LIENIN

ˈLienin

Agrotown in Zhytkavichy Rajon, Gomiel Voblasc, on the right bank of the Sluch River. It is located 46 km northwest of Zhytkavichy, 18 km from the Mikashevichy railway station; connected with Mikashevichy and Sluck by highways.

In 1940, Lienin had 1,650 inhabitants.

In 1940–1950, centre of Lienin Rajon.

In 1940–1952, urban settlement.

During the Great Patriotic War

The urban settlement of Lienin was invaded on July 16, 1941. 4,474 people died in the settlement and rajon at the hands of German Nazi invaders. In Lienin in July 1942, 940 people were executed. During the eradication of the ghetto in August 1942, the Hitlerites killed 1,850 people (a total of 2,000 people were killed in the ghetto). During the Hornung punitive operation on February 16, 1943, they killed 1,046 people in Lienin, burned 351 households (not a whole building remained).

The Partisan Detachment under V. Z. Korzh operated in the rajon (formed on June 26, 1941).

On September 12, 1942, “Kamarova” (Kamarow’s) (V. Z. Korzh), “Piatrovicha” (Piatrovich’s) (since December 1942, S. M. Kirov), and M. Ts. Shysh Partisan detachments defeated the enemy garrison in Lienin.

Lienin’s Underground Rajon committees of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Belarus (late 1942 — July 14, 1944) and the Leninist Young Communist League of Belarus (December 1942 — July 14, 1944); the S. M. Budennyj and S. M. Kirov Partisan brigades; the independent M. A. Shchors and I. I. Chuklaj Partisan detachments operated in Lienin and the rajon.

During 1942, the invaders were completely mopped up from Lienin, partially Luniniec and Gancavichy rajons by the partisans. In the territory of these liberated rajons, the Lienin Partisan Zone was formed; in 1943, it merged into the Akciabrski-Liuban Partisan Zone. In December 1942, all rural councils resumed their activity in Lienin Rajon. In the territory of the rajon near Naviny village, the partisan airfield operated. The partisans had held the settlement until February 1943 when the punitive forces seized and demolished it.

In May 1944, during the Marabou punitive operation, fierce battles took place between the partisans and punitive forces in Lienin Rajon.

Lienin was liberated on July 6, 1944, by the soldiers of the 55th Rifle Division (colonel K. M. Andrusienka) of the 89th Rifle Corps of the 61st Army of the 1st Belarusian Front during the Belarusian Operation of 1944 (Operation Bagration of 1944).

In Lienin, there are:

• mass graves of Komsomol members, Soviet war prisoners and fascism victims; grave of the Soviet patriot N. V. Aliejnik; grave of the underground members of the Chopchyts family; monuments were raised on the graves;

• monument to the partisans who defeated the German Nazi garrison in Lienin in 1942.