The name of the town comes from the river Bronka, a nearby tributary of the Nurzec River.
Geography
Location
Brańsk is located in the geographical region of Europe known as the Wysoczyzny Podlasko–Białoruskie (English: Podlaskie and Belarus Plateau) and the mesoregion known as the Bielsk Plain (Polish: Równina Bielska). The Nurzec River, a tributary of the Bug River, passes through Brańsk. The town covers an area of 32.43 square kilometres (12.5 sq mi).
It is located approximately:
140 kilometres (87.0 mi) northeast of Warsaw, the capital of Poland
The region has a continental climate characterized by high temperatures during summer and long and frosty winters. The average annual rainfall exceeds 550 millimetres (21.7 in).
On 1 September 1939 Germany attacked Poland and started World War II. Within days of the war's beginning, Brańsk suffered German bombardment. On 17 September 1939 the Soviet Unionattacked Poland from the east, and in partnership with Nazi Germany, partitioned Poland under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of August 23. Brańsk along with all areas of Poland east of the Bug River was then occupied by the Soviet Union. All Polish and Jewish businesses of substance were confiscated by the Communist State. Several Poles from Brańsk were murdered by the Russians in the large Katyn massacre in 1940.[3] The Soviets remained in control of Brańsk until June 1941 when the Germans invaded their erstwhile Soviet allies.
The German Army occupied the town and ordered the Jewish community to build a ghetto surrounded by barbed wire, to which the Jewish population (some 65% of the town) was confined. On 8 November 1942 the Jews of Brańsk were ordered to report to the town center, forced to march to the nearby town of Bielsk, and then transported by train to Treblinka. Within weeks, the vast majority were murdered by gassing at the Treblinka extermination camp.[4][5] Several local Jews were hidden and rescued by Poles (including the local parish priest) in Brańsk and nearby villages.[6] Some hiding places in nearby villages were discovered by the Germans, who then murdered captured Jews.[7] Their Polish rescuers were either also murdered or managed to hide from the Germans until the end of the German occupation.[7]
On 1 August 1944 the town was captured by Soviet forces. On 4 August 1944 the Russians arrested 12 officers of the Polish underground Home Army in Brańsk, after they were deceitfully gathered for a supposed formal meeting with the command of the Soviet 65th Army.[8] The town was soon restored to Poland.
According to the 1921 census, the town was inhabited by 3,739 people, among whom 1,474 were Roman Catholic, 100 Orthodox, and 2,165 Jewish. At the same time, 1,530 inhabitants declared Polish nationality, 2,165 Jewish, 32 Belarusian and 12 Russian. There were 493 residential buildings in the village.[9]
The chief executive of the government is the Mayor (Polish: Burmistrz).
Legislative branch
The legislative portion of the government is the Council (Polish: Rada) composed of the President (Polish: Przewodniczšcy), the Vice President (Polish: Wiceprzewodniczšcy) and thirteen councilors.
Regular bus service is provided by Państwowa Komunikacja Samochodowa (State Car Communication, PKS) via PKS Bielsk Podlaskie, PKS Białystok and PKS Siemiatycze
Rail service
The closest passenger train service is provided by Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways, PKP) SA from the following stations:
^ ab"Local Data Bank". Statistics Poland. Retrieved 2022-06-02. Data for territorial unit 2003021.
^Gembarzewski, Bronisław (1925). Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831 (in Polish). Warszawa: Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej. p. 8.
^Eva Hoffman. Shtetl: The Life and Death of a Small Town and the World of Polish Jews. Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
^Zbigniew Romaniuk. The Story of Two Shtetls: Brańsk and Ejszyszki, Part One. The Polish Educational Foundation in North America, 1998.
^Datner, Szymon (1968). Las sprawiedliwych (in Polish). Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza. pp. 55, 58–59, 62.
^ abRejestr faktów represji na obywatelach polskich za pomoc ludności żydowskiej w okresie II wojny światowej (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. 2014. pp. 363, 370–371, 378.
^Zwolski, Marcin (2005). "Deportacje internowanych Polakow z wojewodztwa białostockiego 1944–1945". Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość (in Polish). No. 2 (8). IPN. pp. 91–92. ISSN1427-7476.
^ abSkorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej: opracowany na podstawie wyników pierwszego powszechnego spisu ludności z dn. 30 września 1921 r. i innych źródeł urzędowych., t. T. 5, województwo białostockie, 1924, s. 14.
^Wiadomości Statystyczne Głównego Urzędu Statystycznego (in Polish). Vol. X. Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny. 1932. p. 198.
^Dokumentacja Geograficzna (in Polish). Vol. 3/4. Warszawa: Instytut Geografii Polskiej Akademii Nauk. 1967. p. 5.