Ivacevičy ( be, Івацэ́вічы, russian: Ивацевичи, pl, Iwacewicze, lt, Ivasevičai) is a city in the
Brest Province
Brest Region or Brest Oblast or Brest Voblasts ( be, Брэ́сцкая во́бласць ''(Bresckaja vobłasć)''; russian: Бре́стская о́бласть (''Brestskaya Oblast)'') is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative cent ...
of
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 ...
, an administrative center of the Ivacevičy district.
Sports
Belarusian football club
FC Ivatsevichi
FC Ivatsevichi is a Belarusian football club based in Ivatsevichy (Ivatsevichi) in Brest Oblast. The club currently plays in Belarusian Second League.
History
The club was founded in 2016. They spent first two years playing in Brest Oblast leag ...
was based in here in 2018
World War II
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 ...
, Ivatsevitshy was part of
Nowogródek Voivodeship. In 1795, the town 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 the course of the
Third Partition of Poland
The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polish ...
From 1921 until 1939, Ivatsevichy (''Iwacewicze'') was a provincial city in the
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...
, the seat of Kosów county with the population of around 1,500. It belonged to
Polesie Voivodeship
Polesie Voivodeship ( pl, województwo poleskie) was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939), named after the historical region of Polesia. It was created by the Council of Ministers of the Second Polish Republic on February 19, 1 ...
region of eastern
Kresy
Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic, it ...
, with a notable Jewish population.
[
]
In September 1939, Ivatsevichy was
occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the
Byelorussian SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
. Following the
Invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
, the number of Jews in Ivatsevichy greatly increased due to influx of refugees from the Nazi-occupied western part of Poland.
Ivatsevichy was
occupied by Nazi Germany from 24 June 1941 until 12 July 1944 and administered as a part of the ''
Generalbezirk Weißruthenien
Generalbezirk Weissruthenien (General District White Ruthenia) was one of the four administrative subdivisions of ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'', the 1941-1945 civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany for the administration of the th ...
'' of ''
Reichskommissariat Ostland
The Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) was established by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II. It became the civilian occupation regime in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the western part of Byelorussian SSR. German planning documents initia ...
''. The Nazis carried out mass executions of Jews at the Żwirownia gravel pit nearby. Under a strong German guard, Jews were marched out of town and separated into smaller groups. They were shot in waves over the already dug-out pits. Before 1944, the Nazis executed there more than a thousand innocent victims including prisoners of war.
In 1941 soon after the Nazi takeover of Ivatsevichy, a ghetto was set up for about 600 Jews. They were fed starvation rations and forced to perform slave labor. On 14 March 1942 the ghetto was liquidated. All inmates were marched on foot to the
Słonim Ghetto
The Słonim Ghetto ( pl, getto w Słonimiu, be, Слонімскае гета, german: Ghetto von Slonim, yi, סלאָנים) was a Nazi ghetto established in 1941 by the Schutzstaffel, SS in Slonim, Western Belarus during World War II. Prior to ...
, and over the course of several months murdered there.
After the liberation, in Soviet Belarus the area of the mass graves in Ivatsevichy was used to extract sand. During mining, the bones of the dead were constantly being unearthed, until finally in the 1960s, a stone memorial was placed at the pits, marking the already mined graves.
References
External links
Portal of Ivatsevichy DistrictIvatsevichy City ForumPhotos on Radzima.org
{{Coord, 52, 43, N, 25, 20, E, region:BY_type:city, display=title
Cities in Belarus
Grodno Governorate
Holocaust locations in Belarus
Ivatsevichy District
Nowogródek Voivodeship (1507–1795)
Polesie Voivodeship
Populated places in Brest Region