Brest ( be, Брэст / Берасьце, Bieraście, ; russian: Брест, ; uk, Берестя, Berestia; lt, Brasta; pl, Brześć; yi, בריסק, Brisk), formerly Brest-Litovsk (russian: Брест-Литовск, lit=Lithuanian Brest; be, links=no, translit=Berastze Litouski (Berastze), Берасце Літоўскі (Берасце); lt, links=no, Lietuvos Brasta; pl, links=no, Brześć Litewski, ), Brest-on-the-Bug ( pl, links=no, Brześć nad Bugiem), is a city (population 350,616 in 2019) in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

at the border with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

opposite the Polish city of

Terespol Terespol (; be, Тэрэ́спаль, Teréspaĺ) is a town in eastern Poland on the border with Belarus. It lies on the border river Bug, directly opposite the city of Brest, Belarus, making it a border town. It has 5,794 inhabitants as of 2 ...

, where the Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a

border town A border town is a town or city close to the boundary between two countries, states, or regions. Usually the term implies that the nearness to the border is one of the things the place is most famous for. With close proximities to a different cou ...

. It is the capital city of the

Brest Region Brest Region or Brest Oblast or Brest Voblasts ( be, Брэ́сцкая во́бласць ''(Bresckaja vobłasć)''; russian: Бре́стская о́бласть (''Brestskaya Oblast)'') is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative cen ...

. Brest is a historical site for many cultures, as it hosted important historical events, such as the

Union of Brest The Union of Brest (; ; ; ) was the 1595–96 decision of the Ruthenian Orthodox Church eparchies (dioceses) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to break relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church and to enter into communion with, and place ...

and

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's ...

. Furthermore, the

Brest Fortress Brest Fortress ( be, Брэсцкая крэпасць, '; pl, Twierdza brzeska, russian: Брестская крепость), formerly known as Brest-Litoŭsk Fortress, is a 19th-century fortress in Brest, Belarus. In 1965, the title " ...

was recognized by 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, ...

as a Hero Fortress in honour of the defense of Brest Fortress in June 1941. From

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...

to 1795, the city was part of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lit ...

, which later became a part of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ...

from 1569. In 1795, it was incorporated into the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, 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 th ...

with 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 Poli ...

. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the city became part of by the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

. In 1939, during the

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...

by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the city was first captured by the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

and soon passed on to the USSR per the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. In 1941, it was retaken by the Germans during

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named afte ...

. In 1944, it was taken by the Soviet Red Army during the

Lublin–Brest offensive The Lublin–Brest Offensive (russian: Люблин‐Брестская наступательная операция, 18 July – 2 August 1944) was a part of the Operation Bagration strategic offensive by the Soviet Red Army to clear the Na ...

. The city was in the

Belarusian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

until the

breakup of the USSR The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in 1991. Since then, Brest has been part of

Etymology

Several theories attempt to explain the origin of the city's name. It may have the Slavic root ''beresta'' meaning "

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

", or "bark". The name could also originate from Slavic root ''berest'' meaning " elm". It could likewise have come from the

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

word ''brasta'' meaning "ford". Once a center of Jewish scholarship, the city has the Yiddish name (), hence the term "Brisker" used to describe followers of the influential Soloveitchik family of

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

s. Traditionally, Belarusian-speakers called the city (). Brest became a part of the

in 1319. In the

formed in 1569, the town became known in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

as , historically (literally: "Lithuanian Brest", in contradistinction to Brześć Kujawski). became part of the

under the name or (russian: Брест-Литовск, , literally "Lithuanian Brest") in the course of the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. After World War I, and the rebirth of Poland in 1918, the government of the

renamed the city as ("Brest on the Bug") on 20 March 1923. After World War II, the city became part of the

Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор� ...

with the name simplified as Brest. Brest's coat of arms, adopted on 26 January 1991, features an arrow pointed upwards and a bow (both silver) on a sky-blue shield. An alternative coat of arms has a red shield.

