Pruzhany
Pruzhany (Belarusian: Пружаны, IPA: [pruˈʐanɨ]; Russian: Пружаны; Polish: Prużana; Yiddish: פּרוזשענע, romanized: Pruzhene) is a town in Brest Region, Belarus.[1] It serves as the administrative center of Pruzhany District.[1] The town is located at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal, where the Mukhavets River rises. As of 2023, it has a population of 19,064.[1]
Pruzhany
Пружаны | |
|---|---|
 Pruzhany Palace | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Pruzhany | |
| Coordinates: 52°33′24″N 24°27′52″E | |
| Country | Belarus |
| Region | Brest Region |
| District | Pruzhany District |
| Mentioned | 1487 |
| Population (2023)[1] | |
| • Total | 19,064 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (MSK) |
| Postal code | 225133 |
| Area code | +375 1632 |
| License plate | 1 |
History
Pruzhany has been known as Dabuchyn since 1487. In the 16th century, it belonged to queen Bona Sforza of Poland. She brought Renaissance influence and development of trades in this part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1589, her daughter Anna granted a town charter and the coat of arms of Pruzhany (a blue snake swallowing a baby on a silver shield). The coat of arms was borrowed from that of the Sforza family of Milan. Pruzhany was a center of pottery trade at those times. In the mid-19th century, a wealthy Polish landlord, Walenty Szwykowski, laid out a park and built a pretentious palace that houses a museum today, after a restoration. The museum has a rich collection on the history and arts of the region. Another tourist attraction is the landmark at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal. It presents a statue of a passionate pair rising over waves. The Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was consecrated in 1884.
The Jewish population in 1900 was 5,080.[2] During World War II, Pruzhany was occupied by the Germans from 26 June 1941 to 17 July 1944. In 1941, the Nazis herded the Jews of Białystok and the vicinity here to create a ghetto.[3] In Aktion roundups on 28-31 January 1943, the Nazis deported 10,000 Jews of the Pruzhany ghetto to Auschwitz, via Birkenau, where the men, women and children were murdered.[4][5][6][7]
In 2003, the central part of the town was reconstructed to prepare the town for the national harvest festival “Dažynki” in autumn 2003.
Pruzhany is the birthplace of Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the Torah scholar and Jewish leader. Also, the American actor Mandy Patinkin descends from ancestors from Pruzhany (as well as the nearby shtetl of Drahichyn).[8]
Raisa Žuk-Hryškievič, a prominent figure of the Belarusian diaspora, was born in Pruzhany in 1919.[9]
The former Pruzhany (air base) is nearby.
Gallery
One of the tourist attractions in today's Pruzhany is the landmark at the confluence of the Mukha River and the Vets Canal
The war memorial to commemorate the villages of Pruzhany District burnt to ashes by Nazis in the last war
See also
References
- "Численность населения на 1 января 2023 г. и среднегодовая численность населения за 2022 год по Республике Беларусь в разрезе областей, районов, городов, поселков городского типа". belsat.gov.by. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- "JewishGen.org". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2010-03-02.
- Encyclopedia of the Ghettos during the Holocaust, ed. Guy Miro, vol. II, p. 615. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem (2009)
- Holocaust Encyclopedia (accessed 21 September 07) Archived 2007-06-22 at the Wayback Machine
- The Holocaust Chronicle (accessed 21 September 07)
- Dr. Philip Riteman biography, Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada (accessed 21 September 07)
- Women of Valor: Partisans and Resistance Fighters (accessed 21 September 07) Archived 2006-08-23 at the Wayback Machine
- "On Broadway". PBS.
- "Раіса Жук-Грышкевіч" [Raisa Žuk-Hryškievič]. Рада Беларускай Народнай Рэспублікі / Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (in Belarusian). 4 February 2017. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
