Kosava or Kossovo (; ; ), formerly known as Kosava-Palyeskaye, is a town in

Ivatsevichy District Ivatsevichy district or Ivacevičy district (; ) is a district (raion) of Brest region in Belarus. Its administrative center is Ivatsevichy. As of 2024, it has a population of 50,196. Vygonoschanskoye Lake, the sixth-largest lake in Belarus, ...

, Brest Region, in western

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. As of 2025, it has a population of 1,837. The nearby village of Merechevschina is the birthplace of

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko (; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, and military leader who then became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania, and ...

, with Kosava being the place of his baptism. Kosava is the birthplace of Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz. Nearby is the ruined Kosava Castle, built by the Pusłowski family in 1830, and a replica of

's house in ''Mereczowszczyzna''.

History

The first settlements in the area are known since the 10th and 11th centuries as part of

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

. The first mention of the town was in 1494, when it was part of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. It was a

private town Private towns in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth were privately owned towns within the lands owned by magnates, bishops, knights and princes, among others. Amongst the most well-known former private magnate towns are Białystok, Zamość, R ...

of the Chreptowicz,

Sanguszko The House of Sanguszko is a Polish and Lithuanian noble and aristocratic family of Lithuanian and Ruthenian origin, connected to the Gediminid dynasty. Like other princely houses of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, its origins are considered m ...

Sapieha The House of Sapieha (; ; ; ) is a Polish-Lithuanian noble and magnate family of Ruthenian origin,Энцыклапедыя ВКЛ. Т.2, арт. "Сапегі" descending from the medieval boyars of Smolensk and Polotsk. Vernadsky, George. ...

, Flemming,

Czartoryski The House of Czartoryski (feminine form: Czartoryska, plural: Czartoryscy; ) is a Princely Houses of Poland, Polish princely family of Lithuanian-Ruthenians, Ruthenian origin, also known as the Familia (political party), Familia. The family, whic ...

and Pusłowski

noble families Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. Th ...

, administratively located in the Slonim County in the Nowogródek Voivodeship of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

, after being born in nearby Mereczowszczyzna in 1746, was baptized at the local church. After 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 Polis ...

in 1795, it became part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. The town was industrialized by the Pusłowski family. From 1915 to 1918, the town was under German occupation during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

, it was part of the

Polesie Voivodeship Polesie Voivodeship () 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, 1921, as a result of peac ...

in Poland, within which it was a county seat until it was moved to

Iwacewicze Ivatsevichy (; ; ) is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Ivatsevichy District. As of 2025, it has a population of 22,264. History Within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ivatsevitshy was part of Nowogródek ...

in 1935. On 3 February 1927, as Polish newspaper '' Robotnik'' reported, Polish policemen shot manifestation of peasants that claimed to release imprisoned deputies. Following the 1939

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, the town was first occupied by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

until 1941, then by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

until 1944. In 1941, the Germans established a

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

for Jews, both locals and refugees who had previously fled the German occupiers from western and central Poland. The ghetto was liquidated in July 1942 with the Jews either deported to other locations or massacred in nearby Mereczowszczyzna. In July 1944, the town was re-occupied by the Soviet Union, and eventually annexed from Poland the following year.

History

Demographics

Notes

References

External links