| Hlybokaye | |
| Native Name: | |
| Other Name: | Glubokoye |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Flag Size: | 150 |
| Pushpin Map: | Belarus |
| Coordinates: | 55.1333°N 68°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Belarus |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Vitebsk Region |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Hlybokaye District |
| Established Date2: | 1514 or earlier |
| Established Date3: | 1940 (BSSR) |
| Population As Of: | 2024 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 17,746 |
| Timezone: | MSK |
| Utc Offset: | +3 |
| Latd: | 53 |
| Latm: | 55 |
| Latns: | N |
| Longd: | 27 |
| Longm: | 33 |
| Longew: | E --> |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 211791, 211792, 211800 |
| Area Code: | +375 2156 |
| Blank Name: | License plate |
| Blank Info: | 2 |
Hlybokaye or Glubokoye (Belarusian: Глыбокае|Hlybokaje; Russian: Глубокое; Polish: Głębokie; Lithuanian: Glubokas; Yiddish: גלובאָק|Glubok) is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Hlybokaye District.[1] As of 2024, it has a population of 17,746.[1]
The town is located on the international road from Polotsk to Vilnius with the historic railway line to Woropajewo (Варапаева) completed in 1932 in the interwar Poland (the town was incorporated in 1940 by the Soviet Union after the 1939 invasion of Poland).
Within the city limits there are two smaller lakes: Kahalnaye (Кагальнае) and Grand (Вялікае) from which the Birchwood river originates (Бярозаўка, Brzozówka in Polish). The first written records about the settlement date back to 1514. During World War II in occupied Poland the town's district of Berezwecz was the location of a massacre of up to 2,000–3,000 Polish prisoners by the Soviet NKVD secret police, and during the Nazi occupation from July 1941 to July 1944 several thousand Jews were murdered.[2] [3] As late as 2009 the remains of more than 20 victims probably shot by NKVD after the takeover of the area from Poland were again discovered in a basement of a local church.[4]
The first mention of Hlybokaye in historical sources comes from 1414, and this date is considered as the year it was founded. In 1514, Hlybokaye was included in the documents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as consisting of a manor house and a property owned by Zianowicz family. Jews first settled in Hlybokaye during the 17th century, and by the end of the 19th century represented about 70% of the town's 5,600 residents.[5]
During Polish-Soviet War of independence, Hlybokaye was taken over by the Polish Army in December 1919, but in July 1920 found itself in the hands of the Bolsheviks as a result of the offensive by Mikhail Tukhachevsky. On 5 July 1920, near Hlybokaye there was a battle in which some 1,500 soldiers died on both sides. In October 1920, the Poles regained the city. The incorporation of Hlybokaye into the Second Polish Republic was officially confirmed by the 1921 Treaty of Riga signed between Poland and the Soviet Union. It was given town status and became the administrative center of the Dziśnieński–Głębokie district and the seat of municipality. On 19 February 1921, Hlybokaye became part of Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–39), from 13 April 1922, part of Ziemia Wileńska region, and on 20 January 1926 part of Wilno Voivodeship (1926–39). On 10 November 1933, the settlement of Gliniszcza was included within the boundaries of Hlybokaye.
According to the Polish census of 1921, some 2,844 Jews lived in Hlybokaye, accounting for 63% of its population. Just before the Soviet invasion of Poland in World War II, Hlybokaye had a population of 9,700. Most residents worked in either, confectionery factory, tannery, mill, county administration, private shops, and warehouses. Every Thursday market was held in the town's centre, and four times a year - country fairs. Also in the town stationed the Polish Border Protection Corps (KOP) regiment.
See main article: Berezwecz-Taklinovo Death Road. As a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland beginning 17 September 1939, the town was taken by the Red Army and on 2 November 1939, incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR of the Soviet Union. It became part of the brand new Vileyka Region on 4 December 1939. Hundreds of Poles were arrested by the NKVD and imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Following the start of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, the NKVD murdered 1,000-2,000 prisoners, mostly Polish nationals, near Hlybokaye.
Hlybokaye fell under German occupation on 2 July 1941. Shortly thereafter the Germans enacted a number of anti-Jewish laws, including a mandate to seize personal property, and established a Judenrat. Jews of Hlybokaye were relocated into a ghetto on 22 October 1941. Mass killings of Jews began around this time and continued during the German occupation. The largest such event occurred on 19 June 1942, when the Germans, with the help of local collaborators, murdered 2,200 Jews. During this time Jews from neighboring communities were resettled in the Hlybokaye ghetto, so the population grew to around 4,000 by the summer of 1943. The Germans began to liquidate the ghetto on 19 August 1943, when inhabitants were told that they were to be sent to the Majdanek concentration camp. An uprising broke out, organized by Jewish anti-Nazi insurgents, which was suppressed by German artillery and air support, including the use of incendiaries that set the town on fire and led to many casualties.
At the local Catholic cemetery, are graves of both parents of the famous Polish writer Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz, his father Stefan and mother Stanisława née Popowicz. In 1998, on the back wall of the house (now courthouse) which once belonged to Mostowicz family, a bilingual plaque was laid commemorating the writer.
In July 2009, in the Orthodox Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary the council during a work order found the remains faithful to the Poles. Screening is conducted, and the bones were buried, officially because of the odor.
Hlybokaye's flag and coat of arms were established on 20 January 2006 by Belarusian presidential ukase No. 36
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