Brańsk ( be, Бранск, lt, Branskas) is a town in eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. It is situated within Podlaskie Voivodeship (province).

Etymology

The name of the town comes from the river

Bronka Bronka ( uk, Бронка, ''Bronka'') is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Brańsk, within Bielsk County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland. It lies approximately east of Brańsk Brańsk ( be, Бранск, lt, ...

, a nearby tributary of the

Nurzec The Nurzec is a river in north-eastern Poland, a tributary of the Bug River. It flows through the geographical region known in Polish as ''Wysoczyzny Podlasko-Bialoruskie'' (the plateau of Podlaskie and Belarus). Administratively it lies within P ...

River.

Geography

Location

Brańsk is located in the geographical region of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

known as the ''Wysoczyzny Podlasko–Białoruskie'' (English: Podlaskie and Belarus Plateau) and the mesoregion known as the Bielsk Plain (Polish: ''Równina Bielska''). The

River, a tributary of the

Bug River uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг , name_etymology = , image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg , image_size = 250 , image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland , map = Vi ...

, passes through Brańsk. The town covers an area of . It is located approximately: * northeast of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, the capital of

* southwest of Białystok, the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship * west of Bielsk Podlaski, the seat of Bielsk County

Climate

The region has a continental climate characterized by high temperatures during summer and long and frosty winters . The average amount of rainfall during the year exceeds .

History

On 23–25 June 1264 the Battle of Brańsk was fought in the town's vicinity. Polish forced led by Duke Boleslaw V the Chaste defeated the forces of

Yotvingia Yotvingia or Sudovia ( Yotvingian: ''Sūdava'', lt, Dainava, pl, Jaćwież, german: Sudauen, Eastern Slavic: Яцьвезь (Ятвязь, Етвязь), Ятвягия) was a region where the Baltic tribe known as Yotvingians lived. It was ...

led by Komata (''Kumata''). On 18 January 1493, Brańsk received a city charter based on

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

from the Grand Duke of Lithuania,

Alexander Jagiellon Alexander Jagiellon ( pl, Aleksander Jagiellończyk, lt, Aleksandras Jogailaitis; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) of the House of Jagiellon was the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later also King of Poland. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV Jag ...

. It was the first city in

Podlachia Podlachia, or Podlasie, ( pl, Podlasie, , be, Падляшша, translit=Padliašša, uk, Підляшшя, translit=Pidliashshia) is a historical region in the north-eastern part of Poland. Between 1513 and 1795 it was a voivodeship with the c ...

to receive such a charter. Bransk AGE 1804

Brańsk was a royal town of Poland, administratively located in the Podlaskie Voivodeship in the

Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown , subdivision = Province , nation = Poland , year_start = , event_end = Third Partition of Poland , year_end = , image_map = ProwincjaMalopolska.png , image_map ...

. In 1795, as a result of the

Third Partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

, Brańsk was annexed to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

and administered as a part of the newly formed Białystok Department. In 1807, as a result of the

Treaties of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when ...

, Brańsk was annexed to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and administered at first as a part of

Belostok Oblast Belostok Oblast (russian: Белостокская область; pl, Obwód białostocki) was an administrative division in the Russian Empire. The region had a capital in Belostok (modern '' Białystok''). History The oblast was created from ...

and from 1842 on as a part of

Grodno Governorate The Grodno Governorate, (russian: Гро́дненская губе́рнiя, translit=Grodnenskaya guberniya, pl, Gubernia grodzieńska, be, Гродзенская губерня, translit=Hrodzenskaya gubernya, lt, Gardino gubernija, u ...

. The town was reintegrated with Poland, after the country regained independence following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1918.

World War II

On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland and started

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Within days of the war's beginning, Brańsk suffered German bombardment. On September 17, 1939, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

attacked Poland from the east, and in partnership with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, partitioned Poland under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of August 23. Brańsk along with all areas of Poland east of the Bug River was then occupied by the Soviet Union. All Polish and Jewish businesses of substance were confiscated by the Communist State. Several Poles from Brańsk were murdered by the Russians in the large

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

in 1940. The Soviets remained in control of Brańsk until June 1941 when the Germans invaded their erstwhile Soviet allies. The German Army occupied the town and ordered the Jewish community to build a

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

surrounded by barbed wire, to which the Jewish population (some 65% of the town) was confined. On November 8, 1942, the Jews of Brańsk were ordered to report to the town center, forced to march to the nearby town of Bielsk, and then transported by train to Treblinka. Within weeks, the vast majority were murdered by gassing at the

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...

