Babruysk
Encyclopedia
Babruysk or Bobruysk is a city in the Mahilyow Voblast
of Belarus
on the Berezina river
. It is a large city in Belarus with a population of approximately 227,000 people (2000). The name Babruysk (as well as that of the Babruyka River) probably originates from the Belarusian word babyor (бобёр) (beaver
), many of which used to inhabit the Berezina. However, beavers in the area have been almost eliminated by the end of the 19th century due to hunting
and pollution
.
Babruysk occupies an area of 66 square km, and comprises over 450 streets whose combined length stretches for over 430 km.
Babruysk is located at the intersection of railroads to Asipovichy
, Zhlobin
, Kastrychnitski and roads to Minsk
, Gomel, Mogilev
, Kalinkavichy
, Slutsk
, and Rahachow
. It has the biggest timber mill in Belarus, and is also known for its chemical, machine building and metal-working industries.
In 2003, there were 34 public schools in Babruysk, with over 34,000 students. There are also three schools specializing in music
, dance
and visual arts
. Additionally, there is a medical school
and numerous
professional technical schools.
. It was first mentioned in writing in the middle of the 14th century. Investigations by archaeologists revealed that in the 5th and 6th centuries there existed Slavic settlements up the river Biarezina from where Babruysk is currently located; findings of stone tools and weapons suggest that people have lived in the area since the stone age
.
During the reign of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, in place of modern-day Babruysk there was a village whose inhabitants were occupied with fishing
and beaver trapping
. This is where the name Babruysk originated. For many centuries Babruysk was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
and was an important militarily fortified border post. In the 14th century a castle
was built on one of the hills near the Biarezina River.
Babruysk was not only a major military base, but also a prominent trade center. There is evidence of a market containing over 75 stalls, which implies significant financial activity. In the first half of the 17th century Babruysk became a big trade outpost thanks to its strategic position at the intersection of major trade routes and the Biarezina river. There was a flowering of skilled tradesmen, including carpenter
s, blacksmith
s, goldsmith
s, and baker
s. The population in the first half of the 17th century was between 2,000 and 5,000 people.
The town was surrounded by fortifications made from wood and earth, whose length stretched for over 3 km. These included a protective earth barrier, wooden walls, and almost a dozen two-story watchtowers. In the walls there were openings designed for the placement of firearms. After the Second Partition of Poland
in 1793 it came into the hands of Imperial Russia. In 1810, the construction of a fortress began to mark the border between Russia
and Austria
and Prussia
; in 1812 it was almost completed and was successful in repelling Napoleon's attack for four months. After the war the building was renewed on a large scale, and it was completed in 1820. That was one of the western Russian fortresses
. The Babruysk fortress
has served its purpose for many decades and today it is a major tourist attraction
.
The 1861 census
showed a population of 15,766. The ethnic groups living in Babruysk included Belarusians
, Ukrainians
, Poles
, and Jews
. As in other cities of Belarus, most of the buildings were constructed from wood. In 1866 there were 1498 houses, only 29 of which were made from brick
.
There was a steady increase in the Jewish population of Babruysk following the Napoleonic wars
. By 1897, in the population of 34,336 citizens, 60%, or 20,760 were Jews. Most of them were employed in crafts, industry and trade.
During the 1890s, the citizens of Babruysk witnessed pogroms after the assassination
of the Russian emperor Alexander II
. Many the attacks were repelled by armed Jewish self-defense.
In 1902, the Great Fire of Babruysk left 2,500 families homeless and destroyed over 250 business, 15 schools and the market. There were more than 7 million rubles in property damage, however the city was quickly rebuilt, this time with brick and stone.
In 1919—1920, usurpation by Polish
occupation forces.