Sigismund II Augustus Sigismund II Augustus ( pl, Zygmunt II August, lt, Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first rule ...

, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, first granted Brest a coat of arms in 1554.

History

The city was founded by the Slavs. As a town, Brest – ''Berestye'' in

Kievan Rus Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas o ...

– was first mentioned in the '' Primary Chronicle'' in 1019 when the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

took the stronghold from the Poles. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. It was hotly contested between the Polish rulers (kings, principal dukes and dukes of

Masovia Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centuri ...

) and Kievan Rus princes, laid waste by the

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

in 1241 (see:

First Mongol invasion of Poland The Mongol Invasion of Poland from late 1240 to 1241 culminated in the Battle of Legnica, where the Mongols defeated an alliance which included forces from fragmented Poland and their allies, led by Henry II the Pious, the Duke of Silesia ...

), and was not rebuilt until 1275. Later it was part of the territory of the

In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

In 1390 Brest became the first city in the lands that now are Belarus to receive

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 ...

. In 1419 it became a seat of the starost in the newly created

Trakai Voivodeship lt, Trakų vaivadija pl, Województwo trockie , conventional_long_name = Trakai Voivodeship , common_name = Trakai , subdivision = Voivodeship , nation = Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1413–1569) Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) , year_ ...

Lithuanian Crusade

Its suburbs were burned by the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

in 1379. In 1409 it was a meeting place of King

Władysław II Jagiełło Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło ()He is known under a number of names: lt, Jogaila Algirdaitis; pl, Władysław II Jagiełło; be, Jahajła (Ягайла). See also: Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło. ...

, Grand Duke

Vytautas the Great Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great (Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', Ol ...

and a

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

khan Khan may refer to: *Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan *Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name *Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...

under the Archbishop Mikołaj Trąba's initiative, to prepare for war with the Teutonic Knights. In 1410 the town mustered a cavalry banner that participated in the Polish-Lithuanian military victory at the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald, Battle of Žalgiris or First Battle of Tannenberg was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respe ...

=17th century

= In 1500 it was burned again by

Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...

. In 1566, following the decree of

, a new

voivodeship A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...

was created –

Brest Litovsk Voivodeship Brest Litovsk Voivodeship ( Belarusian: ''Берасьцейскае ваяводзтва'', Polish: ''Województwo brzeskolitewskie'') was a unit of administrative territorial division and a seat of local government (voivode) within the Grand ...

. During the union of the

and the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire was a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries ( sv, Stormaktstiden, "the Era of Great Power"). The beginning of the empire is usually t ...

under king

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 Adoption of the Gregorian calendar, N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and ...

(

Polish–Swedish union The Polish–Swedish union was a short-lived personal union between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Sweden between 1592 and 1599. It began when Sigismund III Vasa, elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, was c ...

), diets were held there. In 1594 and 1596, it was the meeting-place of two remarkable councils of regional bishops of the Roman-Catholic Church and

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

. The 1596 council established the Uniate Church (also known as the

Belarusian Greek Catholic Church The Belarusian Greek Catholic Church ( be, Беларуская грэка-каталіцкая царква, ''Bielaruskaja hreka-katalickaja carkva'' BHKC; la, Ecclesiae Graecae Catholico Belarusica) sometimes called in reference to its By ...

in Belarus and

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church ( sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

Onslaught

In 1657, and again in 1706, the town and castle were captured by the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gusta ...

during its invasions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Then, in an attack from the other direction, on 13 January 1660, the invading Streltsy of the

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I ...

under

Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky Prince Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky (russian: Иван Андреевич Хованский) (died 1621) was a Russian boyar, voivode of Novgorod, and viceroy of Ryazan of Lithuanian Gediminid origin. During the Time of Troubles, he participate ...

took the Brest Castle in an early morning surprise attack, the town having been captured earlier, and massacred the 1,700 defenders and their families (according to an Austrian observer, Captain Rosestein).

