History
Drogichin region is a picturesque corner in southwestern Polesie, rich in history, original culture and traditions.
According to archaeological data, the oldest Stone Age settlements arose in the northern part of the Drogichin region in the 11-9 millennia AD.
The most famous sites were opened in the vicinity of the village of Kokoritsa and in the Gerady tract, 4 km from Khomsk.
In the Bronze Age, at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC, agricultural tribes occupied river valleys, lakeside lowlands, and gradually developed the entire space of modern Drogichin region.
At the beginning of the Iron Age, 1st millennium BC, tribes of Indo-Europeans came to the southern borders of Polesie, who, in the process of migration of peoples, mixed with other nationalities, forming the Zarubinets culture. However, already at the beginning of our era, numerous tribes of Slavs occupied the spaces of Eastern Europe. During this period, the lands of the Drogichin region were within the historical ancestral home of the Slavs, the region where the Slavs were finally formed as an ethnic community. In those distant centuries, Yaselda served as an important border, to the north of which hostile Yotvingians lived. Along the southern bank of the Yaselda, the Slavs built the Zagorod fortifications. Since then, the ancient name “Zagorodie” has been assigned to our region.
With the emergence of statehood among the Eastern Slavs, Zagorodye became part of the Turov land, and later the Kyiv principality.
The oldest chronicled settlement in our region is the city of Zditov on Yaselda, first mentioned in 1005 by the volosts that were baptized.
In the 13th century, with the beginning of the fragmentation of Rus', the Drogichin region became part of the Galicia-Volyn land. At the same time, Zagorodye became the subject of a dispute between the Galician and Lithuanian princes. The dispute was resolved by the Mongol invasion of 1240: the southern Russian lands were devastated and weakened, as a result of which Zagorodye became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
At the end of the 14th century, the lands of the Drogichin region were first marked on geographical maps. Among the settlements noted was "Radostów", modern Radostovo in the southern part of the area.
In 1409, the village of “Bezdezh” was first mentioned in written sources, which Grand Duke Vytautas transferred to the church.
In scribal documents of 1452, the villages of Dovechorovichi (from the 17th century - Drogichin), Vavulichi and Simonovichi were first mentioned.
In 1519, Dovechorovichi came into the possession of Queen Bona Sforza, who sought to transform southwestern Polesie into a model economy. For this purpose, in the years 1552-1556, a land survey was carried out in the Queen’s Polesie possessions, which became the beginning of the first agrarian reform on the Belarusian lands.
In 1623, the village of Dovechorovichi received the status of a town.
In 1648, the lands of the Drogichin region were devastated during the Cossack-peasant war of 1648-1652.
The ensuing war between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth completely devastated the region.
During the Northern War of 1700-1721, our lands became the scene of struggle between the confederations, Polish-Swedish and Russian troops. In May 1706, the Swedish army, on the orders of Charles 12, besieged and captured the Jaber castle-fortress on the Yaselda River. Subsequently, the entire Drogichin region was again burned and plundered.
The further history of the 18th century in the Drogichin region became a time of cultural revival. In 1710, the first stones of the Torokansky monastery were laid, which in the middle of the century became the main center of the Lithuanian province of the Basilian Order. Wooden churches were erected in all villages.
In 1778, according to administrative reform, the towns of Drogichin and Chomsk received the status of cities, and Drogichin and Chomsk counties were formed on the lands of the region.
As a result of the last division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the Drogichin region became part of the Russian Empire.
In 1798, the first factory on Belarusian lands was built in Khomsk.
At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, our region was occupied by the Saxon troops of General Rainier. However, in July 1812, the forces of the 3rd Russian Army of General Tormasov defeated the Saxons near Chomsk, Drogichin and Antopol, but were forced to retreat to Ukraine due to the multiple superiority of the enemy.
In the 1860s, to strengthen Orthodoxy in the Drogichyshchyna, churches were built, schools were opened, and public schools were opened in the towns.
The construction of the Polesie railway played a significant role in the economic development of the region. The Drogichin section was completed in 1882.
At the beginning of the 20th century, small business developed in the region, dozens of small enterprises in the food and processing industries, small brick and chalk factories, sawmills and forges operated.
During the revolution of 1905-1907, unrest among peasants and workers engulfed the villages and towns of Zagorodye.
During the First World War, our region was again devastated: in 1915, the population was forcibly evicted and sent as refugees. Dozens of villages were burned.
In 1919, the Drogichin lands were occupied by the Poles. However, the offensive of the 16th Soviet Army forced them to leave Belarus.
The battles near Warsaw, which were unsuccessful for the Red Army, allowed the Poles to launch a counteroffensive and reoccupy southwestern Polesie. In November 1920, the Drogichin Povet of Polesie Voivodeship was formed. There were two underground district committees of the KPZB “Lesnoy” and “Imeni Krasin” in the povet.
Zagorodie was part of Poland until September 1939. On September 22, 1939, the Drogichin region was liberated from the Poles.
Then, back in 1940, the Drogichinsky district was only taking its first steps. Farms disappeared, rural councils were created. There were many different events - everyday, heroic, and tragic.