In 1941, Hitler's forces invaded Babruysk. Believing that German troops would not target civilians, many Jews stayed behind. Consequently, 20,000 Babruysk Jews were shot and buried in mass graves. Ghetto
and labor camps were established in the southwest part of town. The conditions inside the camps were horrible and involved lack of food, lack of sanitation and perpetual abuse by the Nazi
guards. Soon the Nazis began executing the Jews in the ghetto in groups of about 30. By 1943 all labor camps have been liquidated and the remaining Jews killed. The few Jews who escaped joined partisan forces in the surrounding forest and went about attacking enemy railroad lines. There is a small memorial dedicated to the memory of Babruysk Jews killed in the Holocaust, located in the Nahalat Yitzhak
cemetery, Giv'atayim
, Israel
, as part of the Babi Yar
memorial.
On June 29, 1944, the Red Army
liberated Babruysk. The city lay in ruins; while the population had been 84,107 in 1939, it was down to 28,352 following the war. The difficult process of rebuilding was conducted by thousands of workers and war prisoners who labored to clear factories and streets of rubble and filled in craters made by the bombardment. The machine building plant had been almost completely destroyed, but was restored to working order by the end of 1944. Many other factories and facilities were also rebuilt.
The population recovered swiftly as well. In 1959 it was 96,000, in 1965 - 116,000, in 1968 - 122,500, in 1970 - 136,000 and by 1989, 232,000 people were living in Babruysk. This was mostly due to urbanization
, where people moved into the city from the surrounding rural areas.
" slang, and the infamous idiomatic expression "Ф Бабруйск жывотное" ("To Bobruysk, animal!", lit. "Go to Babruysk, you animal!"). Allegedly, it is just a pun
, with daft people being referred to as 'beavers' ("beaver
" is bobr in Russian), and Babruysk thus being literally 'the place where beavers are found'. A popular website has since run a humorous 'investigation' into what real Bobruysk is like, in a much-copied article, and concluded that it was a pleasant city with no daft people or beavers to be found, which has itself become a source of joking comebacks in popular slang.
Mahilyow Voblast
Mahilyow Voblasts or Mogilyov Oblast is a province of Belarus with its administrative center being Mogilyov ....
of Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
on the Berezina river
Berezina River
The Berezina is a river in Belarus and a tributary of the Dnieper River.The Berezina Preserve by the river is in the UNESCO list of Biosphere Preserves.-Historical significance:...
. It is a large city in Belarus with a population of approximately 227,000 people (2000). The name Babruysk (as well as that of the Babruyka River) probably originates from the Belarusian word babyor (бобёр) (beaver
European Beaver
The Eurasian beaver or European beaver is a species of beaver, which was once widespread in Eurasia, where it was hunted to near extinction both for fur and for castoreum, a secretion of its scent gland believed to have medicinal properties...
), many of which used to inhabit the Berezina. However, beavers in the area have been almost eliminated by the end of the 19th century due to hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
.
Babruysk occupies an area of 66 square km, and comprises over 450 streets whose combined length stretches for over 430 km.
Babruysk is located at the intersection of railroads to Asipovichy
Asipovichy
Asipovichy or Osipovichi is a town in Mahilyow Voblast, Belarus, located 136 km southwest of Mogilev, 3 km north of the Minsk-Homyel expressway. It is located at the junction of railway lines between Minsk, Homel, Mahilyow , and Baranavichy...
, Zhlobin
Zhlobin
Zhlobin is a city in the Homiel Voblast of Belarus, on the Dnieper river. As of 2005, the population is 75.866. The town was first mentioned in writing in 1492....
, Kastrychnitski and roads to Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
, Gomel, Mogilev
Mogilev
Mogilev is a city in eastern Belarus, about 76 km from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and 105 km from the border with Russia's Bryansk Oblast. It has more than 367,788 inhabitants...
, Kalinkavichy
Kalinkavichy
Kalinkavičy , or Kalinkoviči, is a town in the Homiel Province of south-eastern Belarus. Kalinkavičy is located beside the Pripyat River, opposite the town of Mazyr, and is the site of one of country's most important railway junctions...
, Slutsk
Slutsk
Slutsk is a town in Belarus, located on the Sluch River south of Minsk. As of 2010 its population is of 61,400).-Geography:The town is situated in the south-west of its Voblast, not too far from from the city of Soligorsk.-History:...