Partitions

On 23 July 1792, the defending Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army and the invading

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, Romanization of Russian, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the earl ...

fought a battle. On 19 September 1794, the area between Brest and

was the site of another

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

won by the Russian invaders led by

Alexander Suvorov Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (russian: Алекса́ндр Васи́льевич Суво́ров, Aleksándr Vasíl'yevich Suvórov; or 1730) was a Russian general in service of the Russian Empire. He was Count of Rymnik, Count of the Holy ...

over a Polish-Lithuanian division under General

Karol Sierakowski Karol may refer to: Places * Karol, Gujarat, a village on Saurashtra peninsula in Gujarat, west India * Karol State, a former Rajput petty princely state with seat in the above town Film/TV *'' Karol: A Man Who Became Pope'', a 2005 miniseries *' ...

. Thereafter, Brest was annexed by Russia when the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth was partitioned for the third time in 1795.

19th century

During Russian rule in the 19th century,

was built in and around the city. The Russians demolished the Polish Royal Castle and most Old Town "to make room" for the fortress. The main Jewish synagogue in the city, the Choral Synagogue, was completed c. 1862.

World War I

During

, the town was captured by the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the ...

under

August von Mackensen Anton Ludwig Friedrich August von Mackensen (born Mackensen; 6 December 1849 – 8 November 1945), ennobled as "von Mackensen" in 1899, was a German field marshal. He commanded successfully during World War I of 1914–1918 and became one of th ...

on 25 August 1915, during the Great Retreat of 1915. Shortly after Brest fell into German hands, war poet August Stramm, who has been called "the first of the

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

s" and one of "the most innovative poets of the First World War," was shot in the head during an attack on nearby Russian positions on 1 September 1915. In March 1918, in the Brest Fortress on the western outskirts of Brest at the confluence 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 ...

and Mukhavets Rivers, the

was signed, ending the war between

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

and the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

and transferring the city and its surrounding region to the

sphere of influence In the field of international relations, a sphere of influence (SOI) is a spatial region or concept division over which a state or organization has a level of cultural, economic, military or political exclusivity. While there may be a formal al ...

of the German Empire. This treaty was subsequently annulled by the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

treaties which ended the war and even more so by events and developments in

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Euro ...

. During 1918, the city became a part of the

Podolia Governorate The Podolia Governorate or Podillia Governorate (), set up after the Second Partition of Poland, was a governorate ('' gubernia'', ''province'', or ''government'') of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from ...

of the

Ukrainian People's Republic The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR), or Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), was a country in Eastern Europe that existed between 1917 and 1920. It was declared following the February Revolution in Russia by the First Universal. In March 1 ...

as a result of negotiations and own treaty between delegation of the

Ukrainian Central Rada The Central Council of Ukraine ( uk, Українська Центральна Рада, ) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council (soviet) that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputie ...

and Central Powers.

The Second Polish Republic

Following the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (Polish–Bolshevik War, Polish–Soviet War, Polish–Russian War 1919–1921) * russian: Советско-польская война (''Sovetsko-polskaya voyna'', Soviet-Polish War), Польский фронт (' ...

Brest became part of the

, with borders formally recognized by the

Treaty of Riga The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga ( pl, Traktat Ryski), was signed in Riga on 18 March 1921, among Poland, Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus) and Soviet Ukraine. The treaty ended the Polish–Soviet War ...

of 1921. It was renamed Brześć nad Bugiem on 20 March 1923 (''Brest on the Bug'') in Poland, and named the capital of the

Polesie Voivodeship Polesie Voivodeship ( pl, województwo poleskie) was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939), named after the historical region of Polesia. It was created by the Council of Ministers of the Second Polish Republic on February 19, ...

in accordance with the pre-1795 tradition. In the twenty years of Poland's sovereignty, of the total of 36 brand new schools established in the city, there were ten public, and five private

Jewish schools A Jewish day school is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide children of Jewish parents with both a Jewish and a secular education in one school on a full-time basis. The term "day school" is used to differentiate ...

inaugurated, with Yiddish and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

as the language of instruction. The first-ever Jewish school in Brześć history opened in 1920, almost immediately after Poland's return to independence. In 1936 Jews constituted 41.3% of the Brześć population or 21,518 citizens. Some 80.3% of private enterprises were run by Jews.

