Editing Białystok (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of Białystok|Timeline of Białystok}}

===Early history===
[[File:20230711 172515 July 2023 in Białystok.jpg|thumb|left|[[Branicki Palace, Białystok|Branicki Palace]], also known as the "Polish Versailles".]]

Archaeological discoveries show that the first settlements in the area of present-day Białystok occurred during the [[Stone Age]]. Tombs of ancient settlers can be found in the district of [[Osiedle Dojlidy, Białystok|Dojlidy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visitbialystok.com/index.php?op=disco_bialystok&site=museums |title=Museums (Podlaskie Museum) |publisher=visitbialystok.com |access-date=2011-07-18 |archive-date=2016-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916170947/http://www.visitbialystok.com/index.php?op=disco_bialystok&site=museums |url-status=live }}</ref> In the early [[Iron Age]], people settled in the area producing [[kurgan]]s, the tombs of the chiefs in the area located in the current village of [[Rostołty]].<ref name="mhzp">{{cite web |url=http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/article/bialystok/3,local-history/ |title=Białystok – Local history |publisher=Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich |access-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007151704/http://www.sztetl.org.pl/en/article/bialystok/3,local-history/ |archive-date=2011-10-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Since then, the Białystok area has been at the crossroads of cultures. Trade routes linking the Baltic to the Black Sea favored the development of settlements with [[Yotvingia]]-[[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]]-Polish cultural characteristics.<ref name="mhzp" />

The city of Białystok has existed for five centuries and during this time the fate of the city has been affected by various political and economic forces.

Surviving documents attest that around 1437 a representative of the Raczków family, Jakub Tabutowicz of the coat of arms [[Łabędź coat of arms|Łabędź]], received from [[Michael Žygimantaitis]], son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania [[Sigismund Kęstutaitis]], a wilderness area along the river Biała that marked the beginning of Białystok as a settlement.<ref name=bialystok.polska.pl>{{cite web |url=http://bialystok.polska.pl/miastodawniej/article,Do_rozbiorow,id,323459.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319205652/http://bialystok.polska.pl/miastodawniej/article%2CDo_rozbiorow%2Cid%2C323459.htm |archive-date=2012-03-19 |title=Miasta w Dokumencie Archiwalnym |access-date=2011-04-05 |language=pl |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="legend">{{cite book |title=Legendy województwa białostockiego, łomżyńskiego, suwalskiego |publisher=Wojewódzka Biblioteka Publiczna im. Stefana Górnickiego w Białymstoku |author=Niewińska, Walentyna |year=1995 |location=Białystok|language=pl}}</ref> Thereafter, Białystok was part of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] for 132 years until the [[Union of Lublin]] in 1569, when it was restored to [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Poland]] but remained very close to its border with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until the [[Third Partition of Poland|last partition]] of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in 1795. Białystok was administratively part of the [[Podlaskie Voivodeship (1513–1795)|Podlaskie Voivodeship]], after 1569 also part of the [[Lesser Poland Province, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Lesser Poland Province]] of the Kingdom of Poland.

