German embassy recovers stolen plaque commemorating Bremen Jews :: Charter'97 :: News

The German embassy in Belarus has recovered a memorial plaque to Jews killed in Minsk during World War II that was stolen from the number 13 building on Ramanawskaya Slabada Street.

The disappearance of the plaque was discovered on March 9. German Ambassador Martin Hecker offered a €1,000 reward to help recover it.

The embassy said in a statement issued on Friday that the plaque had been brought by a Belarusian man. He had reportedly asked not to be named. It was immediately unknown whether he had received the reward.

The embassy`s press office declined to comment to BelaPAN.

The plaque was put up in 1992 to commemorate some 450 Jews who were executed by the Nazis after being deported from the German city of Bremen to Belarus in 1942 and forced to live in the Minsk ghetto.

The Maskowski district police department launched a probe into the incident on March 12 at the request of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities. On Friday, it instituted criminal proceedings, according to Vasil Lizun, a senior officer at the department.

The future of the plaque is to be decided by the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities. It considers installing its copy on the number 13 building on Ramanawskaya Slabada Street and giving the original to the Historic Workshop in Minsk association.