Mieračoŭščyna ( be, Мерачоўшчына, pl, Mereczowszczyzna) is a former manor near Kosava in

Ivatsevichy District Ivatsevichy (Ivacevičy) District is an administrative subdivision, a raion of Brest Region, in Belarus. Its administrative center is Ivatsevichy. In this district the sixth largest lake in Belarus Vygonoschanskoye Lake is situated. Demograph ...

, Brest Region, in present-day

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 ...

. It is best known as the birthplace of

Tadeusz Kościuszko Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko ( be, Andréj Tadévuš Banavientúra Kasciúška, en, Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kosciuszko; 4 or 12 February 174615 October 1817) was a Polish Military engineering, military engineer, statesman, an ...

. There is a Kościuszko museum in the reconstructed

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

of his birth.

History

In the first half of the 18th century, the folwark of Mereczowszczyzna belonged to the Sapieha family, and until the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

, was administratively located in the

Brest Litovsk Voivodeship Brest Litovsk Voivodeship ( Belarusian: ''Берасьцейскае ваяводзтва'', Polish: ''Województwo brzeskolitewskie'') was a unit of administrative territorial division and a seat of local government (voivode) within the Grand ...

in 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 ...

within the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

. In 1733, the village became property of Ludwik Tadeusz Kościuszko, who lived here until 1764. On February 4, 1746,

was born here, in a manor house. After the Third Partition of Poland (1795), the village came under control of 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. ...

, where it remained until 1916. During the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

, on June 8, 1863, it was the site of a battle between Polish insurgents and Russian troops. From 1918 to 1939, it belonged to 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 ...

. In September 1939, it was

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...

by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

during the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subse ...

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 ...

, and annexed to

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

. In 1941, it was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. In 1942, the house in which Kościuszko was born and spent the first 12 years of his life was burned down by Soviet partisans. In 1944, the village was re-occupied by the Soviet Union, and after the war, it remained in the Soviet Union.

Kościuszko museum

In 2003, with financial support of the U.S. Embassy in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, reconstruction of the house was started. Since several photos and drawings of the complex were preserved, the work was completed in a year. The house, based on the 18th century foundations, was opened for the public in 2004. Next to Kościuszko’s house a large rock was placed with a plaque that reads in Belarusian: “Here, in Merechevschina, Andrej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kasciuszka was born. He was the great son of the Belarusian land, who became a hero of Poland and USA, as well as Honorary Citizen of France”.

References

{{commons category, Mieračoŭščyna Populated places in Brest Region Grodno Governorate Polesie Voivodeship Villages in Belarus Kosava, Belarus