From 1547, the settlement was owned by the Wiesiołowski family, which founded the first school.<ref name=JK>Jacek Kusznier, ''Elektrycy w historii Politechniki Białostockiej'', "Maszyny Elektryczne - Zeszyty Problemowe", Nr 4/2018, p. 163 (in Polish)</ref> The first brick church and a castle were built between 1617 and 1826. The two-floor castle, designed on a rectangular plan in the [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]]-[[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] style, was the work of {{ill|Job Bretfus|pl|Hiob Bretfus|vertical-align=sup}}. Extension of the castle was continued by [[Krzysztof Wiesiołowski]], [[starost]] of Tykocin, Grand Marshal of Lithuania since 1635, and husband of Aleksandra Marianna Sobieska.<ref name=wiesiolowscy /> In 1637 he died childless, and as a result, Białystok came under the management of his widow. After her death in 1645 the Wiesiołowski estate, including Białystok, passed to the Crown to cover the costs of maintaining [[Tykocin Castle]]. In the years 1645–1659 Białystok was managed by the [[starost]]s of [[Tykocin]].<ref name=wiesiolowscy>{{cite web |url=http://www.info.bialystok.pl/historia/wiesiolowscy/obiekt.php |title=Czasy rodu Wiesiołowskich |access-date=2011-05-17 |language=pl |archive-date=2013-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029192043/http://www.info.bialystok.pl/historia/wiesiolowscy/obiekt.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://edukacja.sejm.gov.pl/historia-sejmu/marszalkowie-sejmu/i-rzeczpospolita.html |title=Marszałkowie Sejmu |access-date=2011-05-17 |language=pl |archive-date=2011-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815122108/http://edukacja.sejm.gov.pl/historia-sejmu/marszalkowie-sejmu/i-rzeczpospolita.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Flourishing aristocratic residential city===
[[File:Salon ogrodowy Pałacu Branickich.jpg|thumb|left|Garden of the Branicki Palace in the 18th century]]
In 1661 it was given to [[Stefan Czarniecki]] as a reward for his service in the victory over the Swedes during the [[Deluge (history)|Deluge]]. Four years later, it was given as a dowry of his daughter Aleksandra, who married Marshal of the Crown Court Jan Klemens Branicki, thus passing into the hands of the [[Branicki family (Gryf coat of arms)|Branicki family]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Hetmani Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów | publisher=Bellona |author1=Kądziela, Lukasz |author2=Nagielski, Mirosław | location=Warsaw | isbn=83-11-08275-8|language=pl| year=1995 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Stefan Czarniecki: żołnierz, obywatel, polityk | publisher=Kieleckie Towarzystwo Naukowe | author=Kowalski, Waldemar | year=1999 | location=Kielce | isbn=83-86006-28-5|language=pl}}</ref> In 1692, {{ill|Stefan Mikołaj Branicki|pl}}, the son of Jan Klemens Branicki, obtained city rights for Białystok from King [[John III Sobieski]]. He constructed the [[Branicki Palace, Białystok|Branicki Palace]] on the foundations of the castle of the Wiesiołowski family.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.um.bialystok.pl/261-history-of-the-city/lang/en-GB/default.aspx |title=History of the City |access-date=2011-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815164615/http://en.um.bialystok.pl/261-history-of-the-city/lang/en-GB/default.aspx |archive-date=2011-08-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the first half of the eighteenth century the ownership of the city was inherited by [[Hetman|Field Crown Hetman]] [[Jan Klemens Branicki]].<ref name=bialystok.polska.pl /> It was he who transformed the palace built by his father into a magnificent residence of a great noble,<ref name="podlaski">{{cite web |author=Magdalena Grassmann |url=http://palac.umwb.edu.pl/node/125 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716141555/http://palac.amb.edu.pl/node/125 |archive-date=2011-07-16 |title=Podlaski Wersal Branickich |work=palac.amb |access-date=2011-04-15|language=pl}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wrotapodlasia.pl/pl/adm/powiaty_gminy/mbialystok/ |title=Miasto Białystok |work=wrotapodlasia.pl |access-date=2008-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411155312/http://www.wrotapodlasia.pl/pl/adm/powiaty_gminy/mbialystok/ <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=2008-04-11|language=pl}}</ref> which was frequently visited by Polish kings and poets.<ref name=BST>{{cite web|url=https://www.bstok.pl/bialystok/|title=Historia Białegostoku|website=bstok.pl|date=7 April 2018 |access-date=24 October 2019|language=pl|archive-date=14 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210214101047/https://www.bstok.pl/bialystok/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1745 the first military technical school in Poland was founded in Białystok,<ref name=JK164>Jacek Kusznier, ''Elektrycy w historii Politechniki Białostockiej'', "Maszyny Elektryczne - Zeszyty Problemowe", Nr 4/2018, p. 164 (in Polish)</ref> and in 1748, one of the oldest theaters in Poland, the ''Komedialnia'', was founded in the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bialystokonline.pl/plejada-gwiazd-w-nowym-teatrze-piotr-dabrowski-otwiera-komedialnie,artykul,68828,2,1.html|title=Plejada gwiazd w nowym teatrze. Piotr Dąbrowski otwiera Komedialnię|website=Białystok Online|access-date=24 October 2019|language=pl|archive-date=24 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024014139/http://www.bialystokonline.pl/plejada-gwiazd-w-nowym-teatrze-piotr-dabrowski-otwiera-komedialnie,artykul,68828,2,1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> New schools were established, including a [[ballet]] school in connection with the foundation of the theater.<ref>Jacek Kusznier, ''Elektrycy w historii Politechniki Białostockiej'', "Maszyny Elektryczne - Zeszyty Problemowe", Nr 4/2018, p. 163-164 (in Polish)</ref> In 1749, King [[Augustus III of Poland]] extended the city limits.<ref name=JK/> In 1770, under the auspices of [[Izabella Poniatowska]], a [[midwifery]] school was founded, based on which the Institute of Obstetrics was established in 1805.<ref name=JK164/> Białystok was a regional [[brewing]] center with 33 breweries as of 1771, with the Podlachian Beer now listed as a protected traditional beverage by the [[Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Poland)|Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.pl/web/rolnictwo/piwo-podlaskie-dubeltowe|title=Piwo podlaskie|website=Ministerstwo Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi - Portal Gov.pl|access-date=9 November 2024|language=pl}}</ref>

