Zhabinka


Zhabinka is a city in the southwestern region of Brest, Belarus. It is the administrative center of the Zhabinka District. The population is 14,577.

History

Within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Zhabinka was situated in the territory of Brest Litovsk Voivodeship. In 1795, Zhabinka was acquired by the Russian Empire as a result of the Third Partition of Poland. The name of the place was first mentioned in Russian official papers in 1817.
In 1882, a railway station was built here on the railway line that connected Warsaw, Brest and Moscow. It gave a powerful impetus to the development of the place. Within 2 decades it turned from a village into a town, attracting people of commerce, after the station boosted the economic development of the place.
From 1921 until 1939, Zhabinka was part of the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, Zhabinka was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR.
From 23 June 1941 until 21 July 1944, Zhabinka was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of the Generalbezirk Wolhynien-Podolien of Reichskommissariat Ukraine.
For 125 years the town has been sprawling along the road from the railway station southwards to the highway Brest-Moscow, that is the major transcontinental traffic artery E30 today. After World War II a big sugar refinery was built north of the railway line. A big settlement appeared around it.
Today Kirov Street starts form the railway station, runs across the town center with a big square and a park, further on southwards to the highway.

Notable residents

In 2004, a Polish women named Floria Budziszewska, who risked her life to save two Jewish children in Zhabinka, was posthumously awarded with the title Righteous Among Nations.

Geography

The town lies on the Mukhavets River at the confluence of the tiny Zhabinka River, that is rather a creek. There is the biggest in the district water reservoir Vizzhar in the western part of the town.
There is a big square and a park in the center of the town.
The town occupies 9.11 km2.