz was one of three sons born to a Jewish family in the university city of Goettingen, where the Rosenbergs had lived since the 1600s. His father owned a linen factory. Fritz worked as a salesman there, and later he and his brothers inherited the business. In 1913 Fritz married Else Herz. By the early 1920s they had two sons and a daughter.
1933-39: In 1933 the Nazis came to power in Germany. A year later the Rosenbergs' factory was seized and three Nazis came to the family's home. An officer set a gun on the table and informed Fritz that if they didn't leave in a week they and their furniture would be thrown out the window. Within a month the family moved to Hamburg. Supported by Fritz's uncle, the family remained in Hamburg until the war broke out in autumn 1939.
1940-43: In November 1941 Fritz and his family were deported to the Minsk ghetto in the USSR along with 1,000 other Jews from Hamburg. Herded by SS guards to a red brick building on arrival, the family saw bodies scattered over the ground. Before the Hamburg transport could be lodged, corpses had to be dragged from the building, and blood scrubbed from the walls. Half-eaten food was still on the tables. The prisoners there said that thousands of Soviet Jews had been killed to make room for the new transports.
The Minsk ghetto was liquidated in October 1943. Fritz was not heard from again. His son Heinz was deported in September and was the only one in his family to survive the war.
Item ViewHeinz Rosenberg
Heinz was the youngest of three children born to a Jewish family in the German university city of Goettingen. His father owned a linen factory that had been in the family since it was founded by Heinz's grandfather. Goettingen had a small Jewish population, and only one synagogue. Heinz went to public school in the city.
1933-39: In 1933 the Nazis took power in Germany. A year later Heinz's family's factory was seized. Three SA men came to their house. An officer set a gun on the table and calmly informed his father that if they did not leave in a week, "You and your furniture will be thrown out the window." Within a month they moved to Hamburg. Nazi edicts prohibited Heinz from going to school, so he worked several jobs. He was also recruited by the Nazis as a forced laborer.
1940-44: In 1941 Heinz was forced with his family to sign a paper stating that, as a Jew, he was being deported as an enemy of the state. They were told they'd be going to work in the east. Many felt that it wouldn't be so bad, and they'd return home soon. They boarded a train and after four days arrived in Minsk, Soviet Union. Leaving the train, Heinz saw guards throwing loaves of bread into open cattle cars full of Soviet POWs. As the starving men fought over the food, German guards shot at them. Heinz then realized they were never going to return.
Heinz was in the Minsk ghetto until 1943. Over the next two years he was sent to 11 Nazi camps. He was one of the few survivors of the tens of thousands in the Minsk ghetto.
Item View![German soldiers parade three young people through Minsk before their execution. [LCID: 73742]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/e648a21c-251b-4d74-9e4c-a83594bcf0b5.jpg.pagespeed.ce.fQuSWmjh3q.jpg)