Vishneva is a township in Valozhyn Raion

Valozhyn Raion

Valozhyn Raion is a second-level administrative subdivision of Belarus in the Minsk Region....

, Minsk Voblast, Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, near the border with Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

.

History

In 1921-39 the town was part of the Second Polish Republic

Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...

 as part of Nowogródek Voivodeship

Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919-1939)

Nowogródek Voivodeship was a unit of administrative division of the Second Polish Republic between 1919 and 1939, with the capital in Nowogródek . Following German and Soviet Invasion of Poland of September 1939, Poland's borders were redrawn in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact...

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The population of Vishneva in 1907 numbered 2,650, of which 1,863 were Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

. However, the entire Jewish population has since disappeared. Most were exterminated by the Nazis during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

On August 30, 1942 some 1,100 Jews from the town were killed by the SS, the remaining Jews were taken to the Ghetto

Ghetto

A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...

 in the nearby town of Valozhyn. A Jewish cemetery remains in the town. The survivors have emigrated.

Notable residents

The city was the birthplace of Shimon Peres

Shimon Peres

GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...

, the current president of the State of Israel (emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine with his family in 1934), and Nahum Goldman, founder and longtime president of the World Jewish Congress

World Jewish Congress

The World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...

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External links

• http://www.vishnive.org/e_index.html
• http://www.radzima.org/pub/miesta.php?lang=en&miesta_id1=mevavisz