Vishnyeva

Vishnyeva is an agrotown in the Valozhyn District of Minsk Region, Belarus, near the border with Lithuania.

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 , 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. 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.

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