Kapyl is a town in Minsk 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 Kapyl District. It is located west-northwest of

Slutsk Slutsk is a town in Minsk Region, in central Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Slutsk District, and is located on the Sluch (Belarus), Sluch River south of the capital Minsk. As of 2025, it has a population of 59,450. Geography ...

and south-southwest of the capital

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. As of 2025, it has a population of 9,887.

History

Kapyl, first mentioned in 1274,Kopyl Region Executive Committee website retrieved 20 July 2010
/ref> was a walled town that was noteworthy by the 14th century, and is listed in the atlas of

Ortelius Abraham Ortelius (; also Ortels, Orthellius, Wortels; 4 or 14 April 152728 June 1598) was a cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer from Antwerp in the Spanish Netherlands. He is recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the ('' ...

of 1574. During the 14th century the town 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, ...

. In 1395 it came into the possession of Prince

Vladimir Olgerdovich Vladimir Olgerdovich (died after 1398) was the son of Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania, his first wife was Maria of Vitebsk. He was the Prince of Kiev from 1362 to 1394. His sons Ivan and Alexander started the Belsky and Olelkovich families. ...

and his heirs, the

Olelkovich The House of Olelkovich was a princely family from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th and 16th centuries. Their main possession was the Duchy of Slutsk– Kapyl. They are sometimes known as Slutskys. They were descended from the Lithuanian ...

family, where it remained until 1612. Kapyl was part of the dowry of Zofia Olelkowicz Słucka and was one of the seven fortified towns left to her husband Janusz Radziwill upon her death in 1612. Kapyl was attacked by the

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

numerous times and was sacked on at least one occasion during the 16th century. On August 27, 1652, Kapyl received the

Magdeburg Law Magdeburg rights (, , ; 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 cities and villages gr ...

and gained its own seal, a coat of arms depicting a hunting horn on a gold field. With this privilege came the right to hold fairs and weekly auctions. During the 16th century weaving became established in the town, including the production of velvet. Six guilds came into existence as a result of the growth of the weaving industry. After the

Second Partition of Poland The 1793 Second Partition of Poland was the second of partitions of Poland, three partitions (or partial annexations) that ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The second partition (politics), partition occurred i ...

in 1793 Kapyl 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 ...

. From 1832 it became a personal holding of Prince Wittgenstein. During the 19th century local businesses included a brewery, 2 water mills, and 6 shops. Other local institutions included 3 schools, churches (including a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

church), and 2 Jewish

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

s. Towards the end of the 19th century Kapyl had over 350 houses and over 2000 inhabitants. At that time a majority of the town's population was Jewish. By 1900 the Jewish population was 2,671. In 1924, Kapyl became the capital city of the Kapyl District. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the Slutsk-Kapyl area was the subject of a German military operation code-named Erntefest II (Harvest Festival) which ended in February 1943. Although ostensibly aimed at suppressing the activities of Soviet partisans in the area the operation resulted in the deaths of 2,325 of the local inhabitants (against the loss of six German soldiers), which can only be characterized as a campaign of genocide and terror. One of Kapyl district's major architectural monuments is a 19th-century church in the town itself.

Notable people

* Abraham Jacob Paperna, educator and author *

Mendele Mocher Sforim Mendele Mocher Sforim (, ; lit. "Mendele the book peddler"; January 2, 1836, Kapyl – December 8, 1917 .S. Odessa), born Sholem Yankev Abramovich (, ) or S. J. Abramowitch, was a Jewish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Heb ...

, author *

Renald Knysh Renald Ivanovich Knysh (, ; 10 September 1931 – 19 April 2019) was a Soviet and Belarusian coach in artistic gymnastics. Considered one of gymnastics' pioneering coaches, he was the coach of Olga Korbut. He was later accused of child rape by Kor ...

, gymnastics coach * Zmicier Zhylunovich, writer and political leader

Sister cities

Joniškis Joniškis (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Juonėškis''; ) is a city in northern Lithuania with a population of about 9,900. It is located 39 kilometers north of Šiauliai and 14 kilometers south of the Lithuania–Latvia border. Joniškis i ...

, Lithuania

Notes

References

External links

* *

Kopyl raion page
at Minsk Oblispolkom website
Rodoh Forum: Major Antipartisan Operations in Belorussia

Kopyl Region Executive Committee

{{Authority control Holocaust locations in Belarus