# Vidzy

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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vidzy.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidzy
> Source revision: 1329341958
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox settlement
|name = Vidzy
|native_name = {{native name|be|Відзы}}
|settlement_type    = [Urban-type settlement](/source/List_of_urban-type_settlements_in_Belarus)
|image_skyline = Kaścioł - Vidzy - 6.jpg
|image_caption = Catholic church of the Holy Trinity in Vidzy
|image_flag         = Flag of Vidzy.png
|image_shield       = Coat of Arms of Vidzy.png
|shield_alt         = 
|shield_size        = 75px
|flag_size          = 150px
|pushpin_label_position = 
|pushpin_map_alt    = 
|coordinates        = {{coord|55|24|N|26|38|E|display=title, inline|region:BY_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}}
|coor_pinpoint      = 
|pushpin_map        = Belarus
|pushpin_map_caption= Location in Belarus
|subdivision_type   = Country
|subdivision_name   = [Belarus](/source/Belarus)
|subdivision_type1   = [Region](/source/Regions_of_Belarus)
|subdivision_name1   =[Vitebsk Region](/source/Vitebsk_Region)
|subdivision_type2   = [District](/source/Districts_of_Belarus)
|subdivision_name2   =[Braslaw District](/source/Braslaw_District)
|population_total = 1,546
|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=29 March 2025}}</ref>
|timezone = [MSK](/source/Moscow_Time)
|utc_offset = +3
}}
'''Vidzy'''{{efn|{{Langx|be|Відзы}}; {{Langx|ru|Видзы}}; {{Langx|lt|Vidžiai}}; {{Langx|pl|Widze}}; {{Langx|yi|ווידזש|translit=Vidzh}}.}} is an [urban-type settlement](/source/urban-type_settlement) in [Braslaw District](/source/Braslaw_District), [Vitebsk Region](/source/Vitebsk_Region), in northern [Belarus](/source/Belarus).<ref name="pop"/><ref name="enc">{{cite book |last1=Gaponenko |first1=Irina Olegovna |title=Назвы населеных пунктаў Рэспублікі Беларусь: Віцебская вобласць |date=2009 |location=Minsk |publisher=Тэхналогія |page=97 |isbn=978-985-458-192-7}}</ref> As of 2025, it has a population of 1,546.<ref name="pop"/>

==History==
The name ''Vidzy'' is of [Finno-Ugric](/source/Finno-Ugric) origin and is associated with the word ''vidze'', which refers to a "meadow, hayfield".{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}} The Finno-Ugric peoples named their settlements after the landscape or after vegetation, animals or fish if it was predominant in that location.{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}} 

Vidzy is known in historical records since the 15th century, when Grand Duke [Sigismund Kęstutaitis](/source/Sigismund_K%C4%99stutaitis) transferred the estates of Vidzy to three families at once.{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}} Part of Vidzy was also in the permanent possession of the bishops.{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}}

In the early 16th century, the prince [Albertas Goštautas](/source/Albertas_Go%C5%A1tautas), owner of the [Hieraniony Castle](/source/Hieraniony_Castle), ruled in Vidzy after the estate was sold to him and his wife in 1524.{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}} The estate then passed to the [Pac family](/source/House_of_Pac), and in 1685, [Michał Kazimierz Pac](/source/Micha%C5%82_Kazimierz_Pac) transferred the estate to the [Canons regular](/source/Canons_regular).{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}} Stanisław Naruszewicz, procurator of [Vilnius](/source/Vilnius), maintained a Calvinist prayer house in Vidzy.{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}} The Wawrzecki family in the 18th-century became owners of much of the land around Vidzy.{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}}

