With the support of the EAJC, exhibitions dedicated to Alexander Pechersky will open in St. Petersburg and Minsk.

On April 10, the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps in St. Petersburg will host the opening of the exhibition "Sobibor: The Return of Alexander Pechersky's Heroic Deed." The event is organized by the Alexander Pechersky Foundation with the support of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

The opening is timed to coincide with the International Day of Resistance (April 10). The exhibition is dedicated to the Sobibor uprising—the only successful escape from a Nazi death camp in history—and its leader, Alexander Pechersky. On display are Pechersky's personal belongings, photographs, letters, documents from his collection, as well as unique materials concerning the heroes, victims, and perpetratrors of Sobibor. Among the exhibits is the legendary "lucky" shirt, gifted to Pechersky hours before the uprising by a Dutch girl named Luka; an album of Sobibor materials compiled by the uprising leader in the post-war years; Pechersky's book "The Uprising in Sobibor Camp," published in Rostov-on-Don in April 1945, among other historical items.

The exhibition will run until June 9.

The exhibition was first shown in 2018 at the Victory Museum in Moscow, drawing approximately half a million visitors over several months. For the display at the Artillery Museum in St. Petersburg, the exhibition has been expanded with recently uncovered documents and materials.  The event is organized by the Alexander Pechersky Foundation with the participation of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the Russian Historical Society, the Fatherland History Foundation, and the Russian Military Historical Society.

The uprising in the Nazi death camp of Sobibor, established for the extermination of European Jews, took place on October 14, 1943. Organized by Soviet Red Army prisoner of war Lieutenant Alexander Pechersky, the revolt resulted in the elimination of 12 SS men. Hundreds of prisoners escaped, and over 50 survived to the end of the war. Following the escape, Alexander Pechersky and his fellow Soviet prisoners of war joined Belarusian partisan units and later the Red Army. Pechersky was severely wounded in August 1944 and, after demobilization, resided in Rostov-on-Don.

According to the organizers, the image of a Red Army officer who united citizens of various European countries to fight the "plague of the 20th century" gains distinct relevance and symbolism within the contemporary socio-political context.

In addition, on April 11, 2019, at 4:00 PM, the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War in Minsk will host the opening of a temporary exhibition entitled "Alexander Pechersky as a Symbol of Resistance to Fascism," marking the 110th anniversary of Pechersky's birth.

This temporary exhibition is a joint project of the A. Pechersky Foundation and the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War. The primary exhibits comprise rare pre-war family photographs, letters, documents, and books from the personal archive of Alexander Pechersky, provided by his namesake Foundation.

The dramatic life story of Alexander Pechersky, a native of the Ukrainian city of Kremenchug, became closely intertwined with Belarus during the Great Patriotic War. Captured by Nazi forces near Vyazma in October 1941, the wounded Quartermaster Technician 2nd Rank Pechersky was sent to Borisov, and subsequently to Stalag No. 352 under Minsk, the largest camp for Soviet prisoners of war. From there, he was transferred to the camp on Shirokaya Street in Minsk. In total, he was held in Nazi camps across Belarus from May 1942 to September 1943. He was then transported with other Jewish prisoners to the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland. Among Pechersky's comrades in Sobibor were Belarus natives Semyon Mazurkevich, Naum Plotnitsky, and Boris Tabarinsky, with whom the escape plan was devised. Their photographs, letters, and Pechersky's memoirs of his comrades-in-arms are presented at the exhibition.

Under Pechersky's leadership, 300 of the camp’s 550 prisoners joined the uprising and escape. Eighty lost their lives during the breakout, and many were recaptured during the pursuit. Alexander Pechersky and eight of his comrades successfully reached Belarusian soil, where he became a partisan demolitions specialist in the Shchors partisan detachment in the Brest Region. His Belarusian partisan ID card is featured in the display.

In the post-war years, Pechersky worked extensively to locate and maintain contact with his former comrades-in-arms, continually advocating for the commemoration of the victims of Sobibor and the prosecution of the camp's war criminals. This significant aspect of his activities is documented through numerous letters, newspaper articles, and photographs of reunions held by Sobibor survivors.

The historical documentary sequence is complemented by works of art from the collections of the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War, featuring works on Nazi captivity and concentration camps by artists A.V. Volkov, V.F. Sokolov, V.K. Tsvirko, and Y.F. Vykhodtsev. It also includes posters, clothing, and personal effects of Soviet prisoners of war, photographs of the camps through which Pechersky passed, and portraits of the partisans from the Shchors detachment in the Brest Region where Pechersky fought.

The temporary exhibition "Alexander Pechersky as a Symbol of Resistance to Fascism" will run until May 13, 2019.

The organizers are the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War and the Alexander Pechersky Foundation, with the support of the Union of Belarusian Jewish Public Associations and Communities, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, and the Belarus-Jewish Cultural Heritage Center.