Brest, formerlyBrest-Litovsk andBrest-on-the-Bug,[a] is a city in south-westernBelarus at the border withPoland opposite the Polish town ofTerespol, where theBug andMukhavets rivers meet, making it aborder town. It serves as the administrative center ofBrest Region andBrest District, though it is administratively separated from the district.[2] As of 2024,[update] it has a population of 344,470.[2]
Several theories attempt to explain the origin of the city's name. The name could originate from Slavic rootberest 'elm'. It could likewise have come from theLithuanian wordbrasta 'ford'.[4]
Traditionally, Belarusian speakers called the cityБерасце (Bieraście), similar to the Ukrainian nameБерестя (Berestia).
Once a center of Jewish scholarship, the city has theYiddish nameבריסק (Brisk), hence the term"Brisker" used to describe followers of the influentialSoloveitchik family ofrabbis.
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, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, first granted Brest a coat of arms in 1554.
In 1019, Brest was first mentioned in chronicles as "Berestye"
As a town, Brest –Berestij inKievan Rus – was first mentioned in thePrimary Chronicle in 1019 when theKievan Rus' took the stronghold from the Poles. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus.[7] It was hotly contested between the Polish rulers (kings, principal dukes and dukes ofMasovia) and Kievan Rus princes. It was recaptured by Poland in 1020, andunsuccessfully besieged by PrinceYaroslav the Wise of Kiev in 1022. It was captured by Yaroslav the Wise, according to various sources, either in 1042[8] or 1044,[9] then by 1076 recaptured by KingBolesław II the Bold of Poland,[9] but then lost again by his successorWładysław I Herman. Afterwards, it often passed between the principalities ofTurov andVolhynia.[8] In 1164, it was briefly captured by Lithuanians.[8] In 1178, it was captured byCasimir II the Just of Poland, and made the seat of his fraternal nephewLeszek, Duke of Masovia, who, however, soon lost it to thePrincipality of Minsk. In 1182, Casimir II the Just captured the city once again, and built a castle there,[8][9] and then granted it as afief to his sororal nephewRoman the Great the following year. From 1199 it was ruled by thePrincipality of Galicia–Volhynia,[10] remaining under Polish suzerainty until 1205, when Roman the Great rebelled against Poland, but waskilled in action in theBattle of Zawichost.[8] Passing under Polish suzerainty again, in 1207, it was granted byLeszek the White as a fief to PrincessAnna-Euphrosyne and her children.[11] From 1210, it was directly part of Poland, until it passed to Galicia–Volhynia either in 1215[12] or 1217.[11] In 1220, it passed to thePrincipality of Pinsk as a fief of Galicia–Volhynia.[13] It was laid waste by theMongols in 1241, and was not rebuilt until 1275. Possibly since the 1270s, the city was contested by theGrand Duchy of Lithuania and theKingdom of Galicia–Volhynia.[14]
In 1390, Brześć became the second city in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (after the capitalVilnius), and the first in the lands that now are Belarus, to receiveMagdeburg rights.[1] Given its proximity to Poland, it was a significant centre for trade with Poland.[1]
In 1419 it became a seat of thestarost in the newly createdTrakai Voivodeship. Under Władysław II and Vytautas the city was significantly developed and granted privileges similar to those of the Polish city ofLublin.[9][20] In 1425, the city hosted a congress attended by Władysław II, Vytautas, dukes ofMasovia and Polish and Lithuanian nobles.[21] In 1440, aSejm of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was held in the city, at whichCasimir IV Jagiellon was chosen Grand Duke of Lithuania.[9][19] In 1446, a meeting of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Polish senators regarding the political affiliation ofVolhynia took place in the city, and in 1454 Casimir IV met with Lithuanian nobility to convince them to participate in thePolish–Teutonic War on the side of Poland.[9][22]
During Russian rule in the 19th century,Brest Fortress was built in and around the city. The Russians demolished thePolish Royal Castle and most of the Old Town "to make room" for the fortress.[citation needed] The main Jewish synagogue in the city, theChoral Synagogue, was completed c. 1862. In 1895, a massive fire rendered 15,000 people homeless, and dozens were killed.[24]
On 9 February 1919, Polish troops entered the city, and it returned toPoland, which regained independence three months earlier.[28][29] During thePolish–Soviet War it was occupied by the Soviet Russians on 1 August 1920,[30] and recaptured by the Poles on 20 August,[28] with borders formally recognized by theTreaty of Riga of 1921. In 1921, it became the temporary capital of thePolesie Voivodeship instead ofPińsk.[31][32] It was renamed Brześć nad Bugiem (Brest on the Bug) on 20 March 1923.
