Debra has been working in Belarus for over ten years and is a passionate advocate for Jewish community, history, heritage and identity. Debra has worked tirelessly to grow The Together Plan in order to give agency to Jewish people coming out of a traumatic past, to empower them and give them skills and self-belief to rebuild and revive. It is Debra’s mantra that together we can make a real and positive difference for a better, stronger and more cohesive Jewish landscape in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Leo has been involved as a volunteer at The Together Plan since 2018, having taken part in the first Zoymen as well as traveling across Belarus to pave the way for the Jewish Heritage Trail. Majoring in History and Politics at Bowdoin College, USA and more recently receiving his Masters in History from McGill University, Canada, Leo’s dissertation focused on the Soviet and post-Soviet history education on the Great Patriotic War. He believes history education is intrinsic to national collective memory, and is working with The Together Plan to raise awareness of the history of the Holocaust during the occupation of Belarus. His grandparents currently live in Brest, Belarus which adds a personal note to his interest in the history of ex-Soviet countries.
Evelina is a solicitor with substantial experience working in the UK and abroad. In addition to her legal qualifications, she also gained a Masters degree in Russian Studies at University College London. Born in Israel to Russian émigré parents, Evelina has always been interested in maintaining strong links with Jewish communities around the world to help preserve their rich heritage and identity. Evelina is very excited to be joining The Together Plan’ Book Translations project to help document and raise awareness of the Holocaust in Belarus.
Michelle is a retired Food Product Developer from Marks and Spencer, having spent over 20 years in the corporate world. Today she is a part-time cookery teacher and full-time obsessed foodie. Michelle is now also using her skills from her past life volunteering as an Events Coordinator at The Together Plan. This role has enabled her to meet a great new team of people and pushed open new doors to enable her to learn new skills. Because of The Together Plan, Michelle is now researching her own family who she has discovered originated from Minsk.
Elaine Collins volunteers in the Together Plan office as the Office Administrator. She began her journey by volunteering at Pinner helping to sort aid and she was inspired by Debra Brunner’s story and her endless energy and enthusiasm! Since Elaine has many years of office work, she felt that lending her time to helping the charity with admin would be the best position for her and was certainly something that the charity needed. Elaine says that she learns more about The Together Plan every day and loves being a valued member of the team.
Suzanne used to be a part of the volunteer team at World Jewish Relief when they ran their Gifts in Kind project. When that project closed, she found The Together Plan and was delighted to be able to offer her services and experience to the Aid Together project – which sends humanitarian aid and resources to community centres in Belarus.
In 2018, Suzanne took on the role of Project Coordinator and now manages a dedicated team of 12 volunteers who meet weekly at Pinner United Synagogue.
Hannah is an undergraduate studying chemistry at the University of York. She has recently become involved in The Together Plan as she believes the work we do is incredibly important and valuable to the communities involved. Hannah is very excited to get involved and join the team and she is ready to help in any way she can!
Stephen has had a long career in commercial estate agency and valuation surveying, focusing on the creative industries in the West End of London. He has been actively involved in fundraising, community work and volunteering throughout his working life and now seeks to make a difference with The Together Plan.
Sam is a mature student at the University of Hertfordshire studying for an MA in Human Resource Management. She previously worked for the John Lewis Partnership for 30 years. Sam is excited to get involved with The Together Plan, helping with an admin project before writing her dissertation, over the summer months, on the engagement of volunteers in the charity sector.
Vesta was born in Pinsk, Belarus and spent her formative years in Brest, eventually moving to New Orleans, USA, where she acquired a Bachelor of Arts in political science, business, and Russian language and literature at Tulane University. Vesta is in the midst of completing a master’s degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Yeshiva University whilst currently living in North Carolina.
Vesta unearthed her Jewish heritage thanks to a genetic test, and was pushed to explore Judaism religiously following a visit to Brest and Bronnaya Gora in 2019. Through The Together Plan, Vesta hopes to further her understanding of Belarusian Jewry and to assist in preserving Belarusian history and heritage for future generations. She facilitates for her eldest son’s budding ballet career and her younger children’s Russian language acquisition, sharpening her own piano technique when she can.
