Baranavičy - travel guide - photos and attractions

History of Baranavichy

Baranavichi (Belarusian Баранавiчы | Baranavičy; Polish Baranowicze) is a city in the Brest voblast in western Belarus with a population of 173 000 (as of 1995). It is a significant railway junction and home to a state university.

History

The village of Baranowicze, as it was originally called, was first mentioned in 1706 as a private property of a Polish family named Rozwadowski. In the late 18th century, in the effect of the Partitions of Poland, the town became part of the Russian Empire. In 1870's the locality became an important railway junction, on the crossing of Warsaw-Moscow and Vilna-Lwów lines. Soon the village started to grow and by 1883 it became a town of almost 2 000 inhabitants. In 1897 the town had already 4 600 inhabitants (ca. 50% Jews).

During the Polish-Soviet war it was seized by Poland. In 1919 it received the city rights. In 1921 Baranowicze had over 11 000 inhabitants (67% of Jews, with the rest being mostly Belarusians, Poles and Russians). Soon the town started to grow and became an important centre of trade and commerce for the area. It was also an important military garrison, with one KOP Cavalry Brigade and one Cavalry Brigade of the Polish Army stationed there. Because of the fast growth of local industry, in 1938 a local branch of the Polish Radio was opened there. In 1939 Baranowicze had almost 30 000 inhabitants and was the biggest and the most important city in the Nowogródek Voivodship.

After the Polish Defensive War of 1939 the town was occupied by the Soviet Union. The local Jewish population of 9 000 was joined by approximately 3 000 Jewish reffugees from the Polish areas occupied by Germany. After the start of Operation Barbarossa the town was seized by the Wehrmacht on June 25, 1941. In August of the same year a ghetto was created in the town, with more than 12 000 Jews kept in tragic conditions in six buildings at the outskirts. Between March 4 and December 14, 1942, the entire Jewish population of the ghetto was sent to various German concentration camps and killed in gas chambers. Only approximately 250 survived the war.

The town was seized by the Red Army on July 8, 1944. After the World War II the town became part of the Soviet Union and the Byelorussian SSR and started to be referred to under its Russian name of Baranovichi. In this time an intensive industrialization took place. In 1991 it became part of the independent Belarus.

Source:
Baranavichi
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