{{Short description|Town in Grodno Region, Belarus}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Smarhon | native_name = {{native name|be|Смаргонь}} | settlement_type = [[List of cities and largest towns in Belarus|Town]] | image_skyline = {{multiple image | border = infobox | total_width = 270 | image_style = border:1; | perrow = 1/2/2 | image1 = Smarhoń panorama.jpg | caption1 = Central square of the town with churches in the background and the statue of [[Vladimir Lenin]] | image2 = Kasciol sv. Michaila Archaniola (Smarhon).jpg | caption2 = Church of Saint Michael the Archangel | image3 = Smarhoń. Царква Перамянення Гасподняга.jpg | caption3 = Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ | image4 = Smarhoń District Executive Committee.jpg | caption4 = Administration building | image5 = Train station in Smargon (1).jpg | caption5 = Train station }} | image_flag = Flag_of_Smarhoń%2C_Belarus.svg | image_shield = Coat of Arms of Smarhoń, Belarus.svg | flag_size = 150 | shield_size = 75 | pushpin_map = Belarus | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = [[Belarus]] | subdivision_type1 = [[Regions of Belarus|Region]] | subdivision_name1 = [[Grodno Region]] | subdivision_type2 = [[Districts of Belarus|District]] | subdivision_name2 = [[Smarhon District]] | leader_title = | leader_name = | established_title = Founded | established_date = October 2, 1503 | area_magnitude = | area_total_km2 = 19.15 | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = |population_as_of = 2025 |population_footnotes = <ref name="pop">{{cite web|url=https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_148168/|title=Численность населения на 1 января 2025 г. и среднегодовая численность населения за 2024 год по Республике Беларусь в разрезе областей, районов, городов, поселков городского типа|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250329210112/https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_148168/|archive-date=29 March 2025|website=belsat.gov.by|access-date=8 May 2025}}</ref> | population_total = 35,072 | population_metro = | population_density_km2 = | timezone = [[Moscow Time|MSK]] | utc_offset = +3 | timezone_DST = | utc_offset_DST = | coordinates = {{coord|54|29|1|N|26|24|0|E|region:BY|display=inline}} | elevation_m = 150 | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = 231000, 231041-231045 | area_code = +375 1592 | blank_name = License plate | blank_info = 4 | website = [http://smorgon.grodno-region.by/en Official website] | footnotes = }}
'''Smarhon''',{{efn|{{langx|be|Смаргонь}} {{IPA|be|smɐrˈɣonʲ|}}.}} or '''Smorgon''',{{efn|{{langx|ru|Сморгонь}}; {{langx|lt|Smurgainys}}; {{langx|pl|Smorgonie}}; {{langx|yi|סמאָרגאָן}}.}} is a [[List of cities and towns in Belarus|town]] in [[Grodno Region]], [[Belarus]].<ref name="SmurgainysVle"/> It serves as the administrative center of [[Smarhon District]].<ref name="pop"/><ref name="enc">{{cite book |last1=Gaponenko |first1=Irina Olegovna |title=Назвы населеных пунктаў Рэспублікі Беларусь: Гродзенская вобласць |date=2004 |location=Minsk |publisher=Тэхналогія |page=334 |isbn=985-458-098-9}}</ref> It was the site of [[Smarhon (air base)|Smarhon air base]], now mostly abandoned. Smarhon is located {{convert|107|km}} from the capital, [[Minsk]]. As of 2025, it has a population of 35,072.<ref name="pop"/>