. Several local Jews were hidden and rescued by Poles (including the local parish priest) in Brańsk and nearby villages. Some hiding places in nearby villages were discovered by the Germans, who then murdered captured Jews. Their Polish rescuers were either also murdered or managed to hide from the Germans until the end of the German occupation. On August 1, 1944, the town was captured by Soviet forces. On August 4, 1944, the Russians arrested 12 officers of the Polish underground

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...

in Brańsk, after they were deceitfully gathered for a supposed formal meeting with the command of the Soviet 65th Army. The town was soon restored to Poland.

Demographics

Population

According to the 1921 census, the village was inhabited by 3.739 people, among whom 1.474 were Roman Catholic, 100 Orthodox, and 2.165 Mosaic. At the same time, 1.530 inhabitants declared Polish nationality, 32 Belarusian, 2.165 Jewish and 12 Russian. There were 493 residential buildings in the village.''Skorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: opracowany na podstawie wyników pierwszego powszechnego spisu ludności z dn. 30 września 1921 r. i innych źródeł urzędowych.'', t. T. 5, województwo białostockie, 1924, s. 14. Detailed data as of 30 June 2021:

Municipal government

It is the seat of

Gmina Brańsk __NOTOC__ Gmina Brańsk is a rural gmina (Polish:''gmina wiejska'') in Bielsk County, Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is located in north-eastern Poland. Etymology The name Brańsk comes from the river Bronka, a nearby tributary of the Nurzec River. ...

, but is not part of

Executive branch

The chief executive of the government is the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

(Polish: ''Burmistrz'').

Legislative branch

The legislative portion of the government is the Council (Polish: ''Rada'') composed of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

(Polish: ''Przewodniczšcy''), the

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

(Polish: ''Wiceprzewodniczšcy'') and thirteen councilors.

Neighbouring political subdivisions

Brańsk is bordered by Gminy Rudka and

Brańsk Brańsk ( be, Бранск, lt, Branskas) is a town in eastern Poland. It is situated within Podlaskie Voivodeship (province). Etymology The name of the town comes from the river Bronka, a nearby tributary of the Nurzec River. Geography Lo ...

Transport

Roads and highways

Brańsk is at the intersection of a

National Road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

and a

Voivodeship Road According to classes and categories of public roads in Poland, a voivodeship road ( pl, droga wojewódzka) is a category of roads one step below national roads in importance. The roads are numbered from 100 to 993. Total length of voivodeship r ...

: * National Road -

Zambrów Zambrów is a town in northeastern Poland with 21,166 inhabitants (2020). It is the capital of Zambrów County. Situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Łomża Voivodeship (1975–1998). History The name of the town ...

- Brańsk - Bielsk Podlaski -

Kleszczele Kleszczele (, uk, Кліщелі ''Klishcheli'', be, Кляшчэ́лі ''Kljaščè́li'') is a town in Hajnówka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, north-eastern Poland. Prior to 1999, it was in Białystok Voivodeship (1975–1998). Demograph ...

- Czeremcha -

Połowce Połowce is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czeremcha, within Hajnówka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. It lies approximately south of Czeremcha, south-west of Hajnówk ...

Border Crossing (Belarus) *Voivodeship Road - Roszki-Wodźki -

Łapy Łapy is a town in north-eastern Poland, in Białystok County (''powiat''), Podlaskie Voivodeship; the administrative centre of the urban-rural gmina Łapy. It is situated in the North Podlasie Lowland, on the river Narew. According to ...

- Brańsk -

Ciechanowiec Ciechanowiec (; yi, טשעכֿאַנאָװיץ, german: Rudelstadt) is a small town in Gmina Ciechanowiec, Wysokie Mazowieckie County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, eastern Poland. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 4,511. History In the ...

