Dzyarzhynsk or Dzerzhinsk; formerly "Koidanova" (Belarusian: Дзяржы́нск Dziaržynsk [dzʲarˈʐɨnsk]; Russian: Дзержинск), in the Stoubcy district of Belarus, is a city with a history dating to the 11th century.
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According to archeological data, a settlement existed on the site of the city more than 2,000 years ago. The first mention of it in written sources dates back to the 13th century.
In the Middle Ages, the village, then called Kojdanów, belonged to the Radziwiłłs, a Polish aristocratic family. It was known as Kojdanava / Koidanovo townlet of Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire.
In 1439 Duke Mikhail Zhygimontavich founded in Koidanova one of the oldest Belarussian catholic churchs. After the death of Zhygimontavich, Koidanova was a possession of Polish King and Lithuanian Duke Kazimir IV. In 1483 Kazimir presented Koidanova to Duke Vasil Viareiski. In 1506–39 Koidanova was known as a possession of Vilna voevoda Albrecht Gashtold. His wife Zof`ya was a daughter of Viareiski. In 1539–50, Koidanova was a possession of Polish King and Lithuanian Duke Sigizmund I.
The "Golden Age" of Koidanova was from the end of the 16th century until the first half of the 17th century. The population grew from 1,000 in 1588, to more than 1,500 in 1647.
The oldest Koidanova streets were Vilenskaya, Menskaya, Stan`kovskaya, Rubiazhevitskaya, Slutskaya, Pliaban`skaya, and Rynachnaya (Market) square. Beginning in 1588 Koidanava had a fair every week, and two large fairs, at which merchants from Prussia and other countries took part.
Jews lived in Koidanova as early as 1620.
In 1654 Moscow troops of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich invaded the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ( a union between the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, formed in 1569), and on July 11, 1655, the cossacks of Ukrainian Getman Zalatarenka burned down Koidananva and killed all its inhabitants.[1]
The 18th century was one of reconstruction for the city. Several new streets were built, and the Jewish population grew to more than 560 in 1766. In 1781 a great fire destroyed half of the city's houses. Beginning in 1793, the city was under Russian rule. In 1796, Russian Emperor Pavel I visited Koidanova. During the war between Russia and France in 1812, on November 3 Russian troops in Koidanova defeated a French detachment of General Kasetski.[1]
In 1847, Koidanova had 2,497 Jewish inhabitants.[1] In 1897 the city had a population of 4,744 people, of whom 3,156 were Jews.[2]
The main Jewish occupations in Koidanova were handicraft and trade. Jews were known as blacksmiths, loksmiths, tailors, etc. Business increased with the building of the "Moscow-Warsaw" railway near the city in 1865. In 1886, the city had about 248 Jewish farming families. In 1899, a match plant "Druzhyna" was built in the city, which in 1900 employed 208 workers.
After World War I, Bolshevik revolution German troops occupied the city from February until November, 1918. The city was uncer Polish occupation from 1919–20, during which time Polish troops organized a Jewish pogrom and burned a major part of Koidanova. In March 1921, the Communists signed a treaty with Poland, according to which the city was a Soviet shtetl on the Polish-Soviet border until 1939.
In May 1932 it was granted the status of city, and renamed Kojdanaŭ (Belarusian: Койданаў), Russian: Koidanov. In June of that year it was renamed again as Dziaržynsk by the Communist authorities, in honor of Felix Dzerzhinsky (1877–1926), a famous Bolshevik creator and chief of the "Cherezvychainaya Komissija" (CHEKA) – the Soviet secret police -who was born in a Dziaržynava estate not far from the city.[1]
The city was the capital of the short-lived Dzierzynszczyzna Polish Autonomous District during 1932–38.
It fell under German occupation during World War II.
The Lithuanian Twelfth Schutzmannschaft (auxiliary police) Battalion's 1st Company, led by Lieutenant Z. Kemzura, massacred between 1,000 and 1,900 Jews from the city on October 21, 1941, shooting them and throwing them into a pit; many were buried alive.[3][4][5][6] As it is reported in "The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry," "For three hours the earth covering the mass grave would move; people still alive were trying to crawl out of their grave."[5] In July 1942, the Einsatzgruppen killed several thousand Jews in Koidanovo.[7] The city was liberated by the Soviet Red Army on July 6, 1944.[1]
In 1998, the city had 24,700 inhabitants.[8]
Nowadays in Belarus, the name Kojdanava (Belarusian: Койданава) is becoming popular again (it is the official name for the railway station of Dziarzhynsk), but the official name remains unchanged, as Felix Dzerzhinsky, the founder of Cheka, is still considered a national hero in Belarus.
The highest point of Belarus, Dziaržynskaja Hara, is several kilometers from Dziaržynsk.
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