The end of the eighteenth century saw the [[Partitions of Poland|division]] of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in three partitions, among Poland's neighboring states. The [[Kingdom of Prussia]] subjugated [[Białystok Department|Białystok and the surrounding region]] during the [[Third Partition of Poland|third partition]]. The city became the capital of the [[New East Prussia]] province in 1795.<ref>{{cite book|first=Tadeusz |last=Cegielski|author2=Łukasz Kądziela|title=Rozbiory Polski 1772-1793-1795|location=Warsaw|year=1990|language=pl}}</ref> [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s victory in the [[War of the Fourth Coalition]] freed the territory but as a result in the [[Treaties of Tilsit]] in 1807 the area was transferred to the [[Russian Empire]], which organized the region into the [[Belostok Oblast, Russian Empire|Belostok Oblast]],<ref name="Wandycz">{{cite book |title=The Price of Freedom: A History of East Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the Present |url=https://archive.org/details/pricefreedomhist00wand |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge (UK) |author=Piotr Stefan Wandycz |year=2001 |page=[https://archive.org/details/pricefreedomhist00wand/page/n146 133] |isbn=0-415-25491-4|author-link=Piotr Stefan Wandycz }}</ref> with the city as the regional center.<ref>{{cite book |title=The New annual register |year=1808 |pages=276 (footnotes) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3sEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA276}}</ref> Schooling and higher learning in Białystok, which was intensively developed in the 18th century, was stopped as a result of partitions.<ref name=JK164/>

===Industrial growth===
[[File:Galeria Alfa Białystok Mariag36.jpg|thumb|[[Factory of Białystok Association of Manufacture|One of the former textile factories]], now a shopping mall]]
Białystok received city rights the latest from all of Podlasie's cities, but at the end of the 19th century it outgrown all the surrounding cities. The rapid development in the 19th century is related to two historical events: the creation of a customs border between the Russian Empire and the Congress Kingdom of Poland, and the opening in 1862 of the [[Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway|Warsaw Saint Petersburg railway line]], connecting Białystok with [[Warsaw]], [[Grodno]], [[Vilnius]] and [[Saint Petersburg]]. Very convenient communication conditions influenced the development and concentration of Białystok's production plants at that time. Along with the administrative function, Białystok received many economic institutions. In the second half of the 19th century, Białystok grew into a significant center of the [[textile industry]], the largest after [[Łódź]] in then-partitioned Poland. Białystok was the largest industrial center between Warsaw and Łódź in the west, Saint Petersburg in the north and [[Moscow]] in the east, and was nicknamed "[[Manchester]] of the North".<ref name=ad>{{cite magazine|last=Dobroński|first=Adam|year=2011|title=Białystok na Syberii|magazine=Medyk Białostocki|volume=11 |language=pl|issue=103|page=31}}</ref> After the failed [[November Uprising|November]] and [[January Uprising|January]] uprisings, [[Russification of Poles during the Partitions|Russification]] policies and [[Anti-Polish sentiment|anti-Polish]] repressions intensified, and after 1870 a ban on the use of Polish in public places was introduced.<ref name=BST/> In 1912, a Tsarist prison was built, which also served as a transit prison for Poles [[Sybirak|deported to Siberia]].<ref name=gr>{{cite web|url=https://zabytek.pl/pl/obiekty/bialystok-zespol-wiezienia-carskiego-ob-areszt-sledczy|title=Zespół więzienia carskiego, ob. areszt śledczy|website=Zabytek.pl|author=Grażyna Rogala|access-date=6 September 2021|language=pl|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906182233/https://zabytek.pl/pl/obiekty/bialystok-zespol-wiezienia-carskiego-ob-areszt-sledczy|url-status=live}}</ref>