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professor a ...

, ''

God's Playground ''God's Playground: A History of Poland'' is a history book in two volumes written by Norman Davies, covering a 1000-year history of Poland. Volume 1: ''The origins to 1795'', and Volume 2: ''1795 to the present'' first appeared as the Oxford Cl ...

'' (Polish edition), Second volume, p.512-513 Stosunki polsko-białoruskie pod okupacją sowiecką
(''Polish-Byelorussian relations under the Soviet occupation''). ''Bialorus.pl'' The

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 62,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military history str ...

troops of the 9th Military District along with its headquarters were stationed in Brest Fortress. Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-121-0011A-23, Polen, Siegesparade, Guderian, Kriwoschein

Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-121-0011A-23, Polen, Siegesparade, Guderian, Kriwoschein

During the German

in 1939, the city was defended by a small garrison of four infantry battalions under General Konstanty Plisowski against General

Heinz Guderian Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in th ...

's XIX Panzer Corps. After four days of heavy fighting, the Polish forces withdrew southwards on 17 September. The

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

began on the same day. As a result, the Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

entered the city at the end of September 1939 following the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...

's Secret Protocol, and a joint Nazi-Soviet military parade took place on 22 September 1939. While Belarusians consider it a reunification of the Belarusian nation under one constituency (the

at that time), Poles consider it the date when the city was lost. During the Soviet control (1939–41), the Polish population was subject to arrests, executions and mass deportations to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

and the

Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic ; kk, Қазақ Советтік Социалистік Республикасы) *1991: Republic of Kazakhstan (russian: Республика Казахстан; kk, Қазақстан Республикасы) , linking_name = the ...

. The city had an overwhelmingly Jewish population in the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of P ...

: 30,000 out of 45,000 total population according to Russian 1897 census, which fell to 21,000 out of 50,000 according to the Polish census of 1931.Christopher R. Browning, ''Nazi policy, Jewish workers, German killers'
Google Print, p.124
/ref>

Operation Barbarossa and beyond

On 22 June 1941, Brest Fortress and the city were attacked by

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 ...

on the first day of

's invasion of the

. The fortress held out for six days. Nearly all its Soviet army defenders perished. The Germans placed Brest under the administration of the ''

Reichskommissariat Ukraine During World War II, (abbreviated as RKU) was the civilian occupation regime () of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine (which included adjacent areas of modern-day Belarus and pre-war Second Polish Republic). It was governed by the Reich Mi ...

''. The remaining municipal Jewish population (about 20,000) was sequestered in the

Brest ghetto Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Bres ...

established by the German authorities in December 1941 and later murdered in October 1942. Only seven Jews survived the Nazi executions. The city was liberated by the

on 28 July 1944. In early 2019, a mass grave containing the remains of 1,214 people were found in the Brest Ghetto area during a construction project. Most are believed to have been Jews murdered by Nazis.

Geography

Brest lies astride the Mukhavets River, which is known to Bresters as "the river". The river flows west through the city, dividing it into north and south, and meets the

in the Brest Fortress. The river flows slowly and gently. You can hop into a tire innertube and take a relaxing float down this river. Today the river looks quite broad in Brest. The terrain is fairly flat around Brest. The river has an extremely broad

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

, that is about across. Brest was subject to flooding in the past. One of the worst floods in recorded history occurred in 1974. Part of the

was reclaimed with

hydraulic mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment.Paul W. Thrush, ''A Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms'', US Bureau of Mines, 1968, p.560. In the placer mining of ...