Initially, two districts were formed on the territory of the current district - Antopolsky and Drogichinsky. Drogichinsky included Khomskaya, Drogichinskaya and parts of Brashevichi, Volovelskaya, Osovetskaya, Bezdezhskaya volosts. Administratively, the region was divided into 10 village councils, the number of which in subsequent years grew to 23. There were 4 brick and 4 concrete factories, 2 cheese factories, and a distillery.
There were 36 thousand hectares of arable land in the area. On July 10, 1940, the first collective farms were formed in the region in the villages of Gurka and Osovtsy.
By far the most difficult and tragic years for the residents of the region were the war years. In just one day in August 1941, punitive forces killed about 2 thousand civilians in the village of Khomsk.
On November 15, 1942, the Germans carried out a mass execution of the Jewish population in Antopol. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of such cruel examples. In an atmosphere of hatred towards the bloody occupation regime, the desire of people to fight against it grew. The names of partisan heroes Alexei Chertkov, Evgeniy Makarevich, Dmitry Karpovich Udovikov are associated with the Drogichinsky land. In tribute to the heroes, streets in the city's microdistricts appeared in honor of the Hero of the Soviet Union Pavel Alekseevich Belov, commander of the 61st Army regiment which liberated Drogichin on July 17, 1944, and Anatoly Ilyich Zosik, full holder of the Order of Glory.
Having survived a bloody and cruel war that claimed thousands of lives, leaving the destinies of people crippled, the ashes of burned villages, the Drogichin land was reborn for a new life.
The heroism shown on the war fronts continued in the labor achievements of the period of peaceful construction. Restoring the destroyed national economy required enormous amounts of human and material resources. But at the same time it was a time of change. These changes were brought about by people - ordinary workers, specialists, and managers.
A huge amount of work was carried out to restore national economic facilities, and industry was established. In May 1945, military construction teams began restoring the Dnieper-Bug Canal. In the same year, the Zakozelsky distillery produced its first products, the brick factory in the village of Goshevo produced its first batch of bricks, and the lime plant in Bezdezh resumed operation.
By the mid-50s, more than 4 thousand buildings and structures were built in the area, including residential buildings and industrial premises.
One after another, schools, medical and cultural institutions were opened. Even during the war years, the newspaper “Red Dawn”, whose editor was Pavel Petrovich Pchelka, resumed its work.
In 1953, a bakery came into operation in Drogichin, and in 1955, a new creamery.
The history of agriculture begins in the first post-war years. Difficult tasks faced the rural workers of the region. The yield of the first post-war years was 5-7 centners per hectare of grain, 50-70 centners of potatoes. In April 1945, the peasants of the village of Dubrovka organized the first collective farm in the area after the war. But by the end of 1949 there were 84 collective farms in the region.
In 1951, the consolidation of collective farms took place. This made it possible to provide them with qualified personnel. Mechanization began to be used in fields and farms, and production and social facilities were built at a faster pace.
Despite the difficulties of the post-war years, schools were built in the area. By the beginning of the 50s, there was 1 secondary, 8 junior high, and 57 primary schools. The first post-war teachers sometimes did not have the appropriate education, but their enthusiasm and hard work at that time could be envied.
In 1950, a school of agricultural mechanization began operating in Drogichin, which grew to a modern agricultural college.
The district's healthcare system also developed. If in 1945 there were only 2 doctors and 9 paramedical workers working in the district, then in 1954 the health of the district was already protected by 100 qualified medical workers.
The end of the 50s and the first half of the 60s became the time of the most significant industrial boom in the history of the Drogichin region. By 1963, electrification of the area was completely completed. The Drogichinkiy tractor repair and butter and cheese factories, a vehicle fleet, construction organizations, and the reclamation organization PMK-3 came into operation. Power lines and a section of the Druzhba oil pipeline were laid through the territory of the region. In 1967, Drogichin received city status.
The first concerts of amateur performances were being prepared in clubs and houses of culture.
Thanks to the efforts of the region's workers, the main sectors of the national economy developed.
In 1967, the modern appearance of the region took shape, and the urban village of Drogichin was transformed into a city of regional subordination.
In 1984, the construction of the Gomel-Brest highway was completed, which became an important transport artery in the Drogichin region.
Of course, the subsequent decades were also eventful. Scientific and technical achievements were progressively introduced into various fields of activity, management mechanisms and methods were improved, and existing enterprises developed.
In the 80s, a feed mill, Antopol cotton-spinning factory and other enterprises began producing products. The construction complex has made a huge leap. By the mid-90s, construction organizations in the region had built about 500 objects of various social significance and more than 350 kilometers of roads.
The history of the sovereign Belarusian state is a period of economic and social growth, development for the benefit of people and future generations.
The country has received great opportunities for development. First of all, thanks to the President of Belarus Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, who is for all of us the guarantor of the stability of society and the constitutional rights of citizens.
Visiting our region in 2005, the Head of State highly appreciated the character and hard work of the Drogichin residents and launched the implementation of the State Program for Rural Revival and Development. Today there are 13 agricultural towns in the region.
And we are truly proud of it. Without industrial giants, the region ensures progressive socio-economic development through the common efforts of workers from all sectors of the national economic complex.
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