Lipsk

Lipsk was granted town rights in 1580 by King Stephen Báthory by virtue of a privilege issued in nearby Grodno. It was a royal town until the Third Partition of Poland when it was annexed by Prussia.[2] In 1807 it was regained by Poles as part of the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw.[2] In 1815 it became part of Congress Poland,[2] later on forcibly integrated with Imperial Russia. As part of anti-Polish repressions after the January Uprising, Lipsk was deprived of town rights by the Russian administration in 1869.[3] Under Russian rule, it was known as Лейпциг на Бебже. It was part of Poland again, after the country again regained independence in 1918.

Memorial stone to Marianna Biernacka in Lipsk

During World War II it was occupied by the Soviet Union from September 1939 to June 1941.[3] Several Polish families were deported deep into the USSR. From June 1941 to July 1944 it was occupied by Nazi Germany. In 1941, the Germans deported 99 local Jews to the ghettos in Augustów and Grodno, from where they were later transported to the Treblinka extermination camp.[4] On July 13, 1943, the Germans murdered 50 Poles from Lipsk in nearby Naumowicze.[5] Among those killed was Marianna Biernacka, one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II. In July 1944, Lipsk was captured by the Red Army, and murders and robberies followed, as well as the fight against the Polish Home Army resistance movement.[5]

Lipsk regained its municipal rights in 1983.[2][3]