Orsha - History

History

Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha (Russian: Рша), making it one of the oldest towns in Belarus. The town was named after the river, which was originally also named Rsha, probably from a Baltic root *rus 'slowly flowing.'

In 1320, Orsha became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1398-1407, the Orsha castle was built. On September 8, 1514 the famous Battle of Orsha occurred, between allied Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Kingdom of Poland and Russian army. Russians suffered significant defeat, however victorious Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not fully avail its victory.

In 1555, Mikołaj "Czarny" Radziwiłł founded a Calvinist (Protestant) order in Orsha, one of the first in the Belarusian lands. From the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Orsha was a notable religious centre, with dozens of Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic churches and orders. The town was also home to a large Jewish population.

Orsha was granted Magdeburg Rights in 1620. In 1630, S. Sobal opened the first printing house at the Kuciejna monastery, which became a well-known centre of Cyrillic-alphabet publishing. The town was damaged during the Russo-Polish War (1654-1667), which was a disaster for Grand Duchy of Lithuania. During the First Polish partition the city was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1772, and became part of the Mogilyov Gubernia. Under Russian rule, it was stripped of its Magdeburg Rights in 1776 and went into cultural and economic decline. The population dropped sharply to just about 2,000 inhabitants. The city symbol in 1781 was changed to one which included the symbol of the Russian empire and five arrows.

In 1812, the city was badly burned during Napoleon's invasion. At the time of Orsha had been taken under control of French troops, there was a French writer Marie-Henri Beyle (also known under the pen name Stendhal) in a rank of intendant.

During the First World War, the city was occupied by German forces in February–October 1918. From February 2, 1919, Orsha became a part of Homyel region (Vitebsk region, 1920) of Soviet Russia. After the formation of the Soviet Union, it was transferred to the Byelorussian SSR in 1924.

The population before World War II was about 37,000. The city was occupied by Germany on July 16, 1941. The occupiers founded several concentration camps in the city, where an estimated 19,000 people were killed.

There is a widespread Soviet myth of Katyusha Katyusha multiple rocket launcher's maiden attack of July 14, 1941 at Orsha, destroying a station with several supply trains. This legend obviously conflicts the fact that Orsha remained at the hands of the Soviet Army on July 14 and through July 15, 1941. And even on July 16, 1941 the German troops were unlikely to invade Orsha aboard their supply trains. Thus, had the Katyusha’s rockets fallen on any supply trains on July 16, 1941 those would have been the Soviet trains unable to have left Orsha railroad station. See Russian Wikipedia's article "Гвардейские реактивные минометы" ("Guards Mortars"). The multiple rocket launchers were top secret in the beginning of World War II and any records of their actions in July 1941 were forbidden, which fact led to numerous rumors and myths. The Soviets encouraged and co-ordinated undercover anti-fascist resistance groups, and one of the most famous was a partisan brigade under the command of Kanstantsin Zaslonau (Konstantin Zaslonov), operating from the Orsha train depot. His group planted ninety-three bombs on German trains in just three months. After March 1942, he went in hiding in the forests, where he and his group continued guerilla warfare. He was killed in action on November 14, 1942. Soviet troops liberated Orsha on June 27, 1944.