Barysaw

• 1. Barysaw

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  In Barysaw, a cannon from the Napoleonic era sits in the town museum. It marks 1812, when Napoleon's retreating army made the Berezina River famous across Europe. This city in central Belarus, 74 km northeast of Minsk, has been under Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, German, and Soviet rule. Its population today is 133,700. How did a settlement first mentioned in a medieval chronicle survive such repeated conquest? And how did the same city on the same river develop a football club competing at the highest level of European football?

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• 2. A City Named Boris

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  Rogvolod Vseslavich, Prince of Polotsk, founded Barysaw in 1102. The Laurentian Codex records that founding under the name Borisov. Rogvolod bore the baptismal name Boris, and that Christian name likely gave the city its own. Scholars also link the name to Boris Vseslavich, a 12th-century prince. The Belarusian form, Barysaw, differs from the Russian Borisov. In Polish, the city was known as Borysów; in Yiddish it appeared as באַריסעוו, written in Hebrew letters. Each variant traces a community or era that left its mark on this river town. Over the two centuries that followed its founding, the city was burned at least once and rebuilt, each time taking shape further south.

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• 3. The Lithuanian Centuries

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  From the late 13th century, Barysaw sat within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Union of Krewo in 1385 brought Lithuania into dynastic union with Poland. The Union of Lublin in 1569 deepened that link into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1500, during the Lithuanian-Muscovite War, King Alexander Jagiellon resided at Barysaw Castle. In 1563, King Sigismund II Augustus granted the city Magdeburg town rights, giving it formal standing as a self-governing municipality. As the Commonwealth era drew to a close, the 2nd and 4th Lithuanian Vanguard Regiments and the 1st Lithuanian Infantry Regiment were garrisoned here. King Stanislaw August Poniatowski set the city's coat of arms by decree number 17435. The upper half bore the arms of Minsk. The lower half showed two stylized towers on a silver background with a passage between them. Saint Peter stood above the towers and held a key. Barysaw entered the Russian Empire in 1793 after the Second Partition of Poland.

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• 4. The Berezina Crossing

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  Studianka, a village north of Barysaw, was where Napoleon's engineers built two wooden bridges during the retreat of 1812. The plan was to feint at the city itself, drawing the pursuing armies toward the wrong crossing point. The real passage happened at Studianka, and most of the French force escaped across the river. After the wars, Barysaw settled into provincial routine as an uyezd town in the Minsk Governorate. In 1871, the railway between Brest and Moscow passed through the area and a station was built near the city. By 1900, the district that had grown up around that station was formally annexed into Barysaw.

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• 5. A Century of Occupations

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  World War I left Barysaw without a stable ruler for years. In November 1917, the area became part of Soviet Russia. By early 1918, German forces had occupied it. In December 1918, Soviet troops retook the city. From 1919 to 1920, Poland held it before the Soviets captured it a third time. Soviet authority was confirmed by the Peace of Riga in 1921 and the city was placed in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. In September 1939, the Soviet 10th Army massed in Barysaw before invading Poland, striking toward Nowogrodek and Bialystok. Nazi Germany then occupied the city from the 2nd of July 1941 to the 1st of July 1944, and most of it was destroyed. The Germans operated four prisoner-of-war facilities there: Dulag 126, Dulag 184, Dulag 240, and Stalag VI-H. Since May 1948, the headquarters of the 7th Tank Army has been based in Barysaw. That force was later reorganized as the 65th Army Corps and, in 2001, became the North Western Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Belarus.

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• 6. Factory on the River

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  After World War II, Barysaw rebuilt as a major industrial centre. By 2002-41 large factories were exporting goods to Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and global markets. The industrial workforce totaled 31,019 people. Production covers a broad range: automotive electrical parts, turbocompressors, rubber products, plastics, pharmaceuticals, pasta, dairy goods, and meat processing. Named plants include the Borisov Plant of Motor-and-Tractor Electric Machinery, the Borisov Aggregate Works, and the Belarusian-German joint venture called Frebor. The railroad remains a central artery through the city, now powered by overhead electric lines. The Berezina divides Barysaw into an old part and a new part, the two halves joined by two bridges. The railway station, the international road, the military staff headquarters, and the central square all sit in the new part of the city.

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• 7. BATE and Beyond

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  Fifteen Belarusian Premier League titles stand to the name of BATE Borisov, the football club based in Barysaw. The club has also competed in the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Barysaw is home to a second major team, the basketball club Berezina-RCOR, and has hosted a European women's basketball championship at the division B level. The city's sporting infrastructure includes two stadiums, three swimming pools, fourteen shooting galleries, and eight sports grounds.

  The Borisovskiye Novosti newspaper is privately owned and publishes in both Belarusian and Russian. A dispute between the paper and the city's mayor, who attempted to halt distribution, was resolved in the paper's favor by a court. The official newspaper Adzinstva publishes in Belarusian, and the local television company Skif broadcasts from the city.

  Haim Laskov was born in Barysaw in 1919 and became the fifth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. He died in 1982. Yevsei Vainrub and Matvei Vainrub, born in 1909 and 1910, both served as Soviet tank commanders in World War II. Both received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Anatoly Gromyko, born in 1932 and died in 2017, worked as a Soviet and Russian scientist and diplomat. Anatoly Chubais, born in Barysaw in 1955, became a prominent economist in the Soviet and post-Soviet period.

  Barysaw maintains twin-city ties with Kapan in Armenia, Narva in Estonia, Pazardzhik in Bulgaria, and two Russian cities: Maloyaroslavets and Podolsk. Andrei Aramnau, born in Barysaw in 1988, holds a weightlifting world record.

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