creating living heritage in Belarus and beyond – the vision for 2026

By Debra Brunner, CEO and co-founder

The Together Plan’s mission is to create sustainable solutions for collaboration and community growth through the promotion of Eastern Europe’s Jewish cultural heritage. Our current research focus is Jewish Belarus, where we are building a living heritage archive of Belarusian Jewish memory, history and storytelling, past and present, connecting communities in Belarus and the UK.

Our vision is that Belarus’s seven hundred years of Jewish history will ultimately be acknowledged and recognised on a global scale. We believe that Belarusian Jews and non-Jews alike should feel empowered to participate in citizen-led programmes that bring this history into focus. We want Belarusian Jews (including people with Belarus ancestral roots) in the diaspora to feel valued and connected, and for this rich yet under-explored Jewish history to be accessible to everyone, wherever they are in the world.

Through this work, self-sustaining projects will help Belarusian Jewish communities gain recognition and thrive, while communities beyond Belarus can learn from the country’s extraordinary and complex past.

building a Belarus Jewish route

The Together Plan is a member of the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Heritage and Culture (AEPJ). The AEPJ manages the development of the European Route of Jewish Heritage, one of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe. Heritage practitioners, historians, museums and regional municipalities across Europe form part of this network, and The Together Plan is working to establish and develop the route in Belarus.

This ambitious work is being led by a small, passionate team. Everything we do at The Together Plan sits under the umbrella of building the Belarus Jewish Route, ensuring Jewish heritage sites, stories and histories are preserved, interpreted and shared. Our long term goal is to map all of the sites accessible via a dedicated portal which will be: an education resource, a trip planning resource and a means for communities to be found, visited and supported.

a landmark achievement – Memory Embrace in Brest

In 2025, we reached a major milestone with the opening of the Brest Jewish Cemetery Memorial, Memory Embrace. This powerful memorial was the culmination of a twelve-year campaign to commemorate the once-thriving Jewish community of Brest and to publicly acknowledge a site of profound historical importance. Click here for all the updates and media articles published throughout this campaign.

The opening of Memory Embrace marked a turning point in our work, placing Jewish Brest firmly on the heritage map, and demonstrated what sustained community action can achieve.

heritage campaigns for 2026 – Nesvizh memorials

In 2026, we are launching an important heritage campaign for the the historic town of Nesvizh.

Our plans include the installation of two memorials:

• A memorial at the site of the former Jewish cemetery, now a public park, which currently has no marker. This memorial will ensure the site is formally recognised and publicly acknowledged.
• A unique, town-centre memorial designed in the shape of the Hebrew letter “chai” (meaning life). This will be the first memorial of its kind and will celebrate the lives of Nesvizh’s former Jewish communities and their contribution to the town.

We are inviting people to support this campaign by attending our talk series, making donations, and participating in the campaign to help bring these memorials to fruition. Some funding has already been secured, and we are well on the way towards reaching our target for installation in 2026. Click here for more information.

strengthening Jewish life and community in Belarus

Alongside our heritage work, we continue to support Jewish communal life across Belarus. Planned activities for 2026 include:

• Registration of a new Jewish community in Minsk (Spring)
• Cemetery restoration and clearing projects in:
  Novogrudok (Spring)
  Volozhin (Spring)
  Krivichi (Spring)
• Renovation of an existing memorial in Ivye
• Official registration of Maccabi Sports in Belarus (click here for more information) alongside the launch of new sports projects with communities across the country
• Production of three new audio tours for Brest, Kamenets and Bobruisk which will be added to our collection of audio tours (find out more here).
• A new year of dynamic programming at the Minsk Heritage Centre for the Minsk community and visitors from near and far.

In addition, we will be sending over ten tonnes of humanitarian aid and resources to communities across Belarus, Jewish and non-Jewish, supporting socially and economically underprivileged groups, people with special needs, Holocaust survivors and others in need. More information about our Aid Together project can be found here.

education

Education remains central to our mission.

Our Making History Together travelling exhibition, which explores Jewish life and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union with a particular focus on Belarus, will be installed in several UK locations throughout 2026.

To support this work, we will be joined by a new staff member on an eight-month contract dedicated to developing the Making History Together education programme (for teenagers between 12 and 14).

We are also continuing our collaboration with photojournalist Lewis James Phillips, who joined The Together Plan team in 2025. His forthcoming book, The Screaming Silence, explores the Sobibor uprising and we at The Together Plan are diving into the connections that Sobibor had to Minsk. This partnership with Lewis Phillips strengthens our educational work both in the UK and in Belarus. It broadens our horizons and we are excited about the opportunities this will lead to.

Alongside this, we are working on two book translations:

• A children’s book inspired by the story of a survivor of the Minsk Ghetto. The book has been translated and we are now in the editing phase.
• The first in a series of books by historian Vladimir Melnitsky, a member of our Minsk team, documenting the 494 ghettos that existed in Belarus

We will continue to research and network for the planned Holocaust Museum in Belarus.

We are collaborating with a youth sports club in East London to engage them in some of our Making History Together education materials with  plans for some of their youth to take part in a TV programme in Belarus! Watch this space.

fundraising, archives and growing our community

In 2026, we continue to expand our Archive Services, helping individuals trace family histories and access records held in Belarusian archives.

Our major fundraising campaign this year invites supporters to Climb Mount Snowdon in Wales in May. For those unable to take part in the climb, we are welcoming participation through personal charity challenges. Click here to sign up for the challenge or to find out how to set up your own fundraising challenge wherever you are in the world.

We will also launch the Community Coffee Club in Spring 2026, offering members a closer connection to our work, exclusive updates and special benefits. Coming soon!

In February, Jewish Life TV (USA) will premiere a documentary about the making of Memory Embrace. Screenings in the UK will take place throughout 2026 in multiple locations – keep an eye on our events page for announcements.

Alongside this, we have a full calendar of talks, events and exhibitions planned throughout the year and details are regularly updated on our events page which can be found here.

join us

We cannot do this work alone. We are deeply grateful for the support, belief and generosity of our community in the UK and around the world.

If you would like to support us, please consider joining the Community Coffee Club when it launches, become a regular donor, attend our events, take part in a fundraising challenge, or explore legacy giving. We would love to hear from you – please contact us for more information or to speak with a member of our team. You can also help us by sharing your family story which we will add to our Story Bank! Every story helps to build a picture of what life used to be like in Belarus.

Thank you for standing with us and for helping to ensure that Belarusian Jewish history is remembered, recognised and shared and for supporting community growth in Belarus today.

This is a journey – so let’s take it together through 2026 and beyond.

You can contact us here: [email protected]