In 2016, an initiative was put into motion by the history teacher at the local high school in David-Horodok, Genady Grigorievich Bosovets, a man with a special interest in the region’s Jewish history. He noticed that the route leading to the memorial at the mass grave was difficult for many visitors to find. He came up with the idea of creating a large sculptural monument that would mark the path to the mass grave and also teach about the history of the town. The sculpture was funded through the efforts of Ziv Begun z”l and The Organization of the Descendants of David-Horodok and the Surrounding Areas with the support of the David-Horodoker Organization in the United States.
The impressive memorial sculpture was essentially completed in 2020, but due to COVID, the dedication was postponed until September 20, 2023. The dedication ceremony was attended by members of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities, by a delegation of Israeli David-Horodoker descendants consisting of Alex Gizunterman, Motti Shaffer, and Sinai Zilber, and by Elena Kulevnich and students from the Minsk Hillel.
The oak and black granite sculpture, located in the town square, is inscribed with the following in English, Hebrew, and Russian: “In memory of the Jews of David-Horodok, who lived here for more than 500 years and were brutally killed by the Germans in 1941-1942.” Designed and crafted by local artist, Sergey Zhilevich, the memorial consists of a carving of a father and son on one side and a mother and daughter on the other.
An American David-Horodoker, Carla Eisenberg Schwartz, wrote an article for the Detroit Jewish News about the creation of the monument in the town square of David-Horodok, honoring the Jewish community that once thrived there. See: https://www.thejewishnews.com/community/a-sculpture-of-remembrance-and-hope/article_d804a6df-4948-5543-807e-5add6fbaabd6.html
