Naliboki forest

Nalibotskaya Pushcha is famous for its nature and rich, although tragic, history.

History

From the 10th to the 11th century, although very scarcely populated, the big forest on the right bank of upper Neman River was strategically important for the

In the second half of the 16th century, most of the Naliboki Forest had been concentrated in the hands of the powerful

Traces of Lithuanian culture, at least in toponymics and personal names, survive until today. For instance, the name Ivyanets, originally Givenech, derives from Lithuanian gyventi – “to live”, and Pershai – from piršlys – matchmaker. A few Lithuanian-speaking communities were still present in the deep forest until the early 19th century, but by the middle of the 19th century, the area became predominantly “Belarusian”-speaking (although the very term “Belarusian” was completely unknown to local Catholics until the early 20th century).

Moreover, this area, together with the adjacent territories of the historical Lithuania, became a cradle of the new Belarusian literary tradition in the second half of the 19th century. Its pioneer,

World War II

During World War II, the Naliboki Forest hosted many thousands of those who escaped from Nazi terror and formed partisan troops –

The former Jewish community of Naliboki Forest is known for several famous representatives who come from the area, such as once President of Israel

Vivid and famous examples of Jewish resistance to the Holocaust and, generally, to Nazism with both words and weapons, in Naliboki Forest in the 1940s, were given by such different people as Soviet Jewish partisan leaders