Lyenina or Lenino (; ) is an agrotown in Horki District, Mogilev 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 ...

. 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 ...

, the 1943

Battle of Lenino The Battle of Lenino was a tactical World War II engagement that took place on 12 and 13 October 1943, north of the village of Lenino, Mahilyow Voblast, Lenino in the Mogilev region of Byelorussian SSR, Byelorussia. The battle itself was a part ...

took place near the settlement.

History

Historically until 1918 the village had been known as Romanovo (, Ramanaw). Since the Truce of Andrusovo of 1697 it was part of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

and was located not far from the Polish-Muscovite border. Administratively part of the Mścisław Voivodeship, it was a private property of the mighty Radziwiłł family. Its last owner before the

partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

was Karol Stanisław "Panie Kochanku" Radziwiłł. However, as he declined to sign an oath of loyalty to empress

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

, the village was confiscated and donated to a Russian family of Dondukov-Korsakov in 1774. At that time the group of villages consisted of 72 settlements with 8589 houses. In late 19th century the village itself had 700 inhabitants, roughly half of them Jews. In late July 1941, all the Jews of the village and from the surrounding area were resettled into a ghetto. Local police guarded the ghetto, which was surrounded by barbed wire on one side and enclosed by a river and a swamp on the other. On June 12, 1942, the Germans and local police shot all of them in pits that had been prepared 2 kilometers to the East of the village. On October 12, 1943, a major battle took place to the north of the village, later to be known by the name of

battle of Lenino The Battle of Lenino was a tactical World War II engagement that took place on 12 and 13 October 1943, north of the village of Lenino, Mahilyow Voblast, Lenino in the Mogilev region of Byelorussian SSR, Byelorussia. The battle itself was a part ...

, even though the village itself was not targeted by any of the sides. Plyta1

In 1968 a Polish-Soviet Brotherhood Memorial was opened in the village, marking the battlefield. In 1989 a Polish War Cemetery was created. On the edge of the battlefield, there is a museum containing artefacts from the time and also a panorama of the battle.

References

Populated places in Mogilev region Horki district Agrotowns in Belarus Holocaust locations in Belarus {{Belarus-geo-stub