Yelsk ( be, Ельск, Jeĺsk; russian: Ельск; pl, Jelsk; lt, Jelskas) 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 ...
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 ...
,
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 ...
. It serves as the administrative center of
Yelsk District.
As of 2024, it has a population of 8,724.
Yelsk was greatly affected by radioactive fallout from 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 ...
in 1986.
History
The city was occupied by German troops during summer 1941. The local Jews of Yelsk were gathered and deported towards Kalinkovichi and Mozyr. Approximately two weeks after the departure of the Jews of Yelsk, the Jews of the nearby Jewish village of Skorodnoye were brought in and locked inside a building. Then, the Germans set fire to the building all the Jews were burned alive.
Notes
References
Towns in Belarus
Populated places in Gomel Region
Minsk Voivodeship
Holocaust locations in Belarus
Yelsk District
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