Smalyany

Agrotown in Vitebsk Region, Belarus

Smalyany Смальяны (Belarusian) Смольяны (Russian)
Agrotown

54°36′N 30°04′E / 54.600°N 30.067°E / 54.600; 30.067
Country	Belarus
Region	Vitebsk Region
District	Orsha District
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK)

Smalyany (Belarusian: Смальяны, romanized: Smaĺjany; Russian: Смольяны, romanized: Smolyany) is an agrotown in Orsha District, Vitebsk Region, Belarus.^[1] It serves as the administrative center of Smalyany selsoviet.^[2] It is situated 24 kilometres (15 mi) west-northwest of Orsha.^[3]

History

During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, Russian troops led by Peter Wittgenstein defeated French forces at the Battle of Smoliani.^[4]

In 1926, 950 Jews lived in the settlement, just over half of the total population.^[3] During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the settlement was captured by German forces of Army Group Centre on 9 July 1941.^[3] The Germans established a ghetto [ru], possibly during the fall of 1941; the ghetto was liquidated on 5 April 1942 as a mass shooting of Jews took place.^[3] The Soviet Extraordinary State Commission (ChGK) estimated the number of victims to be 610, with a list compiled by the ChGK containing the names of 254 Jews.^[3]

References

^ "Оршанский районный исполнительный комитет - Горпоссельисполкомы". www.orsha.vitebsk-region.gov.by (in Russian).
^ Gaponenko, Irina Olegovna (2009). Назвы населеных пунктаў Рэспублікі Беларусь: Віцебская вобласць. Minsk: Тэхналогія. p. 78. ISBN 978-985-458-192-7.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Megargee & Dean 2012, p. 1734.
^ Jaques, Tony (30 November 2006). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges [3 volumes]: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity through the Twenty-first Century [3 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 954. ISBN 978-0-313-02799-4.

Sources

Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Dean, Martin (4 May 2012). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933 –1945: Volume II: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00202-0.