A quarter of two-storeyed wooden houses in Brest is a unique for Belarus architectural ensemble of the first third of the XX century.

The colony is named after a banker Felix Warburg. He was chairing the Jewish charitable organization "Joint". With funds from it in Brest in 1925–1927 a quarter for poor Jewish families was built.

The quarter consisted of 12 two-storeyed wooden houses. In every house there were 8 flats. Therewith there were workshops, a school, an eating house, wash kitchens with washing-houses, hydrants and 4 wells. A beautiful wooden arch stood at the entrance to the colony.

In 1941 German troops relocated inhabitants of the colony to a ghetto and shot them in a year. The quarter was turned into a camp for prisoners of war: first for Soviet prisoners, after – German. In 1950 the houses were shifted to city residential accommodation again.

In early XXI century demolition of the houses of the Jewish colony began. But in 2010 Belarusian public representatives and outlets took interest in history of Colony of Warburg. There had been proposals to create here an ethnographic museum and a centre of Jewish culture but city authorities didn't support these projects.

Culture Ministry of Belarus assigned a status of historical-cultural value for only one of the buildings – a house № 12 on Pieršy Minski lane.

Publication date: 26.02.2018.

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