Bank of Poland between the wars
The city was developed significantly and a number of representative public buildings were erected inNeoclassical andModernist styles, especially atUlica Unii Lubelskiej (Union of Lublin Street, now Lenin Street), including the Bank of Poland, Tax Chamber, Regional Chamber of the State Control, Healthcare Fund and Voivodeship Office.[33] Other notable projects include the officials' housing estate, stylistically inspired by historicmanor houses of Polish nobility and thegarden city movement, and the Warburg Residential Colony, dedicated to poor Jews who had lost their homes in World War I, founded by Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for Jewish War Sufferers.[34] In 1929, city limits were greatly expanded.[35][36]
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 privateJewish schools inaugurated, withYiddish andHebrew 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.[37][38][39] ThePolish Army troops of the 9th Military District along with its headquarters were stationed in Brześć Fortress.
The city had an overwhelmingly Jewish population during Russian rule: 30,000 out of 45,000 total population according to Russian 1897 census, which fell to 21,000 out of 50,000 according to thePolish census of 1931.[40][41]
In early September 1939, the Polish government evacuated a portion of the Polishgold reserve fromWarsaw to Brześć, and then further southeast toŚniatyn at the Poland-Romania border, from where it was transported via Romania andTurkey to territory controlled byPolish-alliedFrance.[42]
During theSoviet occupation (1939–41), the Polish population was subject to arrests, executions and mass deportations toSiberia and theKazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The largest Soviet prison in the Byelorussian SSR was located in the city, and its prisoners were mostly Poles, including politicians, landowners, officers, educators, priests, both locals, including pre-war Polish mayor Franciszek Kolbusz, and people arrested in other places, including former Prime Minister of PolandLeopold Skulski, and Jews fleeing the Germans from western and central Poland.[43] The prison had poor conditions, causing the spread oflice andbed bugs, and brutal interrogations, even resulting in two confirmed cases of suicide.[43] In February 1940, there was a mass prison escape in which first 28 people managed to escape, and then Soviet soldiers opened fire on further escapees.[43] Many prisoners were eventually moved to a prison inMinsk.[44] It is suspected that they were murdered by the Soviets in theKatyn massacre in 1940.[44]
On 22 June 1941, Brest Fortress and the city were attacked byNazi Germany on the first day ofOperation Barbarossa,Nazi Germany's invasion of theSoviet Union. The fortressheld out for six days. Nearly all its Soviet army defenders perished. The Germans placed Brest under the administration of theReichskommissariat Ukraine. The remaining municipal Jewish population (about 20,000) was sequestered in theBrześć Ghetto established by the German authorities in December 1941 and later murdered in October 1942. Only seven Jews survived the Nazi executions.[41]
The Germans also operated a Nazi prison, aforced labour "education" camp for men and women, a forced labour camp for Jews, the AGSSt 3 prisoner-of-war assembly center, the Dulag 314 transitPOW camp forItalians, the Stalag 397 POW camp for Soviet POWs and a subcamp of the Stalag 360 POW camp in the city.[45][46][47][48]
In 1945, theZwiązek Obrońców Wolności ("Freedom Defenders Association") Polish resistance organization was founded in the city, with its activities including secret Polish schooling, rescuing historical Polish monuments from devastation and organising aid for repressed people and those in a difficult material situation.[49] The organization was crushed by theNKVD in 1948, and its members were deported toGulagforced labour camps for 25 years.[49]
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.[50][51]
Brest lies astride theMukhavets River which flows west through the city, dividing it into north and south, and meets theBug River in the Brest Fortress. The river flows slowly and gently. Today the river looks quite broad in Brest. The terrain is fairly flat around Brest. The river has an extremely broadfloodplain, that is about 2 to 3 kilometres (1 to 2 miles) across. Brest was subject to flooding in the past. One of the worst floods in recorded history occurred in 1974.[citation needed]
In the 2000s, two new residential areas were developed in the southwest of Brest.
