Haradok ( be, Гарадок, - russian: Городок, Gorodok, pl, Horodek) is a town in the

Vitebsk Region Vitebsk Region or Vitebsk Oblast or Viciebsk Voblasts ( be, Ві́цебская во́бласць, ''Viciebskaja voblasć'', ; rus, Ви́тебская о́бласть, Vitebskaya oblast, ˈvʲitʲɪpskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a region (oblast ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

with the population of 34,700 people. Approximately 14,000 people reside in the town itself around 30,000 people reside within the district. Haradok district is one of the largest in the country. The town is located on the north-east of Belarus and occupies around 3,000 square kilometers. It is situated 30 kilometers away from Vitebsk, the major city of one of the six provinces in the Republic of Belarus.

History

Within the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...

, Haradok was part of

Vitebsk Voivodeship Vitebsk Voivodeship ( be, Віцебскае ваяводзтва, pl, Województwo witebskie, la, Palatinatus Vitebsciensis) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (from 1569 Polish–Lithu ...

. Haradok was acquired by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

in 1772, in the course of the First Partition of Poland. In 1939, 1,584 Jews lived in the town, making up 21.7% of the population. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Haradok was under

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

from 10 July 1941 until 24 December 1943. In the first half of August 1941, between 120 and 200 Jews were shot by the Germans near the village of Berezovka (1.5 kilometers south of the town). Shortly after this shooting, the Germans established a ghetto. The

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

was situated in a neighborhood in the center of town. It was fenced on three sides with barbed wire, and the river formed its boundary on the fourth side. Men were sometimes required to perform forced labor. On October 14, 1941, the Gorodok ghetto was liquidated. Nearly 400 Jews were shot in the forest in the Vorobevy Hills. They were killed in pits that had been dug in advance. Moreover, between August and October 1941, there were several small-scale shootings of Jews.

References

External links

Photos on Radzima.org

Official Haradok site
* Towns in Belarus Populated places in Vitebsk Region Haradok District Vitebsk Voivodeship Gorodoksky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Belarus {{Belarus-geo-stub