Luninyets or Luninets is a town in Brest Region,

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 serves as the administrative center of

Luninyets District Luninyets district or Luniniec district (; ) is a district (raion) of Brest region in Belarus. Its administrative center is Luninyets. As of 2024, it has a population of 61,728. Demographics At the time of the 2009 Belarusian census, Luninets ...

. As of 2025, it has a population of 23,469. It is home to Luninets air base.

History

Luninyets is said to be mentioned in print sources dating to 1540. Within the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, it was part of Nowogródek Voivodeship. In 1793, the town was acquired by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in the course of the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

. In 1888, while under Russian sovereignty, a railway junction was built in Luninyets, linking it by rail to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

, and a proper railroad station was added in 1905. Łuniniec became part of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

in 1921 following the Polish-Soviet War. It was a county seat within the

Polesie Voivodeship Polesie Voivodeship () was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939), named after the historical region of Polesia. It was created by the Council of Ministers of the Second Polish Republic on February 19, 1921, as a result of peac ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Łuniniec was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

. Luninyets was occupied by Nazi Germany from 10 July 1941 until 10 July 1944 and administered as a part of the Generalbezirk Wolhynien und Podolien of ''

Reichskommissariat Ukraine The ''Reichskommissariat Ukraine'' (RKU; ) was an administrative entity of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944. It served as the German civilian occupation regime in the Ukrainian SSR, and ...

''. After 1944, Luninyets remained part of the Soviet Union until 1991, at which time it became part of the newly independent Republic of

. The Jewish population was important in the town. From 1941 to 1943, 4,000 Jews were murdered in mass executions perpetrated by an ''

Einsatzgruppe (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the impl ...

''.

Education

In Luninyets there are 2 vocational colleges – polytechnic and agricultural production.

Transport

In the beginning of 20th century, Luninyets became an important railway junction. In 1884–1886, train traffic was opened to

, Rovno,

and Brest, a large railway junction with a depot, workshops and other buildings was built near the village, a railway station was built.

Notes

References

External links

Site of Belarus city Luninets

https://web.archive.org/web/20040217183603/http://hometown.aol.com/hghoover/genealgy/LunYB.htm]
Photos on Radzima.org

Photo and video Luninets
* {{Authority control Luninyets, Luniniec Populated places in Belarus Jewish Belarusian history Jewish communities Holocaust locations in Belarus Luninyets district