Shimon Peres — politician with roots in the Poland (Second Republic)
Shimon Peres was born Szymon Perski on 2 August 1923 in Wiszniew, then in the Nowogródek Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic and now Vishnyeva in Belarus. His father emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1932 and the family followed in 1934. He was Prime Minister of Israel (1984-1986, 1995-1996), President of Israel (2007-2014), and shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. He died on 28 September 2016.
"Wiszniew to Mandatory Palestine; father 1932, family 1934"
Migration storyTracing the roots — Wiszniew (now Vishnyeva, Belarus)
The family spoke Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian at home; Peres learned Polish at school. His maternal grandfather, Rabbi Zvi Meltzer, taught him; he was killed in Wiszniew in 1942. The family emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1934.
Born in 1923 in Wiszniew, in the Second Polish Republic. The town had been part of the Russian Empire until the end of the First World War.
Wiszniew (now Vishnyeva, Belarus). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
""I was born in a small village in Belarus, and I carry it with me always — the memory of what Jews endured and what we must never again endure.""