. In the 1980s, big cutter-suction dredgers mined sand and clay from the riverbed to build up the banks. In the 2000s, two new residential areas were developed in the southwest of Brest. To the east of Brest, the Dnieper–Bug Canal was built in the mid-nineteenth century to join the river to Pina, a tributary of the

Pripyat River The Pripyat or Prypiat ( , uk, Прип'ять, ; be, Прыпяць, translit=Prypiać}, ; pl, Prypeć, ; russian: Припять, ) is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine ag ...

which in turn drains into the

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine ...

. Thus Brest has a shipping route all the way to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

. If not for a dam and neglected

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s west of Brest, north-western European shipping would be connected with the Black Sea also.

Climate

Brest has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

but slightly leans towards oceanic due to the irregular winter temperatures that mostly hover around the freezing point. However, summers are warm and influenced by its inland position compared to areas nearer the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

Points of interest

A majestic Soviet-era war memorial was constructed on the site of the 1941 battle to commemorate the known and unknown defenders of the Brest Fortress. This war memorial is the largest tourist attraction in the city. The

Berestye Archeological Museum The Berestye Archeological Museum, located in the city of Brest, Belarus, is a museum centered around an archaeological site displaying an authentic East Slavic wooden town dating back to the 13th century. Unique in Europe, the 1800 square meter ...

of the old city is located on the southern island of the Hero-Fortress. It has objects and huts dating from the 11th – 13th century that were unearthed during the 1970s. The Museum of Rescued Art Treasures has a collection of paintings and icons.

Brest City Park Brest City Park is an urban public park in Brest, Belarus. The Russian soldiers of Libava Regiment, who were stationed in this part of Brest-Litovsk, laid out the park in 1906. Overview Initially it covered 4 ha. Today, at over 20 ha, it is th ...

is over 100 years old and underwent renovations from 2004 to 2006 as part of a ceremony marking the park's centennial. In July 2009, the

Millennium Monument of Brest Brest Millennium Monument (2009) - was designed by the Belarusian architect Alexei Andreyuk and sculptor Alexei Pavluchuk to commemorate the millennium of Brest, Belarus. It was erected in 2009 at the intersection of Sovietskaya Street and Gogol ...

was unveiled. Sovetskaya Street is a popular tourist destination in Brest; it was dramatically reconstructed in 2007–2009. Other important landmarks include the

Brest Railway Museum The Brest Railway Museum or Brest Museum of Rail Equipment is the first outdoor railway museum in Belarus, located in Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, ...

Education

Brest is home to two Universities: A.S. Pushkin Brest State University and Brest State Technical University.

Transport

Being situated on the main railway line connecting Berlin and Moscow, and a transcontinental highway (the M1 highway is part of the

European route E30 European route E30 is an A-Class European route from the port of Cork in Ireland in the west to the Russian city of Omsk, near the border with Kazakhstan in the east. For much of the Russian stretch, it follows the Trans-Siberian Highway ...

running from Cork to

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

, where it links with Asian Highway 6 leading to

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

), Brest became a principal border crossing out of the Soviet Union in the postwar era. Today it links the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

and the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...

. The city of Brest is served by

Brest-Tsentralny railway station Brest-Tsentralny is the main railway station of Brest, Belarus. History The first building of the Brest station was built in 1886, and opened on 28 May in the presence of Emperor Alexander III. It was built in the form of "medieval castle" with ...

. Because of the

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

at Brest, where the Russian

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

meets the European standard gauge, all passenger trains, coming from

, must have their

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of tr ...

s replaced here, to travel on across

. The freight must be transloaded from cars of one gauge to cars of another. Some of the land in the Brest rail yards remains contaminated due to the transhipment of

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consi ...

materials here since Soviet days. However, cleanup operations have been taking place. The local airport, Brest Airport (code BQT), operates flights on a seasonal schedule to

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

in the Russian Federation and seasonal charter flights to

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

and

Antalya Antalya () is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the Ae ...

