Pruzhany ( be, Пружа́ны, ; russian: Пружаны, pl, Prużana, yi, פרוזשענע, Pruzhene) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Brest Voblast 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 ...

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 ...

. Pruzhany is the center of the district in Brest Region, Belarus. Its population is about 18,500 people. The town is located at the confluence of the

Mukha River Mukha may refer to: *Mukha (1958 film), ''Mukha'' (1958 film), a Pakistani film *Mukha (TV series), ''Mukha'' (TV series), a Philippine television drama *Mukha (game) or makha, a form of traditional Pashtun archery *Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp, ...

and the

Vets Canal Vet, VET or the Vet may refer to: * Veterinary physician, a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals * Veterinary medicine, the branch of science that deals with animals * Veteran, a person with long experience in a particula ...

, which give the start to

Mukhavets __NOTOC__ The Mukhavets or Mukhovets ( be, Мухаве́ц (''Muchaviec''), , BGN/PCGN romanization: ''Mukhavyets''; russian: Мухове́ц (''Muchovec''), pl, Muchawiec) is a river in western Belarus, a tributary to the Bug. The river rise ...

River.

History

Pruzhany has been known as Dabuchyn since 1487. In the 16th century, it belonged to queen

Bona Sforza Bona Sforza d'Aragona (2 February 1494 – 19 November 1557) was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania as the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, and Duchess of Bari and Rossano by her own right. She was a surviving member of ...

of Poland. She brought

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

influence and development of trades in this part of 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 1589, her daughter Anna granted a

town charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...

and the coat of arms of Pruzhany (a blue snake swallowing a baby on a silver shield). The coat of arms was borrowed from that of the Sforza family of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Pruzhany was a center of pottery trade at those times. In the mid-19th century, a wealthy Polish landlord, Walenty Szwykowski, laid out a park and built a pretentious palace that houses a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

today, after a restoration. The museum has a rich collection on the history and arts of the region. Another tourist attraction is the landmark at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal. It presents a statue of a passionate pair rising over waves. The Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated in 1884. The Jewish population in 1900 was 5,080. 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 ...

, Pruzhany was occupied by the Germans from 26 June 1941 to 17 July 1944. In 1941, the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s herded the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

and the vicinity here to create a

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 ...

. In ''Aktion'' roundups on 28-31 January 1943, the Nazis deported 10,000 Jews of the Pruzhany ghetto to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, via

Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, where the men, women and children were murdered. In 2003, the central part of the town was reconstructed to prepare the town for the national harvest festival “ Dažynki” in autumn 2003. Pruzhany is the birthplace of

Joseph B. Soloveitchik Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ( he, יוסף דב הלוי סולובייצ׳יק ''Yosef Dov ha-Levi Soloveychik''; February 27, 1903 – April 9, 1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, and modern Jewish philosopher. He was a scion ...

, the Torah scholar and Jewish leader. Also, the American actor

Mandy Patinkin Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...

descends from ancestors from Pruzhany (as well as the nearby

shtetl A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...

Drahichyn Drahichyn (Belarusian language, Belarusian: Драгічын, uk, Дорогичин, russian: Дрогичин, pl, Drohiczyn, yi, דראהיטשין ''Drohichin'', lt, Drohičinas) is a city in the Brest Region of Belarus. It the administrati ...

). Raisa Žuk-Hryškievič, a prominent figure of the

Belarusian diaspora The Belarusian diaspora refers to emigrants from the territory of Belarus as well as to their descendants. According to different researchers, there are between 2.5 and 3.5 million Belarusian descendants living outside the territory of the Rep ...

, was born in Pruzhany in 1919.

Gallery

File:Pruzhany river.jpg, One of the tourist attractions in today's Pruzhany is the landmark at the confluence of the

and the

File:Pru mem 1.jpg, The war memorial to commemorate the villages of Pruzhany District burnt to ashes by Nazis in the last war

References

External links

Photos on Radzima.org

* Pruzhany District Populated places in Brest Region Towns in Belarus Brest Litovsk Voivodeship Pruzhansky Uyezd Polesie Voivodeship Holocaust locations in Belarus {{Belarus-stub

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links