Mikulishki ( be, Мікулішкі, Mikuliški; russian: Микулишки; russian: Mikuliszki) is a village in

Ashmyany District Ashmyany District ( be, Ашмянскі раён) is a district in Grodno Region of Belarus. The administrative center is Ashmyany. Notable residents * Jazep Hermanovich (1890, Halshany - 1978), Belarusian Eastern Catholic priest, writer, poe ...

, Grodno Region, Belarus. It is situated on the

Merkys River The Merkys ( be, Мяркіс ''Miarkis'') is a river in southern Lithuania and northern Belarus. It flows for through Belarus, along the Belarusian–Lithuanian border, and through Lithuania before joining the Nemunas near Merkinė. Merkys is ...

History

In the interwar period, the village was situated in Poland, in the Wilno Voivodeship, in the

Wilno-Troki County Wilno-Troki County was a county with capital in Vilnius located in Wilno Land, and later, Wilno Voivodeship, in Poland. It originated from informal unification of administration, between the counties of Wilno and Troki, that existed from 1921 to ...

, in the Turgiele Commune. After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the village became part of the BSSR. In the years 1941-1944 it was under German occupation. On January 8, 1944, in Mikulishki, soldiers of the 3rd and 6th Vilnius Brigade of the Home Army replied the attack of the German gendarmerie and the Lithuanian and Belarusian police. From 1944, the village was again in the BSSR. From 1991 in the Republic of Belarus.

AK Soldiers Cemetery

On the southern edge of the village, in the forest, on the dunes at the edge of the backwaters of the Merkys River there is a cemetery, where, according to tradition, January insurgents were buried. Insurgents from the board of Bolesław Narbutt, the younger brother of

Ludwik Ludwik () is a Polish given name. Notable people with the name include: * Ludwik Czyżewski, Polish WWII general * Ludwik Fleck (1896–1961), Polish medical doctor and biologist * Ludwik Gintel (1899–1973), Polish-Israeli Olympic soccer player ...

, who died on June 21, 1863, in nearby Rudniki were buried here. In 22 graves of those killed in the battle on January 8, 1944, one soldier of the 3rd AK Brigade who fallen on March 17, 1944, in Czarny Bór, one soldier killed in March 1944 in Murzyny, soldiers of the 3rd AK Brigade Fallen on May 13, 1944, in the

battle of Murowana Oszmianka The Battle of Murowana Oszmianka of 13–14 May 1944 was the largest clash between the Polish resistance movement organization Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK) and the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force (LTDF); a Lithuanian volunteer security for ...

and in June 1944 in the ambush near the road near

Jašiūnai Jašiūnai ( pl, Jaszuny) is a town in Lithuania. It is situated on the Merkys River and an edge of the Rūdninkai Forest. According to the 2001 census, it had population of 1,879. The town's population is primarily Poles (some 74,5%), with Lithu ...

, as well as two soldiers of the 6th AK brigade fallen on July 9, 1944, in Kamionka. Aleksander Stankiewicz from Mikulishki and Antoni Piotkowicz murdered by the NKVD in February 1945. The accommodation of the Home Army soldiers was built thanks to the efforts of the former Home Army communities of the 3rd and 6th Home Army Brigade. Construction costs were co -financed by the

Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites The Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites ( pl, Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa) is a Polish government body charged with the preservation of historical sites of wartime persecution of the Polish nation. It was set ...

. The quarters were opened and dedicated in June 1992. For a long time, Józef Pietkiewicz, a resident of the village of Mikulishki, looked after cemetery. The cemetery was destroyed by the Belarusian authorities in July 2022.

References

{{Authority control Villages in Belarus Populated places in Grodno Region Ashmyany District