Steve Ballmer visited Belarus - homeland of ancestors

Microsoft President and CEO Steve Ballmer visited the Pinsk district center (Brest region), the city where his great-grandfather and maternal grandfather lived.

The chairman of the Pinsk Jewish community, Joseph Lieberman, said that Ballmer came to Pinsk with his sister. He arranged this trip for his sister as a gift for her 50th birthday.

The unofficial visit of the Microsoft president to Belarus lasted one day - October 25. Ballmer and his sister visited places related to the Jewish history of Pinsk, visited the Museum of Belarusian Polesie, and also watched an exhibition of Jewish artists, which is shown there. At one of the city's Jewish cemeteries, a local historian showed the famous guest the place where his great-grandfather was buried.

Steve Ballmer and his sister also visited the bakery building that once belonged to his uncle. He visited Ballmer and the Pinsk synagogue, where he talked with Rabbi Moshe Fima and lit candles in memory of the dead ancestors.

Family History Details: “What does the name Balmer say to the Pinchans? A little ... But the name of Dvorkiny, on the contrary, is well known. Shloma Dvorkin, Balmer’s grandfather, began his business by working in a tailor workshop located in Molotkovichi, in a suburb of Pinsk. During the First World War, together with thousands of refugees, a Jewish family wandered around the expanses of the Russian Empire. For some time the Poleshuk settled in the Saratov province. From there, part of the Dvorkins returned to Pinsk. Balmer’s uncle built a bakery there. Another part of the family emigrated to the United States. In 1920, in Detroit, the mother of Stephen Beatrice was born. There she also married Fred Ballmer from Switzerland. In 1956, Stephen was born, who later became the closest assistant to Bill Gates. "

Optional:
Videofrom the graveyard where Ballmer’s grandfather was likely buried.

via BelaPAN