page_title: Baranavichy
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Baranavichy / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Баранавічы (Baranavičy), рог вуліц Марынскай (vulica Marynskaja) і Лекарскай (vulica Lekarskaja). Дзяржаўны банк
context_page_description: Baranavichy is a city in the Brest Region of western Belarus, with a population of 179,000. It is a significant railway junction and home to Baranavichy State University.
context_section_description: At the beginning of World War I, Baranavichy was the location for the Stavka, the headquarters of the Russian General Staff, but after the Great Retreat of Russians from Congress Poland, it became a frontline city. It was taken by the German Empire during the Baranovichi Offensive of 25 July 1916 and was under German occupation for two years. Finally, the Germans surrendered the town to Belarusian People's Republic.
  After the settlement was left by the Germans in January 1919, it was captured by the Soviets. In the early stages of the Polish–Soviet War, it was briefly captured by the Poles on 18 March 1919 and again captured, for longer, in April 1919, five months after Poland regained independence. The Russians retook it on 17 July 1920, but the Poles took it again on 30 September 1920.
  On 1 August 1919, it received city rights and became a powiat centre in the Polish Nowogródek Voivodeship. In 1921, Baranowicze had over 11,000 inhabitants (67% Jews, the rest being mostly Belarusians, Poles and Russians). Soon, the city started to grow and became an important centre of trade and commerce for the area. The city's Orthodox cathedral was built in the Neoclassical style in 1924 to 1931 and was decorated with mosaics that had survived the demolition of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Warsaw. In 1930, a monument to Hungarian Lieutenant colonel Artur Buol, a hero of Polish fights in the Polish–Soviet War, was unveiled in Baranowicze. In the interbellum, grandparents and father of Polish politicians Lech Kaczyński and Jarosław Kaczyński lived in Baranowicze.
  The city was also an important military garrison, with a KOP Cavalry Brigade, the 20th Infantry Division and the Nowogródzka Cavalry Brigade stationed there. Because of the fast growth of local industry, a local branch of the Polish Radio was opened in 1938. In 1939 Baranavichy had almost 30,000 inhabitants and was the biggest and the most important city in the Nowogródek Voivodeship.
  After the invasion of Poland, the Soviet Union took the city on 17 September 1939, and annexed it to the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The local Jewish population of 9,000 was joined by approximately 3,000 Jewish refugees from the Polish areas occupied by Germany. After the start of Operation Barbarossa, the city was seized by the Wehrmacht on June 25, 1941. It was part of Generalbezirk Weißruthenien in Reichskommissariat Ostland during the German occupation. In August 1941, a ghetto was created in the city, with more than 12,000 Jews kept in terrible conditions in six buildings at the outskirts. From March 4 to December 14, 1942, the entire Jewish population of the ghetto was sent to various German concentration camps and killed in gas chambers. Only about 250 survived the war.
  The city was liberated by the Red Army on 8 July 1944. It was also the seat of the Baranavichy Voblast from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1944 to 1954. Meanwhile, intensive industrialization took place. In 1991, the city became part of independent Belarus.
caption: Bank of Poland in Baranowicze in the 1930s