, and Rahachow
Rahachow
Rahachow - also transliteratedRahačoŭ .The notable Rabbi, Yosef Rosen , known as the Rogatchover Gaon , was born and raised here. The artist Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan was born and brought up here, as was former NHL hockey player Sergei Bautin.- External links :*...
. It has the biggest timber mill in Belarus, and is also known for its chemical, machine building and metal-working industries.
In 2003, there were 34 public schools in Babruysk, with over 34,000 students. There are also three schools specializing in music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
and visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
. Additionally, there is a medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
and numerous
professional technical schools.
History
Babruysk is one of the oldest cities in BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
. It was first mentioned in writing in the middle of the 14th century. Investigations by archaeologists revealed that in the 5th and 6th centuries there existed Slavic settlements up the river Biarezina from where Babruysk is currently located; findings of stone tools and weapons suggest that people have lived in the area since the stone age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
.
During the reign of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, in place of modern-day Babruysk there was a village whose inhabitants were occupied with fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
and beaver trapping
Trapping (Animal)
Animal trapping, or simply trapping, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, wildlife management, hunting, and pest control...
. This is where the name Babruysk originated. For many centuries Babruysk was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
and was an important militarily fortified border post. In the 14th century a castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
was built on one of the hills near the Biarezina River.
Babruysk was not only a major military base, but also a prominent trade center. There is evidence of a market containing over 75 stalls, which implies significant financial activity. In the first half of the 17th century Babruysk became a big trade outpost thanks to its strategic position at the intersection of major trade routes and the Biarezina river. There was a flowering of skilled tradesmen, including carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
s, blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
s, goldsmith
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
s, and baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
s. The population in the first half of the 17th century was between 2,000 and 5,000 people.
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
in 1793 it came into the hands of Imperial Russia. In 1810, the construction of a fortress began to mark the border between Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
; in 1812 it was almost completed and was successful in repelling Napoleon's attack for four months. After the war the building was renewed on a large scale, and it was completed in 1820. That was one of the western Russian fortresses
Western Russian fortresses
During the 19th century, the Russian Empire built a system of permanent fortifications along its Western border, consisting of a chain of fortresses controlling strategic locations...
. The Babruysk fortress
Babruysk fortress
The Babruysk Fortress is a historic fortress in the city of Babruysk, Belarus that was built between 1810 and 1836. It is one of the best surviving examples of fortification architecture and design in the first half of the 19th century. The fortress was constructed in the historic center of the...
has served its purpose for many decades and today it is a major tourist attraction
Tourist attraction
A tourist attraction is a place of interest where tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, or amusement opportunities....
.
The 1861 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
showed a population of 15,766. The ethnic groups living in Babruysk included Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...
, Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
. As in other cities of Belarus, most of the buildings were constructed from wood. In 1866 there were 1498 houses, only 29 of which were made from brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
.
There was a steady increase in the Jewish population of Babruysk following the Napoleonic wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. By 1897, in the population of 34,336 citizens, 60%, or 20,760 were Jews. Most of them were employed in crafts, industry and trade.
During the 1890s, the citizens of Babruysk witnessed pogroms after the assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of the Russian emperor Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
. Many the attacks were repelled by armed Jewish self-defense.
In 1902, the Great Fire of Babruysk left 2,500 families homeless and destroyed over 250 business, 15 schools and the market. There were more than 7 million rubles in property damage, however the city was quickly rebuilt, this time with brick and stone.
In 1919—1920, usurpation by Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
occupation forces.
In 1941, Hitler's forces invaded Babruysk. Believing that German troops would not target civilians, many Jews stayed behind. Consequently, 20,000 Babruysk Jews were shot and buried in mass graves. Ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
and labor camps were established in the southwest part of town. The conditions inside the camps were horrible and involved lack of food, lack of sanitation and perpetual abuse by the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
guards. Soon the Nazis began executing the Jews in the ghetto in groups of about 30. By 1943 all labor camps have been liquidated and the remaining Jews killed. The few Jews who escaped joined partisan forces in the surrounding forest and went about attacking enemy railroad lines. There is a small memorial dedicated to the memory of Babruysk Jews killed in the Holocaust, located in the Nahalat Yitzhak
Nahalat Yitzhak
Nahalat Yitzhak is a neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel.-History:Nahalat Yitzhak was founded in 1925, east of the Ayalon River and the Ayalon Highway, by a group of Jews who came from Kaunas....
cemetery, Giv'atayim
Giv'atayim
Giv'atayim is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. It has a population of 53,000....
