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Vietka ( be, Ветка, pl, Wietka) is a small, historical town in
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 ...
, situated on the bank of the
Sozh River The Sozh, or Sož ( be, Сож, ; russian: Сож, uk, Сож) is an international river flowing in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper. The Sozh passes through Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus. T ...
. It is the principal centre in
Vietka Rajon Vetka District, Vietka District or Vietka Rajon, Vietkaŭski Rajon ( be, Веткаўскі раён, russian: Ветковский район) is a district of Gomel Region, in Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelo ...
in
Gomel Region Gomel Region or Gomel Oblast or Homiel Voblasts ( be, Го́мельская во́бласць, Homielskaja vobłasć, russian: Гомельская область, Gomelskaya oblast) is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center i ...
. It was established in 1685 by the
Old Believer Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
Priest Group (a branch of the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
) who were known as the Theodesians and who had migrated from
Central Russia Central Russia is, broadly, the various areas in European Russia. Historically, the area of Central Russia varied based on the purpose for which it is being used. It may, for example, refer to European Russia (except the North Caucasus and ...
. At the time it was founded, Vietka was on the territory of the
Great 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 Lit ...
. The town's prosperity brought on the wrath 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. ...
and as result, it was gutted twice (1735 and 1764) by the
Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...
army in the 18th century. Vietka is located on the left bank of the Sozh River, in the area which was highly
radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...
due to the
nuclear fallout Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
of the
Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
that occurred on April 26, 1986.


Etymology

The town is named Vietka after an island in the Sozh River. "Vietka" means "branch" in Belarusian language.


Geography

The town is located in the Homiel region on the right bank of the Sozh River and is surrounded by forest and marshy land. It is situated away from Homiel. The Homiel and
Dobruš Dobrush ( be, Добруш, , russian: Добруш, pl, Dobrusz) is a town within the Gomel Region of Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Рес ...
road passes through the town. It has 139 inhabited areas in 57 resettled suburbs in the district which extends over an area of . As of 2003, the population of the district was 19,700.


History

A fairly large priest group, the Old Believer Priest Group from Central Russia, who were ordained under the Pre-
Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...
rites, migrated to Vietka and established a number of villages in the vicinity, under the leadership of
Hieromonk A hieromonk ( el, Ἱερομόναχος, Ieromonachos; ka, მღვდელმონაზონი, tr; Slavonic: ''Ieromonakh'', ro, Ieromonah), also called a priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church and E ...
Fedosie.


17th-18th centuries

The Old Believer Priest Group, known as Theodesians, believed in
Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, King of the Jews (JNKJ) and had prospered in Russia. They found favour with the
Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
s and the Imperial Government vis-à-vis the Non-Priest Group.Shubin2005, p.39-41 After moving to Vetka, they practiced their religion with freedom and they also had economic opportunities to prosper. This resulted in Vetka becoming a town of about 40,000 people around 1730. Thus, during the 17th–18th centuries, in Vietka and surrounding suburbs with neighbouring settlements, there was a proliferation of monasteries and priories. It became known as the "centre of
Raskolniks The Schism of the Russian Church, also known as Raskol (russian: раскол, , meaning "split" or "schism"), was the splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It ...
" with distinct assimilation and preservation of the "traditions of the Moscow Russia". The main square of the town was also named the Red Square, as in Moscow, which name is still in vogue here. This ensued a period of the proliferation of the artistic culture of "icon painting and manuscript book design" and Vetka wood carving. However, in 1733
Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...
forced the Vietka Old Believer Group to relocate to Russia, and when they refused, they were forcibly moved out of Vietka to Central Russia. Epifane, the Bishop of the Vietka community, was subject to incarceration in 1733. Following this, those living in villages around Vietka organized themselves and started building up a flourishing economy. However, this was not tolerated by
Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
and the entire group of Old Believers were forcibly transported to
Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
thus putting an end to their presence in Vietka. Finally, in 1772, 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. ...
took over Vietka.


19th-20th centuries

Ships were manufactured here from 1840 and the rich people of the town were known to own steamships. As of 1880, the population of Vietka town was 5,982 (42.6% Jewish), living in 11 stone and 994 wooden buildings., pp. 428-429 At the time, six rope plants and six windmills, four forges, four stone and 120 wooden shops were reported. The population of Vetka increased to 7,200 by 1897. The main vocations were of jewellery, small trade and handicrafts with 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 ...
concentrating on timber trading, operating from Vietka
wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...
. In 1917, Vietka was absorbed into the administrative jurisdiction of the
Gomel Region Gomel Region or Gomel Oblast or Homiel Voblasts ( be, Го́мельская во́бласць, Homielskaja vobłasć, russian: Гомельская область, Gomelskaya oblast) is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center i ...
.
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
troops occupied Vietka in 1918 during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. A power station was built in Vietka in 1924. It received a status of a town and a district in 1925. Vietka became a part of
Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
of
Soviet Socialist Republic The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...
in 1926 and the centre of region in the Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic. From 1933, the "Za bolshevistskie tempi" ("For Bolshevik tempos") newspaper was published here. Soviet authorities opened a Jewish school in
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
, in Vietka. The population of Vietka in 1939 was 6,000 people at the beginning of the World War II. 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 ...
, from August 18, 1941, till September 28, 1943, Axis forces occupied the town. The
Nazis 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 Na ...
murdered 656 citizens. The Chernobyl catastrophe which occurred on April 26, 1986, also caused immense depletion of population; as many as 40,000 were resettled in areas away from radiation effect, and the remaining population of the town was reported as only 7,000 on the first anniversary of the disaster.


Economy

There are many industries in Vietka, which have boosted the economy of the region. These include milk and meat production, cotton mills and weaving mills. There are four agricultural production cooperatives, many agricultural companies, four farms, 23 dairy and four hog-breeding farms and a stud farm. Economic survey of Vietka gives a picture of all round socioeconomic development with 10.4% industrial production in 2007 with a trade turnover of 13.8%. Exports are reported to have increased by 74.1% with imports recording 126.7%. The trade surplus is also reported. A cement factory is being set up in Vietka utilizing chalk available at the Shyrokoye and Podkamennoe deposits, close to Vietka.


Attractions

The city has attractions for tourists such as folk lore, crafts and traditions of Old Believers. There are 64 archaeological monuments, as well as twelve folklore and ethnographic performing arts groups in Vietka. Fifty-five historical and cultural monuments are located in the Vietka district. In addition, the well-known architectural monuments are the Senozhetsky's Palace in Khalch village and the Merchant Groshikov’s house in Vietka itself. The latter was built in 1897 in the Red Square, which now houses the Folk Art Museum. The museum has exhibits depicting the ancient artifacts, richly carved wooden entrance doors, manuscripts, traditional costumes and woven ''rushniki''. The collection of Fyodor Grigorjevich Shklyarov is the main source of the Folk Art Museum, which has 5,600 exhibits representing folk culture and life, traditional art and trades of Vietka region.


Notable people

The monk, Saint Josaphat, died in Vietka in 1695, as did the monk, Saint Theodosius, in 1710.


References


External links

{{Authority control Towns in Belarus Populated places established in 1685 Populated places in Gomel Region 1685 establishments in Europe Gomelsky Uyezd Holocaust locations in Belarus