Vasilishki ( be, Васілішкі, russian: Василишки, pl, Wasiliszki, yi, װאַסילישאָק ''Vasilishok'', lt, Vosyliškės) is an

urban settlement An Urban settlement is a concentrated settlement that is part of an urban area. It is an area with high density of human-created structures. *Municipal urban settlement, a type of subdivision such as Cape town in Western Cape *Urban settlement, a ...

in Shchuchyn District, Grodno Region, Belarus, the administrative center of Vasilishki Selsoviet.

History

Within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vasilishki was part of Vilnius Voivodeship. In 1795, the town was acquired by the Russian Empire as a result of the Third Partition of Poland. From 1919 until 1929, Vasilishki (''Wasiliszki'') was part of Lida County and from 1929 until 1939 of Szczuczyn County of the Nowogródek Voivodeship of 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 ...

. Before World War II, more than 80% of the 2,500 inhabitants of the town were Jews. In September 1939, Vasilishki was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the

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

. Vasilishki was occupied by Nazi Germany from June 1941 until 12 July 1944 and administered as a part of '' Generalbezirk Weißruthenien'' of ''

Reichskommissariat Ostland The Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) was established by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II. It became the civilian occupation regime in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the western part of Byelorussian SSR. German planning documents initia ...

''. In December 1941, a ghetto was established where Jews from the neighboring villages of Zaboloc and Sobakintse were also kept imprisoned. Jews were forced to perform hard labor. On May 10, 1942, the Germans, assisted by the Lithuanian police, made a selection of the Jews in the central square. Between 1,800 and 2,200 Jews were shot in the Jewish cemetery over the course of 2 days, where pits had been dug in advance. The rest of the Jews, around 200 people, were transferred to different ghettos, among them the Lida ghetto. A certain number of Jews survived by escaping to the forest.

References

{{Coord, 53, 47, N, 24, 51, E, region:BE_type:city_source:kolossus-ruwiki, display=title Agrotowns in Belarus Holocaust locations in Belarus Jewish Belarusian history Lidsky Uyezd Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–1939) Populated places in Grodno Region Shchuchyn District Vilnius Voivodeship

History

See also

References