# Smarhon

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Smarhon
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Smarhon.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarhon
> Source revision: 1324060677
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Town in Grodno Region, Belarus

Town in Grodno Region, Belarus

Smarhon Смаргонь (Belarusian) Town Central square of the town with churches in the background and the statue of Vladimir Lenin Church of Saint Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ Administration building Train station Flag Coat of arms Smarhon Coordinates: 54°29′1″N 26°24′0″E / 54.48361°N 26.40000°E / 54.48361; 26.40000 Country Belarus Region Grodno Region District Smarhon District Founded October 2, 1503 Area • Total 19.15 km2 (7.39 sq mi) Elevation 150 m (490 ft) Population (2025)[1] • Total 35,072 Time zone UTC+3 (MSK) Postal code 231000, 231041-231045 Area code +375 1592 License plate 4 Website Official website

**Smarhon**,[a] or **Smorgon**,[b] is a [town](/source/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Belarus) in [Grodno Region](/source/Grodno_Region), [Belarus](/source/Belarus).[2] It serves as the administrative center of [Smarhon District](/source/Smarhon_District).[1][3] It was the site of [Smarhon air base](/source/Smarhon_(air_base)), now mostly abandoned. Smarhon is located 107 kilometres (66 mi) from the capital, [Minsk](/source/Minsk). As of 2025, it has a population of 35,072.[1]

## History

Within the [Grand Duchy of Lithuania](/source/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania), Smarhon was part of [Vilnius Voivodeship](/source/Vilnius_Voivodeship).[2] Forty percent of the names of [Smarhon District](/source/Smarhon_District)'s settlements have remained of [Lithuanian](/source/Lithuania) origin, while residents of Smarhon once spoke in the Eastern [Aukštaitian](/source/Auk%C5%A1taitija)-[Vilnian](/source/Vilnius) dialect of [Lithuanian language](/source/Lithuanian_language).[2] It was a [private town](/source/Private_town) of the Zenowicz, [Radziwiłł](/source/Radziwi%C5%82%C5%82) and Przezdziecki [noble families](/source/Szlachta) until 1830.[4] During the [Great Northern War](/source/Great_Northern_War), Kings [Charles XII of Sweden](/source/Charles_XII_of_Sweden) and [Stanisław Leszczyński](/source/Stanis%C5%82aw_Leszczy%C5%84ski) of Poland met in the town in 1708, before Stanisław departed for [Malbork](/source/Malbork).[4]

Remnant of the *[Grande Armée](/source/Grande_Arm%C3%A9e)* passing through the town

In 1795, the town was acquired by the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) in the course of the [Third Partition of Poland](/source/Third_Partition_of_Poland).[2] Amid the disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812, [Napoleon](/source/Napoleon) left the remnants of the Grande Armée at Smorgon on December 5 to return to Paris.[5] The town suffered a fire in 1880.[4] From 1921 until 1939, Smarhon (*Smorgonie*) was part of the [Second Polish Republic](/source/Second_Polish_Republic).

During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), in September 1939, the town was occupied by the [Red Army](/source/Red_Army) and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the [Byelorussian SSR](/source/Byelorussian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic). From 25 June 1941 until 4 July 1944, Smarhon was [occupied by Nazi Germany](/source/German_occupation_of_Byelorussia_during_World_War_II) and administered as a part of the *[Generalbezirk Litauen](/source/Generalbezirk_Litauen)* of *[Reichskommissariat Ostland](/source/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](/source/World_War_II), Smarhon was widely known for its [baranki](/source/Baranka),[6] traditional [Eastern European](/source/Eastern_Europe) ring-shaped bread rolls, similar to [bagels](/source/Bagel) and [bubliki](/source/Bublik). Russian food historian [William Pokhlyobkin](/source/William_Pokhlyobkin) considered Smarhon to be the birthplace of baranki.[7] 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](/source/Adam_Kirkor) wrote in the encyclopedia *[Picturesque Russia](/source/Picturesque_Russia)*: "In Smorgon, Oshmyany district, Vilna province, almost all the petty bourgeois population is busy baking small *bubliki*, or [kringles](/source/Kringle), which are widely known as *Smorgon obvaranki*. Each traveller would definitely buy several bundles of these *bubliki*; besides, they are transported to [Vilna](/source/Vilnius) and other cities."[8] [Władysław Syrokomla](/source/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Syrokomla) mentioned Smarhon as "the capital of obwarzanki famous in all Lithuania".[9] Smarhon obwarzanki were a traditional treat at [Saint Casimir's Fair](/source/Kaziuko_mug%C4%97) in Vilnius.[10][11]

