Vidzy
Urban-type settlement in Vitebsk Region, Belarus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vidzy[lower-alpha 1] is an urban-type settlement in Braslaw District, Vitebsk Region, Belarus.[1][2] In 2014, its population was 1,684.[3] As of 2024, it has a population of 1,563.[1]
Vidzy
| |
|---|---|
 Catholic church of the Holy Trinity in Vidzy | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Vidzy Location in Belarus | |
| Coordinates: 55°24′N 26°38′E | |
| Country | Belarus |
| Region | Vitebsk Region |
| District | Braslaw District |
| Population (2024)[1] | 1,563 |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (MSK) |
The name Vidzy is of Finno-Ugric origin and is associated with the word vidze, which refers to a "meadow, hayfield".[4] The Finno-Ugric peoples named their settlements after the landscape or after vegetation, animals or fish if it was predominant in that location.[4]
Vidzy is known in historical records since the 15th-century, when Grand Duke Sigismund Kęstutaitis transferred the estates of Vidzy to three families at once.[4] Part of Vidzy was also in the permanent possession of the bishops.[4]
In the early 16th-century, the prince Albertas Goštautas, owner of the Hieraniony Castle, ruled in Vidzy after the estate was sold to him and his wife in 1524.[4] The estate then passed to the Pac family, and in 1685, Michał Kazimierz Pac transferred the estate to the Canons regular.[4] Stanisław Naruszewicz, procurator of Vilnius, maintained a Calvinist prayer house in Vidzy.[4] The Wawrzecki family in the 18th-century became owners of much of the land around Vidzy.[4]
During the French invasion of Russia, a skirmish took place in the center of Vidzy on 28 November 1812 between the retreating French and the Cossacks, leading to 116 houses to be destroyed by fire.[4]
In 1875, The Jewish World reported that the city was badly burned in a fire: many buildings were destroyed, and up to 3,000 people were made homeless.[5][better source needed]
During World War II, Vidzy was occupied by Nazi Germany from 27 June 1941 until 8 July 1944, and administered as part of Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland.[6] Prior to the war, the town had a population of about 3,000 and was mostly populated by Jews.[6] A ghetto was established in early 1942 and by the summer, most Jews were transferred to the Swieciany ghetto, while others were able to form or join partisan units.[7]
- Iosif Bleikhman (1868–1921), revolutionary
- Cecilia Berdichevsky (1925–2010), computer scientist
- Belarusian: Відзы; Russian: Видзы; Lithuanian: Vidžiai; Polish: Widze; Yiddish: ווידזש, romanized: Vidzh.
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