Sport

HC Meshkov Brest HC Meshkov Brest (Myashkov Brest, officially A. P. Myashkow Brest Handball Club, ) is a handball club from Brest, Belarus. They currently compete in the Belarusian First League of Handball, in the SEHA League and competed in the EHF Champions L ...

is the most successful team of the Belarusian Men's Handball Championship, as well as the current (2018–19) champions. Also, there is a Women's handball club in Brest –

HC Victoria-Berestie HC Victoria-Berestie is a handball club from Brest, Belarus. It currently competes in the Belarusian Women's Handball Championship, the Cup of Belarus and the Domestic - Brest Christmas Cup. Head coaches *2020 - Vasil Kozar European Cups perfo ...

HK Brest HK Brest is an ice hockey team in Brest, Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a land ...

of the

Belarusian Extraleague The Belarusian Extraleague (abbreviated BHL, also known as the Belarusian Open Championship), officially formed in 2006, is the top ice hockey league in Belarus. In its past, it has switched several times between being and not being an open leagu ...

are the local pro hockey team. The sports venues are located on the northern riverside on the

hydraulic fill Hydraulic fill is a means of selectively emplacing soil or other materials using a stream of water. It is also a term used to describe the materials thus emplaced. Gravity, coupled with velocity control, is used to effect the selected depositi ...

, consisting of an indoor track-and-field centre, the Brest Ice Rink, and Belarus' first outdoor baseball stadium. On the opposite riverside is a large rowing course opened in 2007, home of the National Center for Olympic Training in Rowing. It meets international requirements and can host international competitions. Moreover, it has accommodation and training facilities, favourable location, away from the border crossing along Warsaw Highway (the

Media

There are some newspapers in Brest:

Brestskaya Gazeta ''Brestskaya Gazeta'' (russian: Брестская газета) is a non-governmental newspaper from Brest, Belarus. Its first number came on November 18, 2002. The main language of the newspaper and its website is Russian, but some stories are ...

, Brestskiy Kurier,

Vecherniy Brest ''Vecherniy Brest'' is a bilingual regional socio-political government-run weekly newspaper, published in Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * B ...

International relations

Sister cities

Sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

of Brest include: *

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of ...

, Russia * Dorogomilovo District (Moscow), Russia *

Izhevsk Izhevsk (russian: Иже́вск, p=ɪˈʐɛfsk; udm, Ижкар, ''Ižkar'', or , ''Iž'') is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest c ...

, Russia *

Kovrov Kovrov (russian: Ковро́в) is a city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Klyazma River, a tributary of the Oka. Kovrov's population as of the 2021 Census was 132,417, down from 145,214 recorded in the 2010 Census ...

, Russia * Malgobek, Russia * Nevsky District (Saint Petersburg), Russia *

Nizhny Tagil Nizhny Tagil ( rus, Нижний Тагил, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj tɐˈgʲil) is a city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located east of the boundary between Asia and Europe. Population: History The prehistory of Nizhny Tagil dates back to the mid-1 ...

, Russia *

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

, Russia *

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, p=ɐˈrʲɵl, lit. ''eagle''), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast situated on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow. It is part of the Central Fe ...

, Russia *

Petrozavodsk Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The populati ...

, Russia *

Ryazan Ryazan ( rus, Рязань, p=rʲɪˈzanʲ, a=ru-Ryazan.ogg) is the largest city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Cens ...

, Russia *

Tyumen Tyumen ( ; rus, Тюмень, p=tʲʉˈmʲenʲ, a=Ru-Tyumen.ogg) is the administrative center and largest city of Tyumen Oblast, Russia. It is situated just east of the Ural Mountains, along the Tura River. Fueled by the Russian oil and gas i ...

