Brahin, Belarus
Brahin (Belarusian: Брагін) is an urban-type settlement in Belarus and an administrative center of Brahin Rajon. It stands on the banks of Braginka river, 28 km from the nearest railway (Chojniki station), and has a population of 3,700.
The settlement is first mentioned in the Hypatian Codex in 1147[1] as the important town of the Kiyv princedom. A significant part of Brahin's population traditionally was of Jewish descent. By the end of 19th century, 2254 of 4311 inhabitants were Jewish.[2] Many Jews in the area were killed by the German forces during World War II:[3]
"On September 13, 1941, the Jews of Bragin were ordered to gather in a school for the purposes of selecting a monitor and his deputy, but when 300 Jews came at the indicated time the school they were surrounded by Germans and closed. After that, Jews were led out in groups to the edge of the village and shot."
As a result of the Chernobyl disaster, areas of the Brahin district was radioactively contaminated. 52 settlements were resettled, 9 of which are buried. From Brahin itself 1,651 families (4,892 people) were resettled.
References
- ↑ Въ лЂто 6654 (1146) — въ лЂто 6655 (1147), ПСРЛ. — Т. 2. Ипатьевская летопись. — СПб., 1908. — Стлб. 327-360.
- ↑ "Raspredelenie naseleniya mest Rossiyskoy Imperii po chislennosti naseleniya. Vseobshchaya perepis’. Materialy ob economicheskom polozhenii evreev v Rossii.(1898) (ed. Evr.Kol.O-va), as cited on JewishGen website.
- ↑ "Ghettos in the Gomel Region: Commonalities and Unique Features, 1941-42" by Leonid Smilovitsky, Ph.D., Diaspora Research Center Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of the Humanities Tel Aviv University (fulltext); citing Yad Vashem Archives, collection M-33/1120, p. 5.
External links
Belarus