Sam has been involved with The Together Plan for 9 years and headed up the Youth for Youth arm from 2014 to 2019. She has now taken on the role of Young Adult Development Coordinator. Sam has planned camps and taught leadership skills to multiple communities in Belarus; helped to sort and pack humanitarian aid; planned and participated in a plethora of fundraisers, and now heads up the young adult engagement side of the charity.
In her professional life, she is Head of Programming at Alyth Synagogue, London and in her personal life, she is an avid Arsenal fan and an incredibly competitive Scrabble player.
Marine is a former project manager in the international aid and development sectors with 10+ years experience in capacity-building, designing and implementing support systems. She is now a Salesforce consultant and helps non-profits to develop their use and understanding of the platform. Marine is passionate about bolstering lesser-known cultures and getting to discover new perspectives.
Andy is an experienced project manager with over 20 years of international experience in the Financial Services sector. Throughout her career she worked with various financial institutions developing and implementing projects to achieve their strategic goals. The experience gained in her career enabled Andy to leverage these skills to benefit the small and medium businesses where she worked to improve efficiency and create a solid platform to achieve their growth strategy.
Andy has recently taken on the role of The Together Plan’s HR Coordinator. Working to ensure that all of our volunteers are fully supported and that the charity is able to grow effectively, safely and efficiently!
Paul has worked with The Together Plan since its inception and today, together with fellow trustees, provides guidance, governance and advice to The Together Plan’s employees and volunteers. He visited Belarus travelling to different communities in 2018 to gain a first-hand knowledge of how the charity functions in the country. At the same time, the highly acclaimed book, “We Remember, Lest the World Forget – Memories of The Minsk Ghetto” was launched in Belarus. This was made possible because of The Together Plan.
Paul has had previous involvement with other charities and has experience of being a School Governor as well as Treasurer and Council Member for Finchley Reform Synagogue, for which he is now involved in the synagogue’s rebuilding programme. Before retiring in September 2018, Paul was the Finance Director for a major financial service outsourcing joint venture.
Paul has been married for 31 years to Bett Demby, a fellow volunteer of The Together Plan, and has two sons now in their 20s. He has recently stepped down as Chair of Trustees but looks forward to continuing to support The Together Plan as a general volunteer.
Gillian is an experienced Events Coordinator having fulfilled a similar role for the last 20 years with an Israel-focused charity. She is delighted to be volunteering for The Together Plan which is a truly inspirational organisation. Gillian is genuinely enthusiastic to use her skills and experience to contribute to this wonderful venture.
Vasily is a very active person and has been volunteering for years; making a difference in a large variety of campaigns. He only recently met The Together Plan and has now joined Artur, our Belarus Country Director, in the Minsk office, immediately becoming a part of it all. Openhearted, thoughtful and eager to help, Vasily is proud to be a member of a charity and is looking forward to making our world better.
Mike retired from a long career in I.T. Management in 2015. Since then he has been helping a number of charities in a variety of voluntary roles. Mike has a special interest in genealogy after researching his own family roots in Belarus.
Carl became interested in The Together Plan while successfully enlisting them to trace his family roots in Minsk. As Carl learned more about The Together Plan he wanted a way to get more involved and support our work. As a result Carl has recently joined The Together Plan volunteer team as a new Archive Services Case Worker, helping to share his genealogy knowledge and passion with others. Carl retired from a long career at IBM in 2012. Since then, he has volunteered for a diverse group of non-profits, including several Israel advocacy groups, and a walking tour group in Boston. His other hobbies include cycling, travel and hiking with his dog Buster.
Maeve has been a member of The Together Plan since the beginning of 2019 and through her experiences in and out of the office, has become passionately interested in Belarus and its Jewish communities. She was inspired by the ethos of the charity and the people who keep it going. She joined The Together Plan to learn about the behind-the-scenes of how a charity operates and to gain potential career experience. After learning more and more she knew that she had to be a part of it!
Maeve works in the Together Plan London office as the Youth for Youth Coordinator and one of her roles is running the Facebook page. She also worked on the 2019 Belarus trip information booklet and discovered so much more about its sad yet strong history. She is so thankful to be part of such a strong team, full of people who really make a difference and she is looking forward to seeing where The Together Plan leads her next.
