MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday visited Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center where he was shown the foundation stone of a memorial in honor of resistance fighter in Nazi camps.
Meeting him at the museum were Russia’s chief rabbi Berl Lazar, the Director of the Jewish Museum and the President of Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Alexander Boroda, and the president of the board of trustees of Renova Group of Companies, Viktor Vekselberg.
They told Putin about the future memorial.
"We’d like to invite you to attend the ceremony of unveiling the monument," Boroda said, adding that the foundation stone had been taken from a site in the Smolensk region where the Nazis had executed the Jewish population.
The groundbreaking ceremony was timed for the 75th anniversary since the rebellion of inmates the Sobibor death camp. The ceremony took place before Putin’s arrival at the museum.
Participants told Putin in detail about the monument that would be installed.
Before the laying of the foundation stone, participants in the ceremony lit six candles.
Rabbi Lazar lit the first candle, the Polish ambassador to Russia, the second candle, and the U.S. ambassador, the third one.
Next to lit the candles were the Dutch Charge d’Affaires and the French ambassador. Then came the turn of the granddaughter Soviet Army officer Alexander Pechersky who commanded the uprising of Sobibor inmates, the only revolt throughout the history of Nazi death camp that ended successfully for the prisoners.