To the east of Brest, theDnieper–Bug Canal was built in the mid-nineteenth century to join the river toPina, a tributary of thePripyat River which in turn drains into theDnieper. Thus Brest has a shipping route all the way to theBlack Sea. If not for a dam and neglectedweirs west of Brest, north-western European shipping would be connected with the Black Sea also.
Brest has ahumid continental climate 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 theBaltic Sea.
Climate data for Brest (1991–2020, extremes 1888–present)
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. TheBerestye Archeological Museum of the old city is located on the southern island of theHero-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 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, theMillennium Monument of Brest was unveiled. Sovetskaya Street is a popular tourist destination in Brest; it was dramatically reconstructed in 2007–2009. Other important landmarks include theBrest Railway Museum.
The city of Brest is served byBrest-Tsentralny railway station. Because of thebreak-of-gauge at Brest, where the Russianbroad gauge meets the Europeanstandard gauge, all passenger trains, coming fromPoland, must have theirbogiesreplaced here, to travel on acrossBelarus. The freight must betransloaded from cars of one gauge to cars of another. Some of the land in the Brest rail yards remains contaminated due to the transhipment ofradioactive materials here since Soviet days. However, cleanup operations have been taking place.[citation needed]
The local airport,Brest Airport (code BQT), operates flights on a seasonal schedule toKaliningrad[56] in the Russian Federation and seasonal charter flights toBurgas andAntalya.[57]
The sports venues are located on the northern riverside on thehydraulic fill, consisting of an indoor track-and-field centre, the Brest Ice Rink,[58] 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, 3 kilometres (2 miles) away from the border crossing along Warsaw Highway (theEuropean route E30).
In March 2022, the Polish city of Biała Podlaska suspended its partnership with Brest as a reaction to the Belarusian involvement in the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[60]
^abcBardach, Juliusz (1980). "Miasta na prawie magdeburskim w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim od schyłku XIV do połowy XVII stulecia".Kwartalnik Historyczny (in Polish). Vol. 87, no. 1. p. 25.
^Auzias, Dominique; Labourdette, Jean-Paul (2010). "Brest et sa région".Biélorussie. Country Guides. Petit Futé. p. 121.ISBN9782746937796.D'abord russe, ensuite polonaise, en 1319, Brest est conquis par le prince Gedimin et rattaché au grand-duché de Lituanie. [At first Russian, then Polish, Brest in 1319 was conquered by PrinceGediminas and absorbed into the grand Duchy of Lithuania.]
^abcdefghSłownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom I (in Polish). Warszawa. 1880. p. 399.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Вялікае Княства Літоўскае. Энцыклапедыя (in Belarusian). Vol. 1. Minsk. 2007. p. 313.ISBN978-985-11-0393-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Halecki, Oskar (2013).Dzieje Unii Jagiellońskiej. Tom I. W wiekach średnich (in Polish). Warszawa: Instytut HistorycznyUniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Wydawnictwo Neriton. p. 46.ISBN978-83-7543-277-0.
^Halecki, Oskar (2013).Dzieje Unii Jagiellońskiej. Tom I. W wiekach średnich (in Polish). Warszawa: Instytut HistorycznyUniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Wydawnictwo Neriton. pp. 133–134.ISBN978-83-7543-277-0.
^Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022).The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. pp. 39, 117, 363,385–386.ISBN978-0-253-06089-1.
^abKrajewski, Kazimierz; Łabuszewski, Tomasz (2009). "Ostatni obrońcy Kresow Połnocno-Wschodnich".Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej (in Polish). No. 1–2 (96–97). IPN. pp. 105–106.ISSN1641-9561.
Pszczółkowski, Michał (2014). "Architektura Brześcia nad Bugiem w latach II Rzeczypospolitej".Kwartalnik Architektury i Urbanistyki (in Polish and English). Vol. 59, no. 3. Translated by Pszczółkowska, Karolina. Komitet Architektury i UrbanistykiPolskiej Akademii Nauk.ISSN0023-5865.
Mondalski, Wiktor (1929).Brześć Podlaski (Brześć Litewski, Brześć nad Bugiem). Zarys geograficzno-historyczny (in Polish).Turek.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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