Lepel (city)
| Lepel | Lepel | |||
| Лепель | Лепель | |||
| ( Belarus. ) | ( Russian ) | |||
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| State : |
 Belarus
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| Woblasz : |
 Vitebsk
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| Coordinates : | 54 ° 53 ' N , 28 ° 42' E | ||
| Residents : | 17,700 (2007) | ||
| Time zone : | Moscow time ( UTC + 3 ) | ||
| Telephone code : | (+375) 2132 | ||
| Postal code : | 211180 | ||
| License plate : | 2 | ||
| Website : | |||
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Lepel ( Belarusian Ле́пель , Russian Ле́пель ) is a small town in Belarus in the Vitebskaya Woblasz on the south bank of Lake Lepel, 155 km north of Minsk and 115 km west of Vitebsk . It is the administrative seat (county seat) of the Rajons Lepel . The Ula and Essa rivers flow through the city .
Etymology of the name "Lepel"
According to one version, the name comes from the word Lepene (roughly lake in the linden forest ). According to another version, the name of Belarus could be. лепей / lepej (= better ), as it is said to be easier to live here than in any other place. A third version says that the name of the city is from Belarus. лепка / lepka or ляпіць / ljapic ' (which means something like glue ) could come from a reference to the pottery that is widespread in Lepel.
coat of arms
Description: In red the silver pahonja with a golden three-tower wall crown on the shield.
history
History up to World War II
At the time of its first documentary mention in 1439 as the village and estate of Lepel, the city belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Lepel Castle existed here from 1558 to 1583 . In 1863 the settlement received the status of a town, which in 1852 got its own coat of arms. At that time the settlement was still on the western shore of Lake Lepel (today the village of Stary Lepel). In 1586, Leu Sapeha founded the settlement of Bely Lepel or Nowy Lepel (now the city of Lepel) in the village of Belaja, three kilometers from Lepel, where the trading center was relocated and a castle as well as a Russian Orthodox and a Catholic church were built.
With the support of the Catholic priest Kucharski , the city was founded in 1439 by Michail, a son of the Lithuanian prince Sigismund Kęstutaitis , and given to the church in Vitebsk. King Sigismund the Elder confirmed the donation. The city was under the rule of the Jagiellonians until the death of Sigismund II. August . In 1541 Lepel belonged to the Vitebsk Cathedral with the consent of the Pope. After the capture of Polatsk by Moscow troops in 1563, the Vilnius Chapter , unable to protect its assets from the constant attacks of the Principality of Moscow , surrendered the rule of Sigismund II August to Lepel on the condition that if the King wants to keep the property, he has to hand over another equivalent to the chapter. The king, however, did not keep to the agreements and gave the estate to the Smolensk city governor Jury Sjanowitsch for lifelong use and, after his death, to the Polatsk voivod Mikalaj Darahastajski . It was only when King Stephan Báthory freed Polazk that Polatsk returned the property to the chapter. The chapter, however, found it difficult to defend the area, and the misunderstandings and raids by the enemy troops finally forced it to sell the Lepel territory to Leu Sapeha in 1586 - one of the most influential patrons who built several cathedrals and to several monasteries in what was then Lithuania Had made donations. In 1609 he handed Lepel over to the Vilna clergy, the St. Bernard Sisters , who at that time felt they belonged to St. Michael's Church.
After the first partition of Poland and the annexation of Belarus to Russia in 1772, Lepel remained in Lithuania because the border ran directly on the Western Dvina River . After the second partition of Poland, Lepel fell to tsarist Russia . In 1802 it became a district town. During the Patriotic War of 1812, as the wars against Napoleon in Russia and Belarus are called, the armies passing through Belarus burned the city.
Although the Beresina canal system built near Lepel from 1797 to 1807 lost its strategic and economic importance in 1913, the buildings and facilities were preserved. There was a technical school here, where technical personnel were trained under the direction of engineers. From 1833 to 1839 the Belarusian writer Jan Czeczot worked in the canal administration.
At the beginning of the 20th century, out of 7,000 city residents, 4,000 were Jews who dominated trade.
