The name Babruysk (as well as that of theBabruyka River) probably comes from the Belarusian wordbabyor (бабёр; 'beaver'). Many beavers used to live around the Berezina. However, they were almost gone by the end of the19th century because of hunting andpollution.
Babruysk has an area of 66 square kilometres (25 sq mi). It has over 450 streets.
Babruysk is one of the oldest cities inBelarus. It was first mentioned in writing in the middle of the14th century.Archaeologists found that in the5th and6th centuries there wereSlavicsettlements up the river Berezina from where Babruysk is right now. Stone tools and weapons found suggest that people have lived there since theStone Age.
Babruysk was also a bigtrade center. There isevidence of amarket with almost one hundred stalls. In the first half of the17th century, Babruysk became a big trade outpost. This is because of its position at the intersection of major trade routes and the Berezina River. There were many types ofartisans in the village, includingcarpenters,blacksmiths,goldsmiths, andbakers. The population in the first half of the 17th century was between 2,000 and 5,000 people.
The town wassurrounded byfortifications made from wood and dirt. It stretched for over 3 km (2 mi). In the walls there were openings forfirearms. After theSecond Partition of Poland in 1793, the village went into the hands ofImperial Russia. In 1810, theconstruction ofa fortress to mark theborder between Russia andAustria andPrussia began. In 1812, it was almost done and was successful in pushing backNapoleon's attack for four months. The building was rebuilt on a large scale after the war. It was finished in 1820. The Babruyskfortress worked well for many decades and today is a majortourist attraction.
The 1861census said the town had a population of 15,766. Theethnic groups living in Babruysk then includedBelarusians,Ukrainians,Poles, andJews. Most of thebuildings were made fromwood. This was common for cities in Belarus at the time. In 1866, there were 1,498 houses. Only 29 of these were made frombrick.
TheJewish population of Babruysk went up after theNapoleonic Wars. By 1897, 20,760 of the 34,336 people living in the city were Jews.[2] This was about 60% of the population. Most of them wereemployed incrafts,industry, and trade.
The old library building of Babruysk.The recently (2006–2009) rebuilt Orthodox St. Nicholas Cathedral in Babruysk. Babruysk City Hall and Lenin. OldT-34 tank lifted on a podium in Babruysk downtown.Babruysk railway station.Bobruisk Drama and comedy
On 28 June 1941, troops of theGermanArmy Group Centre took Babruysk. Thinking that the German troops would not attack civilians, many Jews stayed behind. Because of this, 20,000 Babruysk Jews were shot and buried inmass graves. Aghetto andlabor camps were set up in the southwest part of town. Soon theNazis beganexecuting the Jews in the ghetto in groups of about 30. By 1943, the labor camps were cleared of Jews. The Jews who escaped joinedpartisan forces in the nearbyforest. They attacked enemyrailroad lines. There is a smallmemorialdedicated to the memory of Babruysk Jews killed in theHolocaust. It is in theNahalat Yitzhakcemetery,Giv'atayim,Israel, as part of theBabi Yar memorial.[4]
On June 29, 1944, theRed Army took Babruysk back. The city wasruined. The population was 84,107 in 1939. After the war, it was 28,352. Thousands ofworkers andprisoners of war worked to clear thefactories andstreets ofrubble. They filled incraters made by thebombardment. The machine building factory had been almost completely destroyed. It was fixed and started working again by the end of 1944.
The population grew a lot after the war. In 1959 it was 96,000, 116,000 in 1965, 122,500 in 1968, 136,000 in 1970, and 232,000 in 1989. This was mostly because ofurbanization. Many people moved into the city from the nearbyrural areas.
Belarus left theSoviet Union in 1991. Babruysk became part of the new country.
Abba Ahimeir (November 2, 1897 – June 6, 1962), journalist, historian and political activist. He was a follower ofRevisionist Zionism. He was the founder of the Revisionist Maximalist faction of the Zionist Revisionist Movement (ZRM) and of the secretBrit HaBirionim.
Baruch Epstein (1860–1941), Lithuanianrabbi, best known for his Temimahcommentary on theTorah. He was the son of Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein.
Yechiel Michel Epstein (January 24, 1829 – February 24, 1908), rabbi andauthority in Jewish law in Lithuania, known for his book Aruch HaShulchan.
Joshua Louis Goldberg (January 6, 1896 – December 24, 1994), American rabbi, who was the first rabbi to be commissioned as a U.S. Navy chaplain in World War II (and only the third to serve in the Navy in its history), the first to reach the rank of Navy Captain (the equivalent of Army Colonel), and the first to retire after a full active-duty career.
Alexander Mikhailovich Orlov (born Leiba Lazarevich Feldbin; August 21, 1895 – March 25, 1973), colonel in the Soviet secret police andNKVD Rezident in theSecond Spanish Republic. In 1938, Orlov refused to return to the Soviet Union because he realized that he would be executed, and instead fled with his family to the United States.
Efraim Sevela (1928–2010), Sovietwriter, screenwriter, director, and producer, who after hisemigration from the Soviet Union lived in Israel, USA and Russia.
