'Genetic connection': why the matchmaker and son-in-law of Trump will go to Belarus

The founder and curator of the Novogrudok Museum of Jewish Resistance Tamara Vershitskaya in late January 2020 met in New York with the American billionaire and matchmaker of US President Donald Trump Charles Kushner. Writes about it TUT.BY.

Novogrudok. Photo: Depositphotos

He said that he was going to come to Novogrudok (Belarus) again this summer to show one of his grandchildren the places where his family had once lived. And also - to see the Memorial Wall, built in memory of 227 Jews who managed to escape in 1943 from the ghetto through a tunnel. Among the fugitives was Charles's mother - Paradise (Raika) Kushner.

Navahrudak - New York

Tamara Vershitskaya arrived in New York to participate in the international exhibition The New York Times Travel Show 2020. Belarus is participating in the event for the fourth time, and this year it was decided that Novogrudok will be presented at the country's stand as a successful example of tourism development.

“This is the result of the events we held in Novogrudok last year. Firstly, a congress of descendants of the partisans of Belsky’s detachment. After this, a Republican seminar on tourism was held, where Novogrudok was noted as an example of how tourism should be developed,” says Tamara. — And there are three components: events, the Museum of Resistance and Lyubcha Castle, which is being restored by enthusiasts. As a result, the National Tourism Agency invited us to participate in this exhibition, which took place in New York from January 23 to 26. We had a separate stand, we talked about both Novogrudok and the museum.”

But, as Tamara notes, no one knows about Navahrudak in the USA.

“Nobody knows about Novogrudok at all. And if people were interested in the Museum of Resistance, then almost no one took the booklets that were on our stand with information about Novogrudok,” says Vershitskaya. — What was in demand was where it was written about the museum. As for Belarus, there were different reactions.”

“But here again, a case in point. The first day - events for tourism professionals. Professionals gather here. And when we started talking about Belarus, people did not even know which country they were talking about. They thought that our country was in some kind of warm land, for example. They asked how we tolerate the temperature difference, - laughs Tamara Vershitskaya. - But we tried to tell and explain, we offered potential tourists a five-day tour with a developed route and a special guide. Advertisers took it all apart. ”

Tamara, preparing for the event, thought that just coming to the exhibition was not quite right. And she decided that it would be necessary to collect the descendants of the Belsky detachment soldiers who live in the USA and who could not come to Novogrudok last summer.

“Without any connections and simply believing that everything would work out, I wrote a letter to the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Like, we are a small but unique museum in Belarus, and we offer you cooperation. They suddenly answered - and everything worked out. As a result, about 80 people gathered in one of the museum halls, got to know each other, and learned a little more about Novogrudok. Not only is this very important for us and for them in terms of preserving memory, but it is also a good advertisement for tourist Novogrudok,” says Tamara.

And the third paragraph of the program at Tamara Vershitskaya was scheduled to meet with Charles Kushner. And to make it work, I had to stay in New York for one day, because the family was not in the city during the days of the exhibition.

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Both Charles and Tamaru are united by Navahrudak. The Kushner family in 1943 was able to escape from the ghetto and settle after the war in the States. Tamara has been studying those dramatic events for more than 20 years.

1939 year. Novogrudok

German troops have already captured Poland. The events that unfolded there, in the West, were closely watched in Navahrudak. There were several children in the family of local Kushner entrepreneurs who were sewing hats and fur coats. The oldest girl was studying in Warsaw at that time.

"The Kouchners, learning about the German attack on Poland, ran to the rabbi with the question:" What to do? " It was Saturday, so the rabbi answered: "Nothing, now Shabbat." When they left the house, the wife of the rabbi advised: “Run to the post office and send a telegram, let the girl go home,” says Tamara Vershitskaya.

She seems to know almost everything about the history of local Jews, from memory telling about different families. For over 20 years, the woman has been engaged in the theme of the Novogrudok ghetto, communicates with the descendants of the surviving Jews and members of the Belsky partisan detachment.

In 2007, the Museum of Jewish Resistance was opened in the district center, and in 2019, the Memorial Wall appeared in memory of the escape. It was Charles Kushner who donated most of the money for its construction. He has already been to Navahrudak several times. The first time he came here in 1989, bringing his mother with him - Raik Kouchner, who was one of those who managed to escape.