Hilary works part-time for World Jewish Relief in the Finance Team but was keen to volunteer with a local charity and was delighted to hear of the Archive Services offered by The Together Plan. Having obtained a degree in German and Russian from Birmingham University many years ago, she attended a summer course in Minsk in 1982, however her language skills are now extremely rusty! She feels very excited about joining the team and helping people connect with their family history in Belarus.
Artur was born in Minsk and spent two years living with a relative in Nashville, Tennessee. It was there, as a child of the Soviet Union, that he discovered Judaism; he studied Hebrew and had a bar mitzvah. It was his first foray into Jewish life. He spent a year living in a boarding school in Israel before returning to Belarus where he completed his education in Minsk, studying Human Rights Law. Having had a taste of Jewish life, he has made it his life’s work to strive for a revival of the Jewish community in Belarus. He met Debra Brunner in 2009 and together, since that time, they have worked to build and grow The Together Plan.
Sonya is a very inquisitive and active person. Even as a child she was interested in learning foreign languages and is now in her fourth year at the College for Linguistics and Humanity in Belarus. She has especially enjoyed studying the peculiarities of the development of history and culture. Recently Sonya ‘found herself’ and now understands what she wants to do in the future – contribute to the research, preservation and popularisation of cultures of different countries and their historical and cultural heritage. This led her to The Together Plan. It is here that Sonya hopes to explore this further and gain experience for her personal development. She is excited to be a part of the team and believes that together we will be able to preserve our history and heritage for the successful creation of our future!
Nastya is 25 years old and was born in Novopolotsk. It is a small, modern town next to the historical Jewish city of Polotsk. She first joined the Polotsk community in 2010 to find out more about the history and traditions of my heritage. Through this community she has met a lot of her current friends and colleagues. Since then she graduated from university with a degree in Tourism and currently lives in Kiev, Ukraine.
Nastya joined the the Together Plan in 2013 and enjoys being part of this team because she is inspired by all the members. She says: “together we have fun, together we solve problems and together we build Jewish history.”
Tamara is a passionate Holocaust researcher with many years of experience. Previous roles include the position of Director of the Novogrudok Museum of History and Regional Studies. She played a key role in the establishment of the Jewish Resistance Museum, a memorial exhibition on the former ghetto site dedicated to the tunnel escape and the Bielski partisans.
Tamara has written many publications for both the Russian and American Holocaust Encyclopaedias and was a translator for the book of memoirs Surviving the Holocaust with the Russian Jewish partisans by Jack Kagan and Dov Cohen. Her research into Jewish resistance in Novogrudok and in other parts of Belarus have resulted in numerous scientific publications and a book, Pain and Anger – Holocaust and Resistance in Novogrudok, published in 2019 by the Belarusian Encyclopaedia.
Tamara has organized many conferences and educational seminars on Jewish heritage for secondary school teachers throughout Belarus on the subject of the Holocaust. She also collaborated with Jewish heritage professionals in Poland in a cross-border project entitled “Shtetl routes. Vestiges of Jewish Cultural Heritage in Cross-Border Tourism” (2013-2015).
Currently, Efim is Head of the Brest Jewish Charitable Center “Hesed-David”. He is the author of the book A Brief Guide to Jewish Brest as well as many publications on the history of the Jews of Brest. He works in the Brest Regional Archives, exploring the many unique documents available there and he is currently developing a complete list of the victims of the Nazis among the Jews of Brest – It includes about 18 thousand names! Some of them not even included in the database of Yad Vashem.
Vladimir was born in Starie Dorogi in the Minsk region. After failing to be accepted to study history at the Belarusian Statue University, he started working at the age of 16. Initially he was a miller assistant and later worked as a test-engineer of KAMAZ at a factory in Borisov. He later graduated from the High military-political academy in Lvov and now has a degree in History from BSU, Geography from the Pedagogical University in Smolensk and has a degree of Candidate of Science in the military.