During the late-18th-century [Partitions of Poland](/source/Partitions_of_Poland), the town was annexed by [Russia](/source/Russian_Empire). During the [French invasion of Russia](/source/French_invasion_of_Russia), a skirmish took place in the center of Vidzy on 28 November 1812 between the retreating French and the Cossacks, leading to 116 houses to be destroyed by fire.{{sfn|Tatarinov|2006|loc=ВИДЗЫ}} 

thumb|left|Widze in 1915
In 1875, ''[The Jewish World](/source/The_Jewish_World_(London))'' reported that the city was badly burned in a fire: many buildings were destroyed, and up to 3,000 people were made homeless.<ref>{{Cite news |title=RUSSIA.; DESTRUCTIVE FIRE IN RUSSIAN POLAND SEVERAL LIVES LOST AND 3,000 PERSONS MADE HOMELESS. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1875/10/21/79255716.html |access-date=2024-09-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{better source|date=September 2024|reason=A newspaper from across the globe is hardly a reliable ref, especially from these auld times}}

In the interbellum, Widze, as it was known in Polish, was the seat of a gmina within the Brasław County, initially part of the [Nowogródek Voivodeship](/source/Nowogr%C3%B3dek_Voivodeship_(1919%E2%80%931939)), and from 1926 part of the [Wilno Voivodeship](/source/Wilno_Voivodeship_(1926%E2%80%931939)). According to the 1921 Polish census, the population of the town was 71.6% [Polish](/source/Polish_people) and 21.3% [Jewish](/source/Jews).<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Skorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Tom VII. Część II|year=1923|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=19}}</ref>

During [World War II](/source/World_War_II), Widze was [occupied by the Soviet Union](/source/Occupation_of_Poland_(1939%E2%80%931945)), and then by [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany) from 27 June 1941 until 8 July 1944, and administered as part of ''[Generalbezirk Litauen](/source/Generalbezirk_Litauen)'' of ''[Reichskommissariat Ostland](/source/Reichskommissariat_Ostland)''.{{sfn|Megargee|Dean|2012|page=1146}} A [ghetto](/source/Jewish_ghettos_established_by_Nazi_Germany) was established in early 1942 and by the summer, most Jews were transferred to the [Swieciany ghetto](/source/%C5%A0ven%C4%8Dionys_Ghetto), while others were able to form or join partisan units.{{sfn|Megargee|Dean|2012|page=1147}}

==Demographics==
In 2024, it had a population of 1,563.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_89355/|title=Численность населения на 1 января 2024 г. и среднегодовая численность населения за 2023 год по Республике Беларусь в разрезе областей, районов, городов, поселков городского типа|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402055418/https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_89355/|archive-date=2 April 2024|website=belsat.gov.by|access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref>

Distribution of the population by ethnicity according to the 2009 census:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/belarus-ethnic-comm2009.htm|title=Ethnic composition of Belarus 2009|access-date=30 March 2025}}</ref> 
{{bar box|titlebar=#ddd|left1=|right1=percent|bars=
{{bar percent|[Belarusians](/source/Belarusians)|green|40.78}}
{{bar percent|[Poles](/source/Polish_people)|red|30.63}}
{{bar percent|[Russians](/source/Russians)|dodgerblue|21.72}}
{{bar percent|[Romani](/source/Romani_people)|brown|3.52}}
{{bar percent|[Tatars](/source/Tatars)|purple|1.25}}
{{bar percent|[Ukrainians](/source/Ukrainians)|yellow|0.74}}
{{bar percent|[Lithuanians](/source/Lithuanians)|lightgreen|0.62}}}}

==Notable people==
* [Iosif Bleikhman](/source/Iosif_Bleikhman) (1868–1921), revolutionary
* [Cecilia Berdichevsky](/source/Cecilia_Berdichevsky) (1925–2010), computer scientist

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Geoffrey P. |last2=Dean |first2=Martin |title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933 –1945: Volume II: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe |date=4 May 2012 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-00202-0 |pages=1146–1148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9f_YAgAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* {{cite book |last1=Tatarinov |first1=Yury |title=Города Беларуси в некоторых интересных исторических сведениях. Витебщина |date=2006 |location=Minsk |isbn=9856742366 |publisher=Энциклопедикс |language=ru}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Vidzy}}
* {{JewishGen-LocalityPage|1951282|Vidzy, Belarus}}

{{Authority control}}
Category:Braslaw district
Category:Urban-type settlements in Belarus
Category:Populated places in Vitebsk region

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