village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in the administrative district of
Gmina Szudziałowo
__NOTOC__
Gmina Szudziałowo is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Sokółka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, on the border with Belarus. Its seat is the village of Szudziałowo, which lies approximately south-east o ...
, within
Sokółka County
__NOTOC__
Sokółka County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland, on the border with Belarus. It was created on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish local govern ...
,
Podlaskie Voivodeship
Podlaskie Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, ''Podlasie''), and significant part of its territory corresponds to th ...
, in north-eastern Poland. It is situated close to the border with
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 ...
. It lies approximately north-east of
Szudziałowo
Szudziałowo is a village in Sokółka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Szudziałowo. It lies approximately south-east of ...
, south-east of
Sokółka
Sokółka (; , ) is a town in northeastern Poland, seat of the Sokółka County in Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is a busy rail junction located on the international Warsaw–Białystok–Grodno line, with additional connections which go to Suwałki a ...
and north-east of the regional capital
Białystok
Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the List of cities and towns in Poland, tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area.
Biał ...
.
The word ' górny' in its name means 'upper', and the village just east of Usnarz Górny, on the Belarusian side of the border, is known in Polish as Usnarz Dolny ('
lower
Lower may refer to:
* ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker
*Lower (surname)
*Lower Township, New Jersey
*Lower Receiver (firearms)
*Lower Wick
Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...
Usnarz').
History
Near the end 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 ...
, Usnarz Górny was owned by Kazimierz and Zuzanna Wiszczyński. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Białystok Voivodeship.
In 2011, the village was inhabited by 75 people; most of its inhabitants are elderly. Many of its mostly wooden houses are now unoccupied, and although an asphalt road leads to the village, the roads within the village are unpaved.
In August 2021, the village was talked about in the media when a group of 32 immigrants from
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
and
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
camped for a long time near it on the Belarusian side of the border (in the
khutor
A khutor ( ; rus, хутор, p=ˈxutər) or khutir (, ) is a type of rural locality in some countries of Eastern Europe; in the past the term mostly referred to a single- homestead settlement. and prevented from returning to Belarus by Belarusian soldiers. They had been led to the border by the Belarusian government as part of the operation codenamed "Sluice". On October 24 of the same year, the
Polish border guard
The Polish Border Guard (Polish language, Polish: ''Straż Graniczna'', also abbreviated as SG) is a National security, state security agency tasked with patrolling the Polish border. It existed in the Second Polish Republic, Second Republic er ...
reported that a group of about 60 migrants, including some of those trapped on the border since August, tried unsuccessfully to forcibly cross the border into Poland near Usnarz Górny, with the assistance of Belarusian soldiers, who tried to cut through the recently erected border fence; some of the migrants threw stones at the Polish soldiers guarding the border, two of whom were lightly injured.