Streets

The major streets (Polish: ''Ulica'') in Brańsk are: * Rynek * Armii Krajowej (National Road ) * Bielska * Binduga * Boćkowska * Błonie * Jagiellońska * Jana Pawła II (Voivodeship Road ) * Kapicy Milewskiego * Kasztanowa * Klonowa * Konopnickiej * Kościelna * Kościuszki (Voivodeship Road ) * Mickiewicza * Piłsudskiego * Poniatowskiego * Senatorska * Sienkiewicza * Skłodowskiej-Curie * Szkolna * Słowackiego * Witosa * Wyszyńskiego * Ściegiennego

Public transport

Bus service

Regular bus service is provided by Państwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa (''State Car Communication'', PKS) via PKS Bielsk Podlaskie
PKS Białystok
an
PKS Siemiatycze

Rail service

The closest passenger train service is provided by Polskie Koleje Państwowe (''Polish State Railways'', PKP) SA from the following stations: * Szepietowo - express and local service to

and Białystok - northwest * Bielsk Podlaski - express and local service to

Siedlce Siedlce [] ( yi, שעדליץ ) is a city in eastern Poland with 77,354 inhabitants (). Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999), previously the city was the capital of a separate Siedlce Voivodeship (1975–1998). The city is situated b ...

and Białystok - east

Economy

The land-use is as follows: * Agricultural use: 66% * Forest land: 27% * City: 2.34%

Major business

* Financial:Banking
Bank Spóldzielczy w Brańsku
ul. Kosciuszki 2A, 17-120 Brańsk, Poland * Manufacturing:Plastics
Wald-Gold
ul. M. Konopnickiej 20, 17-120 Brańsk, Poland

Local attractions

Places of worship

* Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Roman Catholic. The parish is serving Brańsk,

, Brzeźnica, Glinnik, Jarmarkowszczyzna, Kalnica, Kiersnówek, Majerowizna, Oleksin, Otapy, Patoki, Popławy, Świrydy, Załuskie Koronne, Załuskie Kościelne. It is part of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Drohiczyn The Roman Catholic Diocese of Drohiczyn ( la, Drohiczinen(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Drohiczyn in the Ecclesiastical province of Białystok in Poland. History * June 5, 1991: Established as Diocese of Drohiczyn from the Diocese ...

. * St. Simeon Stylites - Polish Orthodox. It is a mission church of the Church of the Apostles St. Peter and Paul in Malesze, part of the Polish Orthodox Diocese of Warsaw-Bielsk.

Nearby attractions

* Sanktuarium Matki Bożej Pojedniania w Hodyszewie (Our Lady of Hodyszewo Sanctuary) in Hodyzewo - northwest * Ossoliński Palace in Rudka - west

Notable people

Jan Klemens Branicki Count Jan Klemens Branicki (also known as Jan Kazimierz Branicki; 21 September 1689 – 9 October 1771) was a Polish nobleman, magnate and Hetman, Field Crown Hetman of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth between 1735 and 1752, and Great Crown ...

– Polish nobleman * Cezary Kosiński – Polish actor * Ignatius Kapitsa-Milewski – archivist and author *

Shimon Shkop Shimon Yehuda Shkop ( he, שמעון שקופ; 1860 – October 22, 1939) was a rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva of Telshe and then of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah of Grodno, and a Talmid Chacham (Talmudic scholar). Early life Shkop was born in T ...

– Jewish scholar and rabbi (1906–1920) * Moshe Rosen (Nezer HaKodesh) - Jewish scholar and rabbi (1870–1957) * Zofia Drzewiecka – Recipient of the

Righteous among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sa ...

Medal * Waclawa and Pawel Sobolewski – posthumous recipients of the

Medal * Antoni Sobolewski – posthumous recipient of the

Medal * Aleksander Sobolewski – posthumous recipient of the

Medal

Miscellanea

* The

Medal has been granted to 14 current and former residents of Brańsk by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

External links

Jewish cemetery in Brańsk
(in Polish

Video tour of Brańsk on YouTube

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bransk Cities and towns in Podlaskie Voivodeship Bielsk County Podlachian Voivodeship Belsky Uyezd (Grodno Governorate) Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939) Belastok Region Shtetls Holocaust locations in Poland