Brahin, or Bragin, is an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

in Gomel 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

Brahin District Brahin district or Bragin district (; ) is a district (raion) of Gomel region in Belarus. Its administrative seat is the town of Brahin. As of 2024, it has a population of 11,726. Geography The district includes the towns of Brahin and Kama ...

. It stands on the banks of the Brahinka River, from the nearest railway ( Khoiniki station). As of 2025, it has a population of 4,579.

History

The settlement is first mentioned in the

Hypatian Codex The ''Hypatian Codex'', also known as Hypatian Letopis or Ipatiev Letopis, is a compendium of three Rus' chronicle, Rus' chronicles: the ''Primary Chronicle'', ''Kievan Chronicle'' and ''Galician-Volhynian Chronicle''. It is the most important sou ...

in 1147Въ лѣто 6654 (1146) — въ лѣто 6655 (1147)
ПСРЛ. — Т. 2. Ипатьевская летопись. — СПб., 1908. — Стлб. 327-360. as an important town in

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

. A significant part of Brahin's population traditionally was of Jewish descent. By the end of 19th century, 2,254 of 4,311 inhabitants were Jewish."Raspredelenie naseleniya mest Rossiyskoy Imperii po chislennosti naseleniya. Vseobshchaya perepis’. Materialy ob economicheskom polozhenii evreev v Rossii.(1898) (ed. Evr.Kol.O-va), a
cited
on JewishGen website. 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 ...

, Brahin was under

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

occupation from 28 August 1941 to 23 November 1943. Many Jews in the area were killed by the German forces during that time:"Ghettos in the Gomel Region: Commonalities and Unique Features, 1941-42" by Leonid Smilovitsky, Ph.D., Diaspora Research Center Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of the Humanities Tel Aviv University
fulltext
; citing Yad Vashem Archives, collection M-33/1120, p. 5.

On September 13, 1941, the Jews of Bragin were ordered to gather in a school for the purposes of selecting a monitor and his deputy, but when 300 Jews came at the indicated time the school they were surrounded by Germans and closed. After that, Jews were led out in groups to the edge of the village and shot.

As a result of the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

, areas of the Brahin district were radioactively contaminated. 52 settlements were resettled, 9 of which are buried. From Brahin itself 1,651 families (4,892 people) were resettled.

Climate

Notable residents

Siarhiej Palujan Siarhiej Pałujan (; 19 October 1890, Brahin — 20 April 1910, Kyiv) was a Belarusian writer, journalist and theatre and literary critic. Early years Pałujan was born in Brahin (now a district capital in Homel Province), into a large famil ...

(1890–1910), Belarusian writer and publicist

Notes

References

External links

Brahin
at Belarus.by Urban-type settlements in Belarus Populated places in Gomel region Brahin district Dregovichs Holocaust locations in Belarus {{Belarus-geo-stub