## International relations

Smarhon is [twinned](/source/Twin_towns_and_sister_cities) with:

- [Visaginas](/source/Visaginas), Lithuania

- [Alytus](/source/Alytus), Lithuania

- [Krasnoznamensk](/source/Krasnoznamensk%2C_Moscow_Oblast), Russia

## Notable people

- [Peter Blume](/source/Peter_Blume) (1906–1992), US painter, in magic realism style

- [Isaac Itkind](/source/Isaac_Itkind) (1871–1969), distinguished Russian and Soviet sculptor

- [Abraham Isaac Kook](/source/Abraham_Isaac_Kook) (1865–1935), rabbi, Jewish theologist, [Ashkenazi](/source/Ashkenazi) [chief rabbi](/source/Chief_Rabbi) of Palestine, learned in Smarhon [Yeshiva](/source/Yeshiva)

- [Moyshe Kulbak](/source/Moyshe_Kulbak) (1896–1937), Belarusian Yiddish poet, writer, executed by the [NKVD](/source/NKVD)

- [Moshe Koussevitzky](/source/Moshe_Koussevitzky) (1899–1966), Polish-US Jewish cantor

- Ida Lazarovich Gilman or [Ida Mett](/source/Ida_Mett) (1901–1973), [Russian](/source/Russians) [anarchist](/source/Anarchism) militant and author,[12] exiled in [France](/source/France)

- [Shalom Levin](/source/Shalom_Levin) (1916–1995), Secretary Gen. and President of Israel Teachers Union, Knesset (Parliament) Member, educator and author

- [Shmuel Rodensky](/source/Shmuel_Rodensky) (1902–1989), Israeli actor

- [Karol Dominik Przezdziecki](/source/Karol_Dominik_Przezdziecki) (1782–1832), [Polish](/source/Polish_people) count, fighter for the liberation of [Poland](/source/Poland) in [the revolt of 1830–1831](/source/November_Uprising)

- [David Raziel](/source/David_Raziel) (1910–1941), fighter for the emancipation of [Jews](/source/Jew) in Palestine, commander of the [Irgun Tzvai Leumi](/source/Irgun) nationalist resistance organization, killed in [Iraq](/source/Iraq) on an anti-Nazi mission

- [Esther Raziel Naor](/source/Esther_Raziel_Naor) (1911–2002), [Israeli](/source/Israel) politician, militant in the Irgun Jewish nationalist resistance during the [British mandate](/source/Mandatory_Palestine) in Palestine

- [William Schwartz](/source/William_S._Schwartz) (1896–1977), US painter

- [Nahum Slouschz](/source/Nahum_Slouschz) (1872–1966), Israeli writer, translator and archaeologist

- [Abraham Sutzkever](/source/Abraham_Sutzkever) (1913–2010), Yiddish and Polish poet and Second World War partisan

- The Gordin brothers, [Abba](/source/Abba_Gordin) (1887–1964) and [Wolf](/source/Wolf_Gordin) (1885–1974), anarchist educators, militants, and theorists

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Belarusian](/source/Belarusian_language): Смаргонь [\[smɐrˈɣonʲ\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Belarusian).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Russian](/source/Russian_language): Сморгонь; [Lithuanian](/source/Lithuanian_language): *Smurgainys*; [Polish](/source/Polish_language): *Smorgonie*; [Yiddish](/source/Yiddish_language): סמאָרגאָן.