After the Soviet Union broke up, Vladimir worked in a variety of Jewish organisations in Belarus: As a vice-editor at “Berega” newspaper; as a chief at “Aviv” newspaper; as a public and media affairs coordinator at Jewish Agency for Israel “Sohnut” in Belarus; as a chief editor at “Sohnut” newspaper in Belarus – “Bezavta”.
During the 34th Zionist congress which was held in 2002, the Belarusian delegation was headed by Vladimir as he was the head of the Belarusian branch of the Avoda party and the head of the Israel Institute named by Moshe Sharet in Belarus.
Vladimir has been studying the history of the Holocaust in Belarus since 1979 and completed the course “Jewish identity” at Bar-Ilansk University in Ramat-Gann, Israel.
Currently he is an independent historian, writer, journalist and publicist. In addition, he leads a scientific research division at International program of Judeo-Christian dialogue “Shomer International” in Belarus.
Sasha started her “Jewish” activity in 2003 when she joined the Polotsk Jewish Community youth club. In 2013 she graduated from Minsk State Linguistic University and joined The Together Plan team as an interpreter in Polotsk. At the same, she also served as the Polotsk Jewish Cultural Educational Foundation “Finchley” Administrator for several months.
In the spring of 2021 she came back to work for The Together Plan and coordinated the Babynichy Cemetery project. Since then, Sasha has dived head first into the magical world of Jewish heritage and culture. In June 2021 she took up the post of the Polotsk Jewish Community Director. All of these roles give Sasha an opportunity to be a part of The Together Plan’s life, discover an “unexplored world” of Jewish heritage in Belarus, and become a bridge between past and present.
Mike is a serial entrepreneur with a long career in credit management writing policy, improving processes and training staff in efficiency. He also headed a successful marketing company. He is a dedicated networker and professional speaker on mental health issues and mentors both professional speakers and networkers. Mike has been actively involved as a trustee with several charities promoting mental health, homelessness and spinal injury. Mike’s family history starts in Romania and he recently visited his great great grandmother’s birthplace in Iasi. He has two daughters in their thirties.
Mike has recently taken on the role of Chair of Trustees. He is looking forward to supporting the work of The Together Plan by providing guidance and leadership to the Board of Trustees.
Gelena was born in Odessa, Ukraine, known for its vibrant Jewish community which was once among the largest in Eastern Europe. That changed as the countless Jewish families from across the former Soviet Union left in the last decades before country’s break-up, and she established new roots in New York. After studying economics, Gelena joined a global financial institution focusing on change management and product development; a role which took her to London in 2006, where she now lives.
A native Russian speaker, Gelena first learned about The Together Plan through a Jewish Volunteering Network ad looking for an English/Russian translator. Through that advert, she became a part of a volunteer team on an exciting project preparing a boy in Belarus, through distance learning, for his Bar Mitzvah.
Jack has been a volunteer and member of The Together Plan team since 2017, helping with IT and office development. He has recently joined the Board of Trustees having been in the role of Operations Manager, ensuring that The Together Plan is able to run smoothly and as efficiently as possible. He is an invested member of the Youth for Youth programme and has been to Belarus to run training there for young adults. Jack is a chemistry student at the University of York and strongly believes that with the power of “Togetherness”, Jewish communities can be supported, grow and thrive.
Abi is a recent Film Music graduate, and has incorporated ideas around Jewish heritage into her composition and daily musical practices. Having volunteered for The Together Plan and Youth for Youth since 2014, Abi has recently joined the Youth for Youth team as the Youth for Youth Development Coordinator and hopes to act as a port of call for the Youth of the charity, and develop the cohort into a desirable and exciting movement!
Sam has been involved with The Together Plan since 2015 and has helped run four successive Youth for Youth summer camps in Belarus. His involvement with the charity has also taken him to Poland, to build connections with the Jewish community there, as well as to the London office to assist with the day to day running of The Together Plan. Sam is currently training to become a barrister.
Charlie is a recent graduate of the University of Warwick, where she studied Modern Languages, one of which was Russian. She uses her Russian language skills to translate documents, educational booklets and historical books for the Together Plan. Having studied Russian and Soviet history at school and university, and having spent time in Russia, Charlie has a keen interest in the countries of the former Soviet bloc and their present and future development. As such, she is excited to volunteer for, and be a part of, a charity that empowers communities to rebuild themselves.
