Brest: the unknown massacre of Jews that has just been revealed in Europe

Very slowly, cautiously, young soldiers remove from the Earth human bones buried several decades ago. There are pieces of fabric and soles of shoes with the remains.

They discover a little-known chapter of

Holocaust

in the west of Belarus. The mbad grave was discovered during the construction of a luxury apartment building.

Since then, specially trained soldiers have dug up the remains of over a thousand Jews, killed during the occupation of the city of Brest by Nazi Germany. "The skulls have bullet holes," says Kaminsky.

His military equipment usually searches for the rest of the Soviet soldiers. Here, on the other hand, they found small teenage skulls and a female skeleton with the remains of a baby, as if she had rocked him.

Thousands of executions

Before the Second World War, almost half of the 50,000 inhabitants of Brest were Jewish. More than 5,000 men were executed shortly after the German invasion of June 1941.

Those who remained were taken to the ghetto: a few blocks from the city center, surrounded by barbed wire. In October 1942, the order of elimination came.

Before the Second World War, almost half of the 50,000 inhabitants of Brest were Jewish. More than 5,000 men were executed shortly after the German invasion of June 1941

They were loaded into freight trains in which they traveled more than 100 km in a forest. In Bronnaya Gora, thousands of others were shot dead.

It is thought that the common grave recently discovered in the old ghetto contains the remains of those who managed to hide at first, then to be auctioned off.

"Nobody talked about it officially"

"When my parents came back, the city was half empty," says Mikhail Kaplan, flipping through black and white snapshots on the kitchen table.

His parents were able to escape the mbadacre because they were outside when the Germans invaded Brest. Mikhail's photographs are aunts, uncles and murdered cousins.

"My father never talked about what happened, it was too painful, but my grandmother cried all the time remembering Lizochka," she explains. taking a picture of her aunt Liza dressed for an evening with friends.

After the war, however, Mikhail said that the mbadacre of the Jews was not commemorated.

"Everyone knew what had happened, but no one officially talked about it," he says. "The Germans have deliberately destroyed us, the Soviets have simply shut themselves up."

Even now, the Holocaust Museum in Brest is a room located in a basement, organized and run by the small Jewish community that settled in the city after his release.

The exhibits include the miraculous stories of the handful of ghetto survivors who have been hiding under false floors or behind walls in their homes for months.

There is also a register of the city maintained by the Germans. On October 15, 1942, 17,893 Jews were registered in Brest. In the account of the next day, this number is crossed out.

"That's why we know how the ghetto was liquidated," says community leader Efim Basin. He suspected that workers could find bodies on the site, but never so much. "It only highlights the little knowledge we have about our history," he adds.

There is also a register of the city maintained by the Germans. On October 15, 1942, 17,893 Jews were registered in Brest. In the next day's recording, this number is crossed out

He was exploring archives over the years, trying to fix that. But the testimonies of the witnesses are limited. And the fate of the Jews in Byelorussia has always been confused with the catastrophic losses suffered under the occupation.

"The officials repeat the mantra" We will never forget! "On the dead, but the Jewish part has been silenced," recalls Efim.

"All the war memorials were dedicated to" Soviet citizens, "he said, claiming that this was partly due to anti-Semitism and partly to the emphasis placed by the government. Soviet Union on the idea of ​​a "nation".

"But it was very shocking, the Jews were not killed for resisting the Nazis, they were murdered because they were Jews."

A new monument

Walking in the city on foot, Efim points out the many traces of Jewish life.

This includes the main synagogue, with a cylindrical cinema built in the Soviet era. The original marble walls are still intact inside, too solid to be destroyed.

The Jewish cemetery, partially demolished by the Nazis, was later liquidated by the USSR. The graves were stacked and a sports stadium was built on top.

The only monument to the memory of the Holocaust in the center of the city was created by the Jewish community and the diaspora.

The Jewish cemetery, partially demolished by the Nazis, was later liquidated by the USSR. The graves were stacked and a sports stadium was built on top

So now they are pushing to build a new monument to the place where the victims were executed. Up to now, however, the proposals include planting trees in what will later be the garden of luxury apartments.

"Some people say they're building on bones, but that's not true," says Alla Kondak, from the city's culture department. "We will only interrupt the excavation work once all the remains are recovered."

These bones will be buried in the city's cemetery and Kondak does not see the need for them. "There are graves everywhere here! The Germans shot and buried people there," he says.

But it seems that few citizens are aware of the specific fate of Jews.

"We did not learn anything at school on the Brest ghetto," admit two women in their twenties. "I think nobody of our age really knows anything."

"I do not know anything about the ghetto or the mbad grave," said an elderly lady near the excavation site.

But at the end of another day of search, the soldiers leave the pit with more boxes full of bone.

With each fragment recovered from the ground, the story becomes harder to ignore.

Sarah Rainsford – © BBC News, Brest, Belarus