In the 14th century, Jews migrated from Germany to the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Then the first Jews were in Minsk at the invitation of the authorities. They were forbidden to own land, and they paid taxes in gold, and not in goods, like the rest of the population.

In the 15th century, Prince Alexander briefly expelled the Jews, but then allowed them to return by paying a certain amount of money. In Minsk, Jews were engaged in trade and collection of taxes. They were allowed to rent land.

In the 17th century, the Polish king John Sobieski gave permission to organize workshops and build new houses in the city.

During the Russo-Polish war of the 17th century, the Jews had to leave the city when it was captured by Russian troops. In 1658, together with the Polish government, they returned. By agreement with the community, the city authorities guaranteed protection from pogroms. By the 60s of the 18th century, there were 1.3 thousand Jewish taxpayers in Minsk.

In 1793, the city came under the rule of the Russian Empire. It found itself in the Pale of Settlement. By 1897, the community numbered 47.5 thousand people. It was the fourth largest in the Pale of Settlement, and in Minsk itself, Jews accounted for 52.3% of the townspeople.

By the end of the 19th century, the city had over 80 synagogues. Jews accounted for 90% of the merchants in the Minsk province. Then the city became one of the centers of activity of Jewish national parties. At the beginning of the 20th century, a Zionist conference was held here, and in 1903 Jewish self-defense was created.

By the beginning of the First World War, 45 thousand Jews lived in the city, accounting for 45.5% of the population. Over the years, the share of Jews increased due to refugees from the front-line areas, from which the Russian command evicted residents. By 1917, 67 thousand Jews lived in Minsk. In 1919, the community survived a pogrom by Polish troops.

In the 1920s, the Soviet government experimented with trying to create a "red Jewish community." Until the late 1930s, a yeshiva, Jewish schools and institutes operated.

By the beginning of the German invasion, 90 thousand Jews or 37% of the population lived in the city. In the first months of the war, the number of Jews increased to 100 thousand due to refugees.

After the occupation, the Nazis created a ghetto. Several extermination aktions took place in August and November 1941. By 1942, 6.5 thousand Jews survived in the city.

In 1959, the authorities closed the Central Synagogue, and in the 1960s, the Jewish cemetery. Decades later, in 1980, Jews were allowed to open a synagogue on the outskirts of the city. If in 1970 there were 47 thousand Jews in Minsk, then by 1989 their number had decreased to 39 thousand, and a decade later to 10.1 thousand.