Vishnyeva

Holocaust memorial at the site of Vishnyeva Jewish cemetery

The town was probably established in the 14th C. In 1859 it had 72 households, totalling 900 people, of which 500 were Jews. In 1897 it had a population of 2650 (including the rural neighbourhood), of which 1463 were Jews. The population of Vishnyeva in 1907 numbered 2,650, of which 1,863 were Jews. In World War II, the Vishnyeva Ghetto included 1,100 men, women, children and infants, and all were burnt alive by the Nazis and their local collaborators in the Vishnyeva synagogue on 22 September, 1942. Among those killed on that day was the grandfather of Shimon Peres, who later became President of Israel.[1] Some Jews were taken to the ghetto in the nearby town of Valozhyn and killed there. Remains of a Jewish cemetery can be located in the town. A few survivors have emigrated, to Israel as well as to other countries.

Shimon Peres (standing, third from right) with his family, ca. 1930

The small town was the place of death of Symon Budny. Four centuries later, it was the birthplace of Shimon Peres, the former President of Israel, who emigrated to Mandatory Palestine with his family in 1934,[2][3] Vishnyeva was also the birthplace of Yehoshua Rabinovitz, who served as the Finance Minister of the State of Israel and the Mayor of Tel-Aviv; of Nahum Goldman, who was the founder and president of the World Jewish Congress, and of the Dudman family, of which Yadin Dudai is an internationally renown leader in neuroscience.

• Podber, Jacob J. (19 August 2014). "Vishneva, Belarus Soviet Union Poland" (Short film). Jake Podber Productions.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vishnyeva.

• Vishnevo at KehilaLinks
• Vishneva, Belarus at JewishGen