At the end of the nineteenth century, as a result of the influx due to [[Pale of Settlement|Russian discriminatory regulations]], the majority of the city's population was Jewish. According to [[Russian census of 1897]], out of the total population of 66,000, Jews constituted 41,900 (so around 63% percent).<ref name=zimmerman>{{Cite book|last=Zimmerman|first=Joshua D.|title=Poles, Jews, and the politics of nationality|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6sbr9cZyw_4C&q=population+Brest+Poles+Jews&pg=PA16 |page=16|isbn=0-299-19464-7}}</ref> This heritage can be seen on the [[Jewish Heritage Trail in Białystok]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://szlak.uwb.edu.pl/indexen.html |title=UWB Official website |access-date=2011-06-07 |archive-date=2011-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110830102113/http://szlak.uwb.edu.pl/indexen.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Białystok pogrom]] occurred between 14 and 16 June 1906 with some 81 to 88 [[Jews]] killed by the Russians, and about 80 wounded.<ref>{{cite book|author=Samuel Joseph|title=Jewish Immigration to the United States, from 1881 to 1910|publisher=Columbia University|date=1914|pages=65–66|url=https://archive.org/details/jewishimmigrati00josegoog/page/n68 }}</ref><ref name=Dubnow>{{cite book|author1=Simon Dubnow|author2=Israel Friedlaender|title=History of the Jews in Russia and Poland|publisher=Avotaynu Inc|date=2000|page=484|isbn=9781886223110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vL60sEf7OPoC&dq=Bialystok+pogrom&pg=PA484}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sarah Abrevaya Stein|title=Making Jews Modern|publisher=Indiana University Press|date=2004|page=113|isbn=0253110793 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39V_eGLSuJcC&dq=Bialystok+pogrom&pg=PA113}}</ref>
[[File:Bialystok pomnik Chwala Bohaterom 03.jpg|thumb|left|Monument to soldiers of the [[1st Legions Infantry Regiment]] who died in the [[Battle of Białystok]] in 1920, [[Osiedle Antoniuk, Białystok|Antoniuk]] district]]

The first [[anarchism in Russia|anarchist groups]] to attract a significant following of Russian workers or peasants were the [[anarcho-communist]] [[Chernoe-Znamia]] groups, founded in Białystok in 1903.<ref name=Geifman>{{cite book |last=Geifman |first=Anna |title=Thou Shalt Kill |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |year=1993 |isbn=0-691-02549-5 |page=127}}</ref><ref name=av44>{{cite book |author-link=Paul Avrich |last=Avrich |first=Paul |title=The Russian Anarchists |publisher=[[AK Press]] |location=Stirling |year=2006 |isbn=1-904859-48-8 |page=44}}</ref>

During [[World War I]] the [[Bialystok-Grodno District]] was the administrative division of [[Germany|German]]-controlled territory of [[Ober-Ost]]. It comprised the city, as the capital, and the surrounding Podlaskie region, roughly corresponding to the territory of the earlier Belostok Oblast.<ref name="gatrell">{{cite book |title=War Land on the Eastern Front: Culture, National Identity, and German Occupation in World War I |author=Gatrell, Peter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brest-litowsk.libau-kurland-baltikum.de/Ober-Ost/ober-ost.html |title=Das Land Ober Ost |access-date=2011-06-15|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110719054646/http://www.brest-litowsk.libau-kurland-baltikum.de/Ober-Ost/ober-ost.html|archive-date=19 July 2011 |url-status=live|language=de}}</ref> At the end of World War I the city became part of the [[National Independence Day (Poland)|newly independent]] [[Second Polish Republic]], as the capital of the [[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)|Białystok Voivodeship]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Maly rocznik statystyczny (Concise Statistical Year-Book of Poland) |publisher=Central Statistical Office |year=1939 |location=Warsaw|language=pl}}</ref> Białystok and the surroundings areas regained independence only on 19 February 1919, three months after the rest of Poland, due to delay in the departure of the German Army from the city.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://plus.poranny.pl/stracone-nadzieje-bialystok-w-listopadzie-1918-roku/ar/11415635|title=Stracone nadzieje. Białystok w listopadzie 1918 roku|last1=Lechowski|first1=Andrzej|language=pl|publisher=Kurier Poranny|date=2016-11-10|accessdate=2024-08-12}}</ref> During the 1919–1920 [[Polish–Soviet War]], possession of the city by the [[Red Army]] and the [[Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee]] occurred during the lead up to the [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]]. During the resultant counteroffensive, the city returned to Polish control after the [[Battle of Białystok]].

