Mir, Belarus
Encyclopedia
Urban-type settlements in Belarus
According to a 1998 law of the Republic of Belarus, there ate three categories of urban-type settlements in Belarus:*Urban settlements : with population over 2,000, industrial enterprises and developed residential infrastructure...
in Kareličy
Karelicy
Kareličy is a town in Hrodna Province, Belarus, a raion center.The town was historically a center of a large Jewish community, its population in 1900 was 1,840.- People from Kareličy :* Ignacy Domeyko...
(Карэлічы) raion
Raion
A raion is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet countries. The term, which is from French rayon 'honeycomb, department,' describes both a type of a subnational entity and a division of a city, and is commonly translated in English as "district"...
, Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast
Hrodna Voblast or Grodno Oblast is a voblast in northwestern Belarus.The capital - Grodno is the biggest city of the province. It lies on the Neman River. Grodno's existence is attested to from 1127. Two castles dating from the 14th - 18th centuries are located here on the steep right bank of...
, Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
(53°27′N 26°28′E) on the banks of Miranka River, about 85 kilometers southwest of the national capital, Minsk
Minsk
- Ecological situation :The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Center of Radioactive and Environmental Control .During 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons. The change of gas as industrial fuel to mazut for financial reasons has worsened...
.
Mir village was founded sometime prior to 1345. It is home to a late medieval castle
Mir Castle Complex
The Mirsky Castle Complex , is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Belarus located in the town of Mir in the Karelichy District of the Hrodna voblast, at , 29 km to the north-west from another World Heritage site, Nesvizh Castle....
, which made the town the target of many attacks over the centuries. The town belonged to the Illinicz family (Korczak
Korczak
Korczak is a Polish noble family name. It may also refer to:* Korczak Coat of Arms* Janusz Korczak, a pseudonym of Henryk Goldszmit, Polish pediatrician, children's writer and pedagogist, murdered by the Germans at the Treblinka extermination camp...
coat of arms) first and then to the Radziwiłł family. It was destroyed by the Swedish forces in 1655 (Deluge
Deluge
Deluge can refer to:* A large downpour of rain* A floodMythical and prehistoric floods* Deluge myth, mythic floods in general, involving Gilgamesh, and others* Deluge , prehistoric great floods, some of which may have inspired deluge myths...
)and again by the Swedes during the Great Northern War
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...
in 1706. In 1792 the Lithuanian division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
army under Józef Judycki
Józef Judycki
Józef Judycki was a Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth noble. Marshal of the Lithuanian Tribunal in 1777, Lithuanian Great Guard from 1776, Lithuanian Great Quartermaster from 1774. Commander of Lithuanian army during the Polish-Russian War of 1792...
was routed by the invading Imperial Russian army corps under Boris Mellin (see Battle of Mir
Battle of Mir
Battle of Mir was one of the first battles of the Polish-Russian War of 1792. It took place in the town of Mir, which is now part of Belarus on June 11, 1792.The Russian army of Boris Mellin defeated the Lithuanian force under Józef Judycki...
). During the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in 1812, Russian Imperial cavalry, artillery and cossack regiments ambushed and routed the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
3 uhlan
Uhlan
Uhlans were Polish light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The title was later used by lancer regiments in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian armies....
divisions (Battle of Mir (1812)
Battle of Mir (1812)
The Battle of Mir took place on 9 and 10 July 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Three Polish Lancers divisions battled against Russian cavalry, ending in the first major Russian victory in the French invasion of Russia....
). The retreating Russians, withdrawing east, abandoned the town and dynamited the castle. During the Middle Ages it was first located in the Principality of Polotsk, after the Battle on the river Nemiga
Battle on the river Nemiga
Battle on the Nemiga River was a combat of the Russian feudal period that occurred on March 3, 1067 on the Niamiha River. The description of the battle is the first reference to Minsk in the chronicles of Belarusian history.- Background:...
in the Principality of Minsk, then was taken over by Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
but after the Mongol Invasion the Rus' rule diminished and since 1242 Mir belonged to the expanding and dynamic Duchy of Lithuania
Duchy of Lithuania
Duchy of Lithuania was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians, that existed from the 12th century until 1413. Most of the time it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania...
. In 1569 it became a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1793 it was part of the Russian Empire (Partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
), then returned to Poland in 1920, before being occupied by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in September of 1939. From 1941 through 1944, Mir was occupied by Nazi Germany, then again by the Soviet Union until 1991, when it became part of independent Belarus.
Mir was the site of two very famous horse fairs associated with Saint Nikolaus feast days, first held on May 9 and the second fair on December 6 each year. Both fairs lasted four weeks each and were very popular and well known throughout the country until 1939. Roma practically dominated the fairs as horse traders, and numerous Roma community thrived in the town until 1939. The fairs collapsed in 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Belorussian Soviet Republic and murdered the Roma people of Mir.
Mir's claim to fame in Jewish Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
history is that it was the original home of the Mir yeshiva
Mir yeshiva (Poland)
The Mir yeshiva , commonly known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, was a Haredi yeshiva located in the town of Mir, Russian Empire...
which operated there intermittently from 1815 until the fall of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
in 1939, when the invading communist Soviet Red Army and security forces pressured the school to close and relocate to then still free Lithuania. (Current incarnations of the yeshiva are located in Brooklyn, New York
Mir yeshiva (Brooklyn)
The Mir yeshiva , commonly known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, is officially registered with the College Board as the Mirrer Yeshiva Central Institute. It is a prominent, Haredi yeshiva located in Brooklyn, New York known for its excellence in talmudic studies.Its long-time Rosh Yeshiva was...
and Jerusalem
Mir yeshiva (Jerusalem)
The Mir yeshiva , known as the Mirrer Yeshiva or The Mir, is an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel. With 6,000 students, it is the largest yeshiva in Israel. Many of the students are from the United States and Canada. It is also believed to be the largest yeshiva in the world...
.)
Today Mir has little industry and is no longer an internationally renowned center of Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
learning or Roma horse trade. Home to about 2,500 people today, virtually none of whom are descended from the once thriving Jewish and Roma communities, its primary attraction is the Mir Castle as well as memorials erected by the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
government and various Jewish groups over the past half century.
Notable residents
- Zalman ShazarZalman ShazarZalman Shazar was an Israeli politician, author. and poet. Shazar served as the third President of Israel from 1963 to 1973.-Biography:...
(1889–1974), Israeli author, poet, and third President of Israel from 1963 to 1973
External links
- The Jewish Community in Mir, an online exhibition by Yad VashemYad VashemYad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
- Photos on Radzima.org
- Reeva Kimble's Mir site