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-pop_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-pop_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-pop_1-2) ["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"](https://web.archive.org/web/20250329210112/https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_148168/). *belsat.gov.by*. Archived from [the original](https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_148168/) on 29 March 2025. Retrieved 8 May 2025.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-SmurgainysVle_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-SmurgainysVle_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-SmurgainysVle_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-SmurgainysVle_4-3) Garšva, Kazimieras. ["Smurgainys"](https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/smurgainys/). *[Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija](/source/Visuotin%C4%97_lietuvi%C5%B3_enciklopedija)* (in Lithuanian). Retrieved 25 November 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-enc_5-0)** Gaponenko, Irina Olegovna (2004). *Назвы населеных пунктаў Рэспублікі Беларусь: Гродзенская вобласць*. Minsk: Тэхналогія. p. 334. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [985-458-098-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/985-458-098-9).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-sgk_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-sgk_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-sgk_6-2) *Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich* (in Polish). Vol. X. Warszawa. 1889. p. 915.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Napoleon's Russian Campaign: The Retreat"](https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/napoleons-russian-campaign-the-retreat/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Russian](/source/Russian_language): баранки, [Belarusian](/source/Belarusian_language): обваранки, [romanized](/source/Romanization_of_Belarusian): *obvaranki*, [Polish](/source/Polish_language): *obwarzanki*

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Pokhlyobkin_Dict_9-0)** *[Баранки](http://www.rus-food-recipes.ru/P_00/2/11.htm)*. In: В. В. Похлёбкин, *Кулинарный словарь от А до Я*. Москва, Центрполиграф, 2000, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [5-227-00460-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/5-227-00460-9) ([William Pokhlyobkin](/source/William_Pokhlyobkin), *Culinary Dictionary*. Moscow, Centrpoligraf publishing house, 2000; Russian)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Адам Киркор (1881). *Живописная Россия*. Vol. 1. p. 217. (Adam Kirkor (1881). *Picturesque Russia* (in Russian). Vol. 1. p. 217.)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Уладзіслаў Сыракомля (1993). "З дарожнага дзённіка 1856 года". *Добрыя весці: паэзія, проза, крытыка* (in Belarusian). Маст. літ. pp. 425–433.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Францішак Багушэвіч (1998). "Публіцыстыка, 1885". [*Творы*](http://pdf.kamunikat.org/download.php?item=13655-1.pdf) (PDF). Мінск.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher)) ([Francišak Bahuševič](/source/Franci%C5%A1ak_Bahu%C5%A1evi%C4%8D) (1998). "Journal publications, 1885". *Writings* (in Belarusian). Minsk.{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher)))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Alfons Wysocki (1937-02-28). ["Na Kaziuku"](https://jbc.bj.uj.edu.pl/Content/340235/PDF/NDIGCZAS015353_1937_009.pdf) (PDF). *AS, Tygodnik Ilustrowany* (in Polish).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Heath, Nick (2006). ["Mett, Ida, 1901-1973"](https://libcom.org/history/mett-ida-1901-1973). *Libcom*.

## External links

- Media related to [Smarhon](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Smarho%C5%84) at Wikimedia Commons

- [Smorgon memory book](https://web.archive.org/web/20010424122017/http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/2750/smorgon/smorgon.html)

- [Photos on Radzima.org](http://radzima.org/pub/miesta.php?lang=en&miesta_id1=hrsmsmar)

- [Smarhon, Belarus](https://www.jewishgen.org/Communities/community.php?usbgn=-1949759) at [JewishGen](/source/JewishGen)

v t e Subdivisions of Grodno region, Belarus Districts (raiony) Ashmyany Astravyets Byerastavitsa Dzyatlava Grodno Iwye Karelichy Lida Masty Novogrudok Shchuchyn Slonim Smarhon Svislach Vawkavysk Voranava Zelva District centres Grodno Astravyets Ashmyany Dzyatlava Iwye Karelichy Lida Masty Novogrudok Slonim Smarhon Shchuchyn Svislach Vawkavysk Vyalikaya Byerastavitsa Voranava Zelva Cities and towns Grodno Astravyets Ashmyany Bruzgi Byarozawka Dzyatlava Iwye Karelichy Lida Masty Novogrudok Skidzyel' Slonim Smarhon Shchuchyn Svislach Vawkavysk Vyalikaya Byerastavitsa

Authority control databases International VIAF FAST National United States Czech Republic Israel Other Yale LUX

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Smarhon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarhon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarhon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.