Lepel has been the district town since 1924. In 1925 the Orsha-Lepel railway connection was established.
Defense and liberation of the city during World War II
After the German attack on the Soviet Union and the occupation of western parts of the Soviet Union, Lepel belonged to the Reichskommissariat Ostland . Lepel was part of the subordinate general commissioner of Belarus . The Rendsburg NSDAP district leader Walter Ellerbrock , who came from Schleswig-Holstein, was delegated as area commissioner. The German occupiers killed around 5229 people in Lepel and the surrounding area. After the defeat of the important Soviet troops on the western front in the Kesselschlacht near Białystok and Minsk , the German troops of Army Group Center had free rein in their operations and began to advance on the line of the rivers Western Dvina and Dnieper . Lepel, in the region of which the main military camps were located, was defended only by the officer student regiment of the Lepel Artillery and Grenade Launcher Military School , which was stationed in the Barouka settlement, as well as by the units and border guards who had moved to the east. The defense was headed by Major General B. Terpiloski, commander of the Lepel garrison. In the early morning hours of July 2, 1941, the German Air Force launched the first attack on Lepel, towards evening the advance party of the 7th Panzer Division approached the city and began shelling the city from the village of Staja.
On July 3, the city was captured by German troops. The next day the Germans crossed the Ula and continued the offensive to the east. The group of Terpiloski participated in the defense of Vitebsk in part, after which the remaining alive cadets were to Barnaul sent to the site of a new recruit school.
From July 6 to 10, 1941, the Soviet troops undertook an advance in the direction of Lepel ("Lepel Counter Strike"), which ended in a devastating defeat.
The city was liberated on June 28, 1944 in the course of the Vitebsk-Orsha operation by the troops of the 1st Baltic and 3rd Belarusian fronts .
Demographic development
culture and education
In the city there is a regional and craft museum as well as a culture house. There are also three middle schools and high school No. 1, a state agricultural and technical college (the former technical center for hydromelioration), vocational school No. 175, an art school and a music school.
Economy and Transport
The wood and metal industry, the mechanical engineering and the food industry, among others, are located in Lepel. Companies operating here are z. B. the Lepeler Milchkonservierungskombinat, the Lepeler Brotfabrik, the Lepeler Triebradfabrik, the Lepeler Forstwirtschaft, a flax processing factory and the Lepeler Wasserwerk .
The city has a dead end station and a railway connection to Orsha (the terminus of the Orsha-Lepel rail link). It is located on the M3 and is connected to Minsk, Vitebsk, Polatsk and Orsha by trunk roads.
Tourism and sightseeing
The main attractions of the place not in the tourist spotlight are the elongated lake and the nearby Berezinky National Park .
In addition, there is the Kasimirkirche (Catholic), built 1857–1876, and the Friday Church (Russian Orthodox).
There is also a sanatorium for children, the children's rest home “Zhamczyczyna” (= pearl) and - directly on the shore of the lake, the “Lade” sanatorium.
particularities
On the shores of the extensive lake, the German non-profit organization Heim-statt Tschernobyl eV is undertaking a settlement project for families from the contaminated areas in southeast Belarus ( Homelskaja Woblasz , border area with the Ukrainian Chornobyl ). ( see : Naratsch )
During the Belarusian presidential election campaign in 2006, the town made international headlines when the Baptist community there publicly opposed the oppression of religious minorities in Belarus.
sons and daughters of the town
- Wladimir Motyl (* 1927), director and screenwriter
- K. Salenik (1811-1851), Ukrainian actor, one of the founders of the Ukrainian realistic theater
- Jan Czeczot (1796–1847), poet, folklorist and ethnographer
Web links
- Official website for the city
- Home instead of Chernobyl official homepage
- Information and photos of the city (Russian, Belarusian, English, Polish)
- Website with a focus on Jewish history Lepels (English)
Administrative center: Vitebsk | Baran | Braslau | Dokschyzy | Dsisna | Dubrouna | Haradok | Hlybokaje | Lepel | Mjory | Navapolatsk | Novalukoml | Orsha | Pastawy | Polatsk | Sjanno | Talachyn | Chaschniki | Verkhnadswinsk