Cicely is a new translator with The Together Plan. She studies languages at the University of Cambridge. Her main passion is for Russia and the Russian language, hence her involvement and interest in the charity. She is excited to start translating The Together Plan’s important work, so that it is more accessible to those who benefit from it.
Daniela is a new volunteer translator with The Together Plan and a recent graduate of the University of York, where she studied English Literature and completed a dissertation in the area of literary translation from Russian into English. She speaks Hebrew, Russian, and German. Coming from a Russian-Jewish background, she wanted to become involved with the charity because she firmly believes in the importance of preserving and educating Jewish history and heritage in Eastern Europe; she would also like to gain future experience in professional translation.
Isabel started learning Russian when she was thirteen. She is currently studying English and Russian as a Joint Honours degree at the University of Exeter. She has always had a love for Russian and believes in the power that languages have to bring people together. Originally, Isabel wanted to join The Together Plan as a way to speak more Russian but was inspired by the way the charity is a perfect example of how languages can unite people all across the world.
Martin is a Russian Language and Central Eastern European Studies graduate of the University of Glasgow. A recent inductee to The Together Plan team, Martin believes passionately that our history needs to be remembered and kept alive at the grass roots and feels honoured to be able to lend his translating abilities to the process. In his spare time, Martin enjoys reading the works of Vasily Grossman and Touring Cycling.
Naomi is a student of French and Russian at University College London. She has recently joined the Together Plan as a volunteer translator, and hopes to help make Jewish and Eastern European history more accessible.
Svetlana is a second generation Holocaust survivor and young at heart. Born in the former Soviet Union, she has now lived in Canada for 22 years. Svetlana is fluent in English, has a working knowledge of French and Hebrew and is passionately studying Yiddish. Her mother tongue is Russian. She is impressed by The Together Plan’s work and is excited to contribute her knowledge and life experience to the organisation.
Yelena is half Russian and currently studies languages at University College London. She is passionate about translation and hopes to help The Together Plan in continuing to make their important work accessible to more people. She is also excited to discover more about her heritage and the Jewish history of Eastern Europe.
I am lucky to have relatives – a few in Canada, in Israel, in the United States. If not for the Holocaust I would also have relatives in Belarus and Ukraine – and these are just the ones I know about. Most of the close relatives I grew up ‘with’ were dead already, but I know (and carry) some of their names, have some photographs and have stood in some of the villages where they lived and the fields and forests where they are buried. Their memory is part of how I look at the world and hopefully has been transmitted to my children. Memory is also a part of the Jews who live in our ancestral homeland today. Their journey back to Jewish life after the Holocaust and the deprivations of the Soviet regime is due in no small measure to the work of Debra Brunner and The Together Plan.
I first met Debra and Artur Livshyts at a film they presented. I brought Artur a copy of my late husband Sir Martin Gilbert’s book Atlas of Jewish History, to take back to Belarus with him for the community there. In hearing about the work The Together Plan is doing in rekindling Jewish life and culture in the very places where our ancestors put Yiddishkeit on the map, I was in awe.
The Jews of Belarus that The Together Plan are reaching are not the embers of the vibrant Jewish life of the Pale of Settlement. We, the descendants of Jews who came West before or during the last century, we are the embers of that life that have kept the flame going. The Jews in these eastern lands have survived Soviet, Nazi, and again Soviet occupation, have had their families, their religion, and their culture ripped from them, and have seen so many take advantage of open borders to move to Israel and the West. But their communities in Belarus are being reinvigorated and reconnected with Jewish life, their communities are taking shape and gaining strength. The Together Plan is playing an important role in memorialising Jewish history in Belarus and helping to create vibrant Jewish communities there, while at the same time connecting communities in the UK and lending expertise and energy. ‘Together’ the flame of Jewish life will burn even brighter.
With her Lady (Esther) Gilbert hat on, and as the wife of the later Sir Martin Gilbert, she edits his website and creates his monthly newsletters. As Esther Goldberg, she is the creator and editor of the three volumes of Holocaust Memoir Digest, published by Vallentine Mitchell.