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, as part of the Babi Yar
Babi Yar
Babi Yar is a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and a site of a series of massacres carried out by the Nazis during their campaign against the Soviet Union. The most notorious and the best documented of these massacres took place on September 29–30, 1941, wherein 33,771 Jews were killed in a...
memorial.
On June 29, 1944, the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
liberated Babruysk. The city lay in ruins; while the population had been 84,107 in 1939, it was down to 28,352 following the war. The difficult process of rebuilding was conducted by thousands of workers and war prisoners who labored to clear factories and streets of rubble and filled in craters made by the bombardment. The machine building plant had been almost completely destroyed, but was restored to working order by the end of 1944. Many other factories and facilities were also rebuilt.
The population recovered swiftly as well. In 1959 it was 96,000, in 1965 - 116,000, in 1968 - 122,500, in 1970 - 136,000 and by 1989, 232,000 people were living in Babruysk. This was mostly due to urbanization
Urbanization
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
, where people moved into the city from the surrounding rural areas.
People associated with Babruysk
- Latvian journalist and politician Grigory Nemtsov (1948–2010) was born here.
- American Yiddish poet Celia DropkinCelia DropkinCelia Dropkin was a Yiddish poet. . She was born in Bobruysk, Belarus to an assimilated Russian-Jewish family. Her father, a forester, died of tuberculosis when Dropkin was young...
was born here. - Both founders of the RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n band Bi-2Bi-2Bi-2 is a Russian rock band with Belarusian origin, formed in the 80's in Minsk, Belarus. It was one of the most successful with many sales and chart-hits in Russia. Bi-2 was awarded MTV Russian Music Awards for Best Rock Act in 2007.-Pre-history:...
were from Babruysk. - American wine show host Gary VaynerchukGary VaynerchukGary Vaynerchuk is a video blogger, co-owner and director of operations of a wine retail store, and an author and public speaker on the subjects of social media, brand building and e-commerce. Vaynerchuk immigrated to the U.S...
was born here. - World famous physician assistant, Lev Paley, was born in Babruysk and spent first 14 years of his life there.
- Arkadi DuchinArkadi DuchinArkadi Duchin is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musical producer.-Early life:Duchin was born in Babruysk, Belarus. He immigrated to Israel at the age of 15.-Music career:...
(Hebrew: ארקדי דוכין, Russian: Аркадий Духин) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musical producer. He was born in Babruysk and later moved to Israel
Babruysk in Russian internet
Babruysk became well-known, albeit as a mythical location with no direct association with the actual city, to the wide public in Russian-language Internet community after heavy usage in "PadonkiPadonki
Padonki is a counter-culture subculture within the Russian-speaking Internet community most famous for using their slang Olbanian language or padonkaffsky jargon...
" slang, and the infamous idiomatic expression "Ф Бабруйск жывотное" ("To Bobruysk, animal!", lit. "Go to Babruysk, you animal!"). Allegedly, it is just a pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
, with daft people being referred to as 'beavers' ("beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
" is bobr in Russian), and Babruysk thus being literally 'the place where beavers are found'. A popular website has since run a humorous 'investigation' into what real Bobruysk is like, in a much-copied article, and concluded that it was a pleasant city with no daft people or beavers to be found, which has itself become a source of joking comebacks in popular slang.
External links
- Bobruysk. Synagogues
- Bobruisk.by - Official Babruysk website
- Bobruisk.org - An unofficial Babruisk website
- Bobr.by - Popular Babruysk related portal
- Photos on Radzima.org
- Photos of famous historical sites in Babrujsk
- Babruysk website