[[File:Wizyta Naczelnika Państwa w Białymstoku (22-323-7).jpg|thumb|[[Józef Piłsudski]]'s visit to Białystok in 1921]]

After the wars and the [[National Independence Day (Poland)|reestablishment of independent]] Poland, Polish education in Białystok was restored and the textile industry was revived.<ref name=BST/> A municipal public library was established, sports clubs were founded, including [[Jagiellonia Białystok]], and in the 1930s a [[Aleksandr Węgierki Drama Theatre in Białystok|drama theater]] was built.<ref name=BST/>

===World War II===
With the beginning of [[World War II]], Poland was invaded by [[Nazi invasion of Poland|Nazi Germany]] and the [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Soviet Union]]. City president [[Seweryn Nowakowski]] established the Citizens' Guard. Due to the need to evacuate the police forces, the Guard took over its duties after September 11.<ref name="Kozak"/> In addition to the Police, a group of officials left along with selected archives.<ref name="Kozak"/> However, most of the residents of Białystok remained in the city.<ref name="Kozak">{{cite web|url=https://przystanekhistoria.pl/pa2/teksty/96811,Policja-Panstwowa-wojewodztwa-bialostockiego-we-wrzesniu-1939-r.html|title=Policja Państwowa województwa białostockiego we wrześniu 1939 r.|last1=Kozak|first1=Marek|publisher=Przystanek Historia|language=pl|accessdate=2025-02-10|date=2022-11-24}}</ref> Initially Białystok was briefly [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied]] by Germany, and the German ''[[Einsatzgruppen|Einsatzgruppe IV]]'' entered the city on 20–21 September 1939 to commit [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|crimes against the population]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wardzyńska|first=Maria|year=2009|title=Był rok 1939. Operacja niemieckiej policji bezpieczeństwa w Polsce. Intelligenzaktion|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=55}}</ref> After occupying Białystok, the Germans established the Military City Command, which ordered the surrender of weapons and ammunition and the disbandment of the Citizens' Guard.<ref name="Kozak"/> On September 20, a brutal murder was committed in the courtyard of Primary School No. 1, where a transit camp for prisoners had been set up earlier. Wehrmacht soldiers murdered 8 people "for disobedience".<ref name="Kozak"/> The next day, German troops began to withdraw from the city, where they were replaced by Red Army units, as a result of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]].

Under Soviet occupation, it was [[Soviet annexation of Western Belorussia|incorporated]] into the [[Byelorussian SSR]] from 1939 to 1941 as the capital of [[Belastok Region]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Podział Polski między ZSRR i Trzecią Rzeszę według Paktu Ribbentrop-Mołotow |url=http://www.ivrozbiorpolski.pl/img/granice_rozbiorowe_2rp.gif |access-date=2011-01-26 |language=pl |archive-date=2012-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315100953/http://www.ivrozbiorpolski.pl/img/granice_rozbiorowe_2rp.gif |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Mapa podziału Polski. Podpisy: Stalin, Ribbentrop |url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Mapa_2_paktu_Ribbentrop-Mo%C5%82otow.gif |access-date=2011-03-22 |language=pl |archive-date=2022-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505183144/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Mapa_2_paktu_Ribbentrop-Mo%C5%82otow.gif |url-status=live }}</ref> Polish people were subject to deportations deep into the [[USSR]] ([[Siberia]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Far North (Russia)|Far North]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Bialystok;3877124.html|title=Białystok|website=Encyklopedia PWN|access-date=24 October 2019|language=pl|archive-date=22 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122091602/https://encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/Bialystok;3877124.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Pre-war mayor Seweryn Nowakowski was arrested by the [[NKVD]] in October 1939 and probably also deported to the USSR, however his fate remains unknown.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dzieje.pl/wystawy/wystawa-seweryn-nowakowski-zaginiony-prezydent-bialegostoku-od-piatku|title=Wystawa "Seweryn Nowakowski – zaginiony prezydent Białegostoku" – od piątku|website=Dzieje.pl|author=Sylwia Wieczeryńska|access-date=6 September 2021|language=pl|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906182424/https://dzieje.pl/wystawy/wystawa-seweryn-nowakowski-zaginiony-prezydent-bialegostoku-od-piatku|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[NKVD]] took over the local prison.<ref name=gr/> The [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish resistance movement]] was active in the city, which was the seat of one of the six main commands of the [[Union of Armed Struggle]] in occupied Poland (alongside [[Warsaw]], [[Kraków]], [[Poznań]], [[Toruń]] and [[Lwