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The Pinsk Marshes (Russian: Пинские болота) or Pripyat Marshes (Pripet Marshes, Russian: Припятские болота) are a vast natural region of wetlands along the Pripyat River and its tributaries from Brest, Belarus (west) to Mogilev (northeast) and Kiev (southeast).

The Pinsk Marshes mostly lie within the Polesian Lowland and occupy most of the southern part of Belarus and the north-west of Ukraine. They cover roughly 38,000 square miles (98,400 km²) surrounding the Pripyat River on both sides. Dense woods are interspersed with numerous swamps, moors, ponds and streams extending 300 miles (480 km) west to east and 140 miles (225 km) north to south. The marshes undergo substantial changes in size during the year, with melting snows in springtime and autumn rainfall causing extensive flooding as the river overflows. Drainage of the eastern portion began in 1870, and significant areas have been cleared for pasture and farmland.

There is a story that the early Slavs hid out from predators in the Pripet Marshes by breathing through reeds.

During most of the year, the marshes are virtually impassable to major military forces, thus influencing strategic planning of all military operations in the region. The few roads that traverse the region are narrow and largely unimproved. At the start of World War I the marshes separated the Austro-Hungarian fourth army from the XII corps.

This left a wide gap open, and the Russian third army poured in before the Austro-Hungarian second army's transfer from Serbia was complete. The Russians soon captured the valuable railhead at Lemberg, in the far east of then Austro-Hungary (now part of the western Ukraine), as a result. Throughout the following years of the war it remained one of the principal geographic features on the Eastern Front (World War I)

The marshes divided the central and southern theatres of operation during World War II, and served as a hideout for Soviet and Polish partisans. At one stage during the war the German administration planned to drain the marshes, 'cleanse' them of their 'degenerate' inhabitants, and repopulate the area with German colonists. Konrad Meyer was the leader in charge of 'The Pripet plan'. Hitler scuttled the project late in 1941, as he believed that it might entail dustbowl (Versteppung) conditions. German racial anthropologist Theodor Poesche proposed, in the late 19th century, that the Aryan race evolved in the marshes due to the prevalence of albinism.

The relative sparsity of human population in the area, combined with the ready availability of water, was a key factor in the decision to build the ill-fated Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the marshes in 1970. The city of Pripyat was constructed nearby to house the plant's workers. The Chernobyl disaster spread radioactive contamination across a wide swathe of the marshlands, large areas of which are restricted due to the pollution.

References[link]

Blackbourn, David, (2006). The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape and the Making of Modern Germany. Jonathan Cape.

Coordinates: 51°48′55″N 24°57′10″E / 51.81528°N 24.95278°E / 51.81528; 24.95278

Pinsk Пінск Пинськ
The Assumption Cathedral in Pinsk.
Coat of arms
Pinsk Location of Pinsk in Belarus
Coordinates: 52°07′N 26°06′E / 52.117°N 26.1°E / 52.117; 26.1
Country	Belarus
Voblast	Brest Voblast
Raion	Pinsk Raion
Mentioned	1097
Population (1999 census)
• Total	129,935
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	225700—225716, 225745
Area code(s)	+375 165
License plate	1
Website	www.pinsk.by

Pinsk (Belarusian: Пінск, Pinsk; Ukrainian: Пинськ, Pyns'k; Russian: Пинск, Pinsk; Polish: Pińsk; Yiddish/Hebrew: פינסק, Pinsk), a town in Belarus, in the Polesia region, traversed by the river Pripyat, at the confluence of the Strumen and Pina rivers. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk. It is a fertile agricultural center. It lies south-west of Minsk. The population is about 130,000. The city is a small industrial center producing ships sailing the local rivers.

The historic city has a beautifully restored downtown full of two-story buildings dating from the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The downtown of this peaceful city has become an active place for youth of all ages with summer theme parks and a newly built soccer stadium that houses the town's soccer team, FC Volna Pinsk.

History[link]

Pinsk is first mentioned in the chronicles of 1097 as Pinesk, a town belonging to Sviatopolk of Turau. The name is derived from the river Pina. Pinsk's early history is closely linked with the history of Turau. Until the mid-12th century Pinsk was the seat of Sviatopolk's descendants, but a cadet line of the same family established their own seat at Pinsk after the Mongol invasion of Rus in 1239.

The Pinsk principality had an important strategic location, between the principalities of Navahrudak and Halych-Volynia, which fought each other for other Ruthenian territories. Pinsk did not take part in this struggle, although it was inclined towards the princes of Novaharodak, which is shown by the fact that the future prince of Novaharodak and Voyshalk of Lithuania spent some time in Pinsk.

In 1320 Pinsk was won by the rulers of Navahrudak, who incorporated it into their state, known as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. From this time on Pinsk was ruled by Gedimin's eldest son, Narymunt. Afterwards, for the next two centuries the city had different rulers.

In 1581 Pinsk was granted the Magdeburg rights and in 1569, after the union of Lithuania with the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, it became the seat of the province of Brest.

From 1633 on Pinsk had a secondary school, a so-called brotherhood school (the brotherhoods were religious citizens' organisations with the aim of providing education for their members and their children). During the Cossack rebellion of Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1640), it was captured by Cossacks who carried out a pogrom against the city's Jewish population; the Poles retook it by assault, killing 24,000 persons and burning 5,000 houses. Eight years later the town was burned by the Russians.

In 1648, on the eve of the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667), Pinsk was occupied by Ukrainian Cossack army under commander Niababy and could only be reconquered with great difficulty by prince Janusz Radziwiłł, a high-ranking commander in the Polish-Lithuanian army. During the war between Moscow and Poland-Lithuania (1654–1667) the city suffered heavily from the attacks of the Muscovite army under Prince Volkolnsky and its allied army of Ukrainian Cossacks.

Charles XII took it in 1706, and burned the town with its suburbs. In spite of all the wars the city recovered and the town developed with the existence of a printing workshop in Pinsk from 1729-44. Pinsk fell to the Russian Empire in 1793 in the Second Partition of Poland.

Up to the Second World War and the Holocaust, like many cities in Eastern Europe, Pinsk had a significant Jewish population: according to the Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 28,400, Jews constituted 21,100 (approx. 74% percent), making it one of the most Jewish cities in Eastern Europe.^[1]

Pinsk Jews reading Mishna (1924)

In April 1919, at the beginning of the Polish-Soviet War, thirty-five Jews from Pinsk were murdered by Polish soldiers, in an incident known as the Pinsk massacre. The Poles suspected them of being Bolshevik collaborators. This event created a diplomatic incident that was noted at the Versailles Conference.^[2]

Pinsk became part of Poland in 1920 after the Polish-Soviet War and was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939. At this time, the city's population was over 90% Jewish.

From 1941 to 1943, Pinsk was occupied by Nazi Germany. In 1939, the population of Pinsk totaled 30,000, of whom 27,000 were Jews. Most of them were killed in late October 1942, after their deportation by the Nazis from the Pinsk ghetto.^[2] Ten thousand were murdered in one day. Pinsk has been part of Belarus since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Landmarks[link]

Two main sights of the town are lined along the river. These are the Assumption Cathedral of the monastery of the greyfriars (1712–30) with a campanile from 1817 and the Jesuit collegium (1635–48), a large Mannerist complex, whose cathedral was demolished after World War II. The foremost among modern buildings is the black-domed Orthodox cathedral of St. Theodore.

• 

  Jesuit collegium

• 

  St. Theodore Cathedral

Notable residents[link]

• Ryszard Kapuściński (1932–2007), Polish writer and reporter
• parents of Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer lived in Pinsk before moving to the USA
• Simon Kuznets (1901–1985), 1971 Nobel laureate in economics
• Golda Meir (1898–1978), fourth prime minister of Israel, born in Kiev, lived two years of her childhood in Pinsk
• Adam Naruszewicz (1733–1796), Polish poet, historian, bishop
• Chaim Weizmann (1874–1952), first president of Israel, born in Motal, near Pinsk and educated in Pinsk
• Ivan Zholtovsky (1867–1959), Russian and Soviet architect
• Igor Kolb (1977?–), principal dancer of Mariinsky Ballet
• Shlomo Lipsky (1899–1989), Israeli businessman
• Vladimir Chub (1948–) governor of Rostov Oblast in Russia
• Izya Shlosberg (1950–), Jewish American artist, born in Pinsk and lived in Pinsk for 44 years
• Sir Isaac Shoenberg (1880–1963), electrical engineer born in Pinsk, principal inventor of the first high-definition television system, as used by the BBC.

References[link]

Books[link]

• Mordechai Nadav (2008) The Jews of Pinsk, 1506–1880; edited by Mark Jay Mirsky and Moshe Rosman; translated by Moshe Rosman and Faigie Tropper. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press,
• (in Belorussian, Russian and English) T. A. Khvagina (2007) Pinsk and its surroundings, Minsk Vysheysha shkola, ISBN 978-985-06-1419-3,
• (in Belorussian, Russian and English) T. A. Khvagina (2004) Pinsk: A Fairy Tale of Polessye, Minsk Vysheysha shkola, ISBN 985-06-0836-6,
• (in Belorussian, Russian and English) T. A. Khvagina (2005) POLESYE from the Bug to the Ubort, Minsk Vysheysha shkola, ISBN 985-06-1153-7.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pinsk

• Yad Yisroel - Pinsk
• Photos on Radzima.org
• "The city of Pinsk, Belarus" by Tatyana Khvagina and Oleg Babinets
• Unofficial site of Pinsk
• "Pinsk", Jewish Encyclopedia
• Images of the Assumption Cathedral
• Image of the Jesuit Collegium
• Virtual Guide to Belarus: Pinsk
• News from Pinsk

v t e Subdivisions of Brest Region, Belarus Districts (raioni) Baranavichy Biaroza Brest Drahichyn Hantsavichy Ivanava Ivatsevichy Kamenets Kobryn Lyakhavichy Luninets Malaryta Pinsk Pruzhany Stolin Zhabinka Cities Belaazyorsk Brest Baranovichi Biaroza Davyd-Haradok Drahichyn Kamyanyets Kobryn Ivatsevichy Kosava Luninets Ivanava Hantsavichy Lyahavichy Malaryta Mikashevichy Pinsk Pruzhany Stolin Vysokaye Zhabinka

Coordinates: 52°07′N 26°06′E / 52.117°N 26.1°E / 52.117; 26.1