==History== Within the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], Smarhon was part of [[Vilnius Voivodeship]].<ref name="SmurgainysVle">{{cite web |last1=Garšva |first1=Kazimieras |title=Smurgainys |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/smurgainys/ |website=[[Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija]] |access-date=25 November 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> Forty percent of the names of [[Smarhon District]]'s settlements have remained of [[Lithuania]]n origin, while residents of Smarhon once spoke in the Eastern [[Aukštaitija|Aukštaitian]]-[[Vilnius|Vilnian]] dialect of [[Lithuanian language]].<ref name="SmurgainysVle"/> It was a [[private town]] of the Zenowicz, [[Radziwiłł]] and Przezdziecki [[szlachta|noble families]] until 1830.<ref name=sgk>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich|volume=X|year=1889|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=915}}</ref> During the [[Great Northern War]], Kings [[Charles XII of Sweden]] and [[Stanisław Leszczyński]] of Poland met in the town in 1708, before Stanisław departed for [[Malbork]].<ref name=sgk/>
[[File:Smarhoń. Смаргонь (C. Faber du Faur, 3.12.1812).jpg|left|thumb|Remnant of the ''[[Grande Armée]]'' passing through the town]] In 1795, the town was acquired by the [[Russian Empire]] in the course of the [[Third Partition of Poland]].<ref name="SmurgainysVle"/> Amid the disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812, [[Napoleon]] left the remnants of the Grande Armée at Smorgon on December 5 to return to Paris.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-russian-campaign-the-retreat/ | title=Napoleon's Russian Campaign: The Retreat }}</ref> The town suffered a fire in 1880.<ref name=sgk/> From 1921 until 1939, Smarhon (''Smorgonie'') was part of the [[Second Polish Republic]].
During [[World War II]], in September 1939, the town was occupied by the [[Red Army]] and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]]. From 25 June 1941 until 4 July 1944, Smarhon was [[German occupation of Byelorussia during World War II|occupied by Nazi Germany]] and administered as a part of the ''[[Generalbezirk Litauen]]'' of ''[[Reichskommissariat Ostland]]''.
Smorgon is known as the place where a school of bear training, the so-called "Bear Academy", was founded.
==Culture== Up until [[World War II]], Smarhon was widely known for its [[Baranka|baranki]],<ref>{{langx|ru|баранки}}, {{langx|be|обваранки|obvaranki}}, {{langx|pl|obwarzanki}}</ref> traditional [[Eastern Europe]]an ring-shaped bread rolls, similar to [[bagel]]s and [[bublik]]i. Russian food historian [[William Pokhlyobkin]] considered Smarhon to be the birthplace of baranki.<ref name=Pokhlyobkin_Dict>''[http://www.rus-food-recipes.ru/P_00/2/11.htm Баранки]''. In: В. В. Похлёбкин, ''Кулинарный словарь от А до Я''. Москва, Центрполиграф, 2000, {{ISBN|5-227-00460-9}} ([[William Pokhlyobkin]], ''Culinary Dictionary''. Moscow, Centrpoligraf publishing house, 2000; Russian)</ref> Baranki were supposedly used to feed bears in the Bear Academy. Written accounts of Smarhon baranki appeared in the 19th century. Polish-Lithuanian journalist [[Adam Kirkor]] wrote in the encyclopedia ''[[Picturesque Russia]]'': "In Smorgon, Oshmyany district, Vilna province, almost all the petty bourgeois population is busy baking small {{lang|be|bubliki}}, or [[kringle]]s, which are widely known as ''Smorgon obvaranki''. Each traveller would definitely buy several bundles of these {{lang|be|bubliki}}; besides, they are transported to [[Vilnius|Vilna]] and other cities."<ref>{{cite book | author1 = Адам Киркор | title = Живописная Россия | volume = 1 | page = 217 | date = 1881 }} ({{cite book | author1 = Adam Kirkor | title = Picturesque Russia | volume = 1 | page = 217 | date = 1881 | language = Russian }})</ref> [[Władysław Syrokomla]] mentioned Smarhon as "the capital of obwarzanki famous in all Lithuania".