Chachersk or Chechersk is a town in Gomel 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 ...

. It serves as the administrative center of Chachersk District. As of 2025, it has a population of 8,926. It is located in an area which was highly contaminated due to the fallout of the Chernobyl disaster.

History

The town was founded in the late 10th century on the

Sozh The Sozh (, ; ; ) is a river flowing in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper. The Sozh passes through Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus. The river is crossed by the Sozh Floating Bridge at Karma and ...

River. It was first mentioned in chronicles in 1159 as the city Radimichi Chachersk. Sometime later a castle was built in the area. From 14th century to 1772, Chachersk was part of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, which 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 ...

from 1569. In 1772, it became part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, as the center of the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the province

Rahachow Rahachow or Rogachev (, ; ; ; , ) is a town in Gomel Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Rahachow District. Rahachow is located between the Drut (river), Drut and Dnieper rivers. As of 2025, it has a population of 31,490. H ...

, then borough, and parish center of Rogachev district. In 1774,

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 ...

in collaboration with a local governor helped build the town hall, churches, a theater, 2 hospitals, and other notable buildings. Redevelopment of the city took place, with the destruction of the castle and the fortifications, which were mentioned more in the "Census" Chachersk for 1765. There are two surviving unique sights of the 18th century - th
Holy Transfiguration Church and Town Hall in Chachersk
The Holy Transfiguration Church was built in classicism style 1783 and has international architectural worth. During

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

in 1941,

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

captured the town and established a ghetto for Chachersk's

Jewish population the world's core Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15.8 million, which is approximately 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. Israel hosts the largest core Jewish population in the world with ...

. The Jews of Chachersk, as well as neighboring

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

, were eventually exterminated in December 1941. From 1919 to 1926, Chachersk was part of

Gomel Governorate Gomel Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian SFSR from 1919 to 1926 with its capital in Gomel.http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/borders_timeline.htm It was formed from nine uyezds of the abolished Mogi ...

in the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. Then, in December 1926, it was given to

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

. Chachersk officially became a town in 1971.

Economy

Since 1629 the town has had the privilege of a weekly trade and a 2-week fair in the year. Now the economy of the city is based on the enterprises of the food industry and is a center for arts and crafts (embroidery, weaving, etc.).

Notes

References

External links

*
Photos on Radzima.org
Populated places in Belarus Populated places in Gomel region Radimichs Holocaust locations in Belarus Chachersk district {{Belarus-geo-stub