1943 year. Outskirts of Navahrudak. Ghetto

Before the war, about 6 thousand Jews lived in Navahrudak. About 227 fled from the ghetto. Some of them ended up in the Jewish partisan detachment of the Belsky brothers, which operated in the Nalibokskaya Pushcha, some unfortunately died. Of the escaped, only 124 Jews managed to escape. The fate of another 35 is still unknown. In total, about 600 Jews survived the war.

They began to drive them to the barracks of the labor camp in 1942. Wooden bunks, an unheated room, meager rations, a lack of clean water and a constant fear of imminent death. People knew: somewhere in the Nalibokskaya Forest there is a Jewish detachment of the Belsky brothers, where, as they said, they take everyone. Information about the rescue squad was transmitted by word of mouth. But how to get there if everyone was behind barbed wire and the territory of the ghetto was carefully guarded? We decided to dig a tunnel. They made a detailed plan of the camp, stole wood in the ghetto workshops, sawdust to drain the passage, laid an electric cable inside and even rails to transport the land on carts. The tunnel was dug by some hands, some by the shovels that were stolen from the Germans.

One of those who took an active part in preparing the escape was Raika Kushner, Charles’s mother and grandmother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Her mother Hindu was shot on May 7, 1943, then her brother Honya was killed. Raika, her father Seidel and sister Leia escaped.

Then there was the Belsky detachment, where Raya met Joseph Berkovich, who took her last name. In the USA, Seidel went into housing construction. His grandson, Charles, began managing family finances in 1985 and founded Kushner Companies, headquartered in Flores Park, NJ, before moving it to New York. In early 2007, Kushner Companies acquired 666 skyscraper on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

And it was there, on the 15th floor of the building, that a meeting between Charles Kushner and Tamara Vershitskaya took place.

January 28, 2020. New York

“We talked for about an hour. Charles's wife and one of the daughters also came to the meeting. I was very surprised that they spent so much time with me, ”says Tamara. - Earlier, Charles donated $ 36 thousand for the construction of a memorial wall in Navahrudak. The total cost of the project is $ 44 thousand. He said that he would give only part of the money, and we should find the rest ourselves. And this makes sense: the search for money and patrons is a very complex process, which at some point becomes a part of your life. And this means that, giving him so much strength, you will not leave it all halfway, but you will finish it all to the end. Such a psychological moment that Charles knows about.

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In addition to the memorial wall, Charles financially supports the Museum of Jewish Resistance. During the meeting, he promised to continue to provide him with material support. He also said that he would come to Belarus again this summer and bring here one of his grandchildren, who was 13 years old.

“The Kushners do not call Novogrudok their homeland, but they feel some kind of genetic connection with it. The example is not about them, but this is how it happens. In January, a clown from New York, Harry Reznik (his relatives are also from Novogrudok), came to Novogrudok with his youngest daughter. And now a 21-year-old girl, who was here for the first time, suddenly tells me that she feels at home in Novogrudok. That is, it’s something at the energy level,” says Tamara.

“So it is with the Kushners, most likely. Why do they like Belarus? There are few people and unlimited space. In New York, especially in Manhattan, you walk along the street - and the sun does not concern you. It is simply not visible due to skyscrapers. There is no air movement. If you pass by some eateries, the smell of fast food is tight. This isn’t here, ”says Tamara Vershitskaya and adds that Kushner’s family history is very important: in his small office there are a lot of photographs of relatives, children and grandchildren.

“The photographs are even on the floor. In general, one can learn from Jews in general and from the Kushners in particular how they preserve the memory of their past, how they preserve families. For them, this is the norm of life, and this perception of the world around them is promoted by the Jewish tradition, where Shabbat is a special time when the whole family necessarily gets together,” says Vershitskaya.

When Charles Kushner arrives in Belarus, it is not yet known. By the way, this will be his fifth visit. Usually the Kushner family stops at one of the hotels in Minsk, they travel around the country in a car with a personal driver. Since part of the family strictly adheres to customs and prefers kosher food, they take food with them.

“But somehow they went into the store and bought cheese, herring and bread. And then they just started to eat all this on the street, sitting down at a table near the supermarket, ”says Tamara Vershitskaya.

Charles Kushner brings his grandchildren to Novogrudok on each of his visits, conducts excursions for them and shows where their great-grandmother's house stood in the center of the town, where the tunnel was and where people had to live during their stay in the ghetto.

By the way, Charles’s son, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has not been to Belarus yet. Maybe he will come this summer to Novogrudok.

“Charles has not yet seen the memorial wall. I am excited how he will appreciate it, what he will say, but when I showed him the photograph of the monument, I said that it looks good, ”says Tamara.

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