, Russia *

Ivano-Frankivsk Ivano-Frankivsk ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вськ, translit=Iváno-Frankívśk ), formerly Stanyslaviv ( pl, Stanisławów ; german: Stanislau), is a city located in Western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Ivano-Frankivsk Obl ...

, Ukraine *

Lutsk Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Luts ...

, Ukraine *

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrat ...

, Ukraine * Siedlce County, Poland *

, Poland * Baienfurt, Germany *

Baindt Baindt is a municipality in the district of Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It was home to Baindt Abbey which ruled a secular principality in the Holy Roman Empire. Sister cities * Brest, Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively ...

, Germany * Berg, Baden-Württemberg, Berg, Germany * Ravensburg, Germany * Weingarten, Württemberg, Weingarten, Germany * Baiyin, China * Xiaogan, China * Batumi, Georgia * Nakhchivan (city), Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan * Coevorden, Netherlands * Port-sur-Saône, France * Subotica, Serbia Former twin towns: * Biała Podlaska, Poland In March 2022, the Polish city of Biała Podlaska suspended its partnership with Brest as a reaction to the Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Other forms of cooperation

Brest maintains partnership with: * Ashdod, Israel * Botoșani, Romania * Brest, France, Brest, France * Ludza Municipality, Ludza, Latvia * Maldon District, Maldon, England, United Kingdom * Pleven, Bulgaria

Honours

A minor planet, 3232 Brest, discovered by the Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh in 1974, is named after the city.

Notable people

* Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin, Rabbi of Brisk * Menachem Begin, late Prime Minister of Israel * Jarosław Dąbrowski, Polish revolutionary and general * David Dubinsky, head of the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union * Andrej Dyńko (b. 1974), journalist and editor * Louis Gruenberg, composer * Nikolay Karpol, Russian women's volleyball coach * Jerzy Kolendo, Polish classical archaeologist and historian * Harry Kopp (1880–1943), American lawyer and politician * Pyotr Masherov, secretary of Belarusian committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Union * Yulia Nesterenko, Olympian women's 100 m champion * Dzmitryj Rubašeŭski (nom de guerre (“Hans”))(1992-2022), Belarusian volunteer Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, killed in action defending Ukraine during 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2022 Russian invasion * Gennady Shutov, Hienadz Shutau (1975 – 2020), a protestor killed during the protests against the 2020 Belarusian presidential election * The Soloveitchik rabbinical family associated with the Brisk yeshivas, and descendant Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik * David B. Steinman, American structural engineer; the designer of the Mackinac Bridge called "Big Mac" * Alyaksandr Tsvikievich, Aliaksandar Cvikievič (1888 – 1937), Belarusian politician, historian, jurist, philosopher and a victim of Great Purge, Stalin's purgesЦВІКЕВІЧ Аляксандр Іванавіч (Tsvikievich Alyaksandr Ivanavich)
in Belarusian) * Ganna Walska, Polish opera singer * Liubov Charkashyna, Belarusian bronze medallist in the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics * Rabbi Aaron ben Meir of Brest, eighteenth-century rabbi * Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, haredi rabbi in Israel * Sara Szweber, Bundist

References

External links

''Brest Stories Guide'' – Audiotheatre on the history of anti-semitism and the Shoah in Brest from 1937 to 1944 by the independent Brest theatre "Krylja Cholopa"
(English/Russian) * {{Authority control Brest, Belarus, Archaeological sites in Belarus Belarus–Poland border crossings Cities in Belarus Brest Litovsk Voivodeship Brestsky Uyezd Polesie Voivodeship Populated places established in the 11th century Populated places in Brest Region 1019 establishments in Europe Holocaust locations in Belarus Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust

Etymology

History

In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Lithuanian Crusade

=17th century

Onslaught

Partitions

19th century

World War I

The Second Polish Republic

Operation Barbarossa and beyond

Geography

Climate

Points of interest

Education

Transport

Sport

Media

International relations

Sister cities

Other forms of cooperation

Honours

Notable people

Further reading

See also

References

External links