<ref>{{cite book | author = Уладзіслаў Сыракомля | title = Добрыя весці: паэзія, проза, крытыка | chapter = З дарожнага дзённіка 1856 года | publisher = Маст. літ. | year = 1993 | pages = 425–433 | language = Belarusian}}</ref> Smarhon obwarzanki were a traditional treat at [[Kaziuko mugė|Saint Casimir's Fair]] in Vilnius.<ref>{{cite book | author = Францішак Багушэвіч | title = Творы | chapter = Публіцыстыка, 1885 | location = Мінск | date = 1998 | url = http://pdf.kamunikat.org/download.php?item=13655-1.pdf }} ({{cite book | author = Francišak Bahuševič | author-link = Francišak Bahuševič | title = Writings | chapter = Journal publications, 1885 | location = Minsk | date = 1998 | language = Belarusian }})</ref><ref>{{cite journal | journal = AS, Tygodnik Ilustrowany | author = Alfons Wysocki | title = Na Kaziuku | language = Polish | date = 1937-02-28 | url = https://jbc.bj.uj.edu.pl/Content/340235/PDF/NDIGCZAS015353_1937_009.pdf}}</ref>
==International relations== Smarhon is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:
* {{flagicon|LTU}} [[Visaginas]], Lithuania * {{flagicon|LTU}} [[Alytus]], Lithuania * {{flagicon|RUS}} [[Krasnoznamensk, Moscow Oblast|Krasnoznamensk]], Russia
==Notable people== * [[Peter Blume]] (1906–1992), US painter, in magic realism style * [[Isaac Itkind]] (1871–1969), distinguished Russian and Soviet sculptor * [[Abraham Isaac Kook]] (1865–1935), rabbi, Jewish theologist, [[Ashkenazi]] [[Chief Rabbi|chief rabbi]] of Palestine, learned in Smarhon [[Yeshiva]] * [[Moyshe Kulbak]] (1896–1937), Belarusian Yiddish poet, writer, executed by the [[NKVD]] * [[Moshe Koussevitzky]] (1899–1966), Polish-US Jewish cantor * Ida Lazarovich Gilman or [[Ida Mett]] (1901–1973), [[Russians|Russian]] [[anarchism|anarchist]] militant and author,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://libcom.org/history/mett-ida-1901-1973|title=Mett, Ida, 1901-1973|last=Heath|first=Nick|date=2006|website=Libcom}}</ref> exiled in [[France]] * [[Shalom Levin]] (1916–1995), Secretary Gen. and President of Israel Teachers Union, Knesset (Parliament) Member, educator and author * [[Shmuel Rodensky]] (1902–1989), Israeli actor * [[Karol Dominik Przezdziecki]] (1782–1832), [[Polish people|Polish]] count, fighter for the liberation of [[Poland]] in [[November Uprising|the revolt of 1830–1831]] * [[David Raziel]] (1910–1941), fighter for the emancipation of [[Jew]]s in Palestine, commander of the [[Irgun|Irgun Tzvai Leumi]] nationalist resistance organization, killed in [[Iraq]] on an anti-Nazi mission * [[Esther Raziel Naor]] (1911–2002), [[Israel]]i politician, militant in the Irgun Jewish nationalist resistance during the [[Mandatory Palestine|British mandate]] in Palestine * [[William S. Schwartz|William Schwartz]] (1896–1977), US painter * [[Nahum Slouschz]] (1872–1966), Israeli writer, translator and archaeologist * [[Abraham Sutzkever]] (1913–2010), Yiddish and Polish poet and Second World War partisan * The Gordin brothers, [[Abba Gordin|Abba]] (1887–1964) and [[Wolf Gordin|Wolf]] (1885–1974), anarchist educators, militants, and theorists
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline|Smarhoń|Smarhon}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20010424122017/http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/2750/smorgon/smorgon.html Smorgon memory book] * [http://radzima.org/pub/miesta.php?lang=en&miesta_id1=hrsmsmar Photos on Radzima.org] * {{JewishGen-LocalityPage|1949759|Smarhon, Belarus}}
{{Grodno Region}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smarhon}} [[Category:Smarhon]] [[Category:Populated places in Grodno region]] [[Category:Historic Jewish communities in Belarus]] [[Category:Smarhon district]] [[Category:Populated places in Belarus]]