page_title: Navahrudak
section_title: In Second Polish Republic
hierarchical_section_title: Navahrudak / History / In Second Polish Republic
caption_attribution_description: Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎: Наваградак (Navahradak), пляц Рынак (plac Rynak) з боку Рацэўлі (Raceŭla)
context_page_description: Navahrudak is a city in the Grodno Region of Belarus.
  In the 14th century, it was an episcopal see of the Metropolitanate of Lithuania. It is a possible first capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but Kernavė is also noted as a possibility. It was later part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire and eventually Poland until the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 when the Soviet Union annexed the area to the Byelorussian SSR.
context_section_description: On March 25, 1918, Navahrudak, as well as the entire ethnic territory of belarusians, was declared part of the Belarusian People's Republic. On January 1, 1919, in accordance with the resolution and Congress of the CP(b) of Belarus, it became a part of the Belarusian SSR. On may 25, 1919, the Navahrudak Belarusian gymnasium was opened here.
  During the Polish–Soviet War, it changed hands several times. From mid-March 1919, detachments of the Polish Army began to appear in the vicinity of Navahrudak. On April 18, 1919, at dawn, after several hours of fighting, soldiers of the 2nd Kovensk rifle regiment of major Leon Lada-Zavistovsky and two squadrons of the 10th Uhlan regiment captured the city. Many Communist poles from the Western division of the Riflemen took part in the battles on the side of the red Army. As a result of the capture of the city, the Polish Army received large warehouses of military ammunition and ammunition, and also captured about 300 prisoners. The Polish-Bolshevik front stopped for several months along the line of former German trenches on the rivers Servech and Uschi.
  On the morning of July 19, 1920, the Red Army again occupied Navahrudak, but after its defeats in the battle of Warsaw and the Battle of the Niemen River, on October 1, 1920, Polish troops again occupied the city. These were detachments of the 1st and 5th legionary regiments, the 16th infantry regiment, and 3 batteries of the 1st legionary artillery regiment. The civil authorities, headed by the headman Joseph Yellin, began to act on November 3. The traditions of the Lithuanian Tribunal were partially revived by the Navahrudak Voivodeship court, which opened on January 11, 1921 in the building of the former Russian County school.
  Ultimately captured by the Poles in October 1920, it was confirmed as part of the Second Polish Republic by the Peace of Riga. During the interwar period, Navahrudak served as the seat of the Navahrudak Voivodeship until the 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union. Many new buildings were built, including the voivodeship office, district court, tax office, theater, power plant, city bath and a narrow-gauge railway station. In 1938, a museum was created in the former home of Adam Mickiewicz. The first voivode of Navahrudak (1921-1924) was Władysław Raczkiewicz, later (1939-1947) President of Poland in exile. On may 13, 1922, Adam Mickiewicz's eldest son, Wladyslaw, came to Navahrudak to stay, and on October 30, 1922, the chief of state, Marshal Józef Piłsudski, came here. In the following years, the former power station was converted into a city theater. Several other Polish presidents visited the city: Stanisław Wojciechowski (may 25-27, 1924) and Ignacy Mościcki (September 1929 and the end of June 1931). In the 1920s and 1930s, more than 10 titles of periodicals were published in the city. In October 1922, the first belarusian-language newspaper "Nasha Batskayshchyna" was published in Navahrudak. In 1924-1931, a mound was built on the small castle in honor of Adam Mickiewicz, and a Museum was opened in his honor on September 11, 1938. As of 1931, there were 1055 residential buildings in the city, 2 catholic churches, 2 orthodox churches, 3 synagogues, and a mosque; in addition to the belarusian one, there was a polish gymnasium. In addition, there were 2 hospitals, 7 hotels, and 2 printing houses.
caption: Navahrudak in interwar Poland
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