National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus



Second birth. Reconstruction of the Belarusian State Museum Jewish Collection from the 20s and 30s of the 20th century

  • 28.12.2020

Exhibition project “Second birth. Reconstruction of the Belarusian State Museum Jewish Collection from the 20s and 30s of the 20th century” begins at the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus. The project was developed in accordance with the grant of the President of the Republic of Belarus in culture in cooperation with the Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum, the Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Belarus, the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus and the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.

On January 20, 1919 Minsk Regional Museum was founded. It was reorganized in the Belarusian State Museum on August 31, 1923. One year later, a new unique Jewish Department was opened on its site. Although the Department did not exist for long its work was successful and lasted till the end of the Great Patriotic War. What happened next – became a history…

In 2019 a number of objects were transferred from the Belarusian Great Patriotic War Museum to the collection of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus. Thanks to registration numbers that have been preserved on the objects their origin from the pre-war collection of the Belarusian State Museum was determined. Twenty-two objects referred to Jewish culture.

The Israel Museum (Jerusalem) messaged that they have an object “Kabbalistic amulet” with registration number and stamp of the Belarusian State Museum in their collection. Undoubtedly, this is an object from the collection of the Belarusian State Museum. A find induced further search, which resulted in ten more museum objects with numbers and stamps of the Belarusian State Museum were found.

Visitors can get acquainted with the results of this ‘detective’ story at the exhibition “Second birth. Reconstruction of the Belarusian State Museum Jewish Collection from the 20s and 30s of the 20th century”. The rare collection of Tases or Torah shields of 19th century, unique Aron Kodesh or Torah ark of the 18th century from Uzliany synagogue (Minsk Region), paintings of the famous Belarusian-Jewish artist Yudel Pen, graphic works by Yankel Kruger, internal documents of the Belarusian State Museum (the 20s and 30s of the 20th century) and many more interesting items are displayed at the exhibition.