Smarhon

Smarhoń Смаргонь (in Belarusian)
Spaso-Preobrazhenskaja Church
Flag Coat of arms
Smarhoń
Coordinates: 54°29′1″N 26°24′0″E
Country	Belarus
Region	Grodno Region
Founded	October 2, 1503
Area
• Total	19.15 km2 (7.39 sq mi)
Elevation	150 m (490 ft)
Population  (2022)
• Total	35,908
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK)
Postal code	231000, 231041-231045
Area code	+375 1592
License plate	4
Website	Official website

Smarhonʹ or Smorgonʹ (Template:Lang-be, [smarˈɣonʲ]; Template:Lang-ru; Template:Lang-lt; Template:Lang-pl; Template:Lang-yi) is a city in the Grodno Region of Belarus. It was the site of Smarhonʹ air base, now mostly abandoned. Smarhoń is located 107 km from the capital, Minsk.

History

Grande Armée's remnant passing through the town

Within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Smarhonʹ was part of Vilnius Voivodeship. In 1795, the town was acquired by the Russian Empire in the course of the Third Partition of Poland. Until the mid 19th century, Smarhonʹ was a private property of the Radziwiłł family with most of its population being Jewish.

From 1921 until 1939, Smarhonʹ (Smorgonie) was part of the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, the town was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR.

From 25 June 1941 until 4 July 1944, Smarhonʹ was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of the Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland.

Smorgonʹ is known as the place where a school of bear training, the so-called "Bear Academy", was founded.

Smarhonʹ baranki

Up until World War II, Smarhonʹ was widely known for its baranki, traditional Eastern European ring-shaped bread rolls, similar to bagels and bubliki. Russian food historian William Pokhlyobkin considered Smarhonʹ to be the birthplace of baranki. Baranki were supposedly used to feed bears in the Bear Academy. Written accounts of Smarhonʹ baranki appeared in the 19th century. Polish-Lithuanian journalist Adam Kirkor wrote in the encyclopedia Picturesque Russia: "In Smorgonʹ, Oshmyany district, Vilna province, almost all the petty bourgeois population is busy baking small bubliki, or kringles, which are widely known as Smorgonʹ obvaranki. Each traveller would definitely buy several bundles of these bubliki; besides, they are transported to Vilna and other cities." Władysław Syrokomla mentioned Smarhonʹ as "the capital of obwarzanki famous in all Lithuania". Smarhonʹ obwarzanki were a traditional treat at Saint Casimir's Fair in Vilnius.

International relations

Smarhonʹ is twinned with:

• Visaginas, Lithuania
• Alytus, Lithuania
• Krasnoznamensk, Russia

Famous natives and citizens of Smarhonʹ

• Zmicier Apanasovič (nom de guerre “Terror") (1990–2022), Belarusian volunteer killed in action defending Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion
• Peter Blume (1906–1992), US painter, in magic realism style
• Louis Hurwich (1886–1967), US Jewish educator, superintendent of the Boston Bureau of Jewish Education and founder of Hebrew College
• Isaac Itkind (1871–1969), distinguished Russian and Soviet sculptor
• Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935), rabbi, Jewish theologist, Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine, learned in Smarhonʹ Yeshiva
• Moyshe Kulbak (1896–1937), Belarusian Yiddish poet, writer, executed by the NKVD
• Moshe Kussevitzki (1899–1966), Polish-US Jewish cantor
• Ida Lazarovich Gilman or Ida Mett (1901–1973), Russian anarchist militant and author, exiled in France
• Shalom Levin (1916–1995), Secretary Gen. and President of Israel Teachers Union, Knesset (Parliament) Member, educator and author
• Shmuel Rodensky (1902-1989), Israeli actor
• Karol Dominik Przezdziecki (1782–1832), Polish count, fighter for the liberation of Poland in the revolt of 1830–1831
• David Raziel (1910–1941), fighter for the emancipation of Jews in Palestine, commander of the Irgun Tzvai Leumi nationalist resistance organization, killed in Iraq on an anti-Nazi mission
• Esther Raziel Naor (1911–2002), Israeli politician, militant in the Irgun Jewish nationalist resistance during the British mandate in Palestine
• William Schwartz (1896–1977), US painter
• Nahum Slouschz (1872–1966), Israeli writer, translator and archaeologist
• Abraham Sutzkever (1913–2010), Yiddish and Polish poet and Second World War partisan
• The Gordin brothers, Abba (1887–1964) and Wolf (1885-1974), anarchist educators, militants, and theorists

External links

• Smorgon memory book
• Photos on Radzima.org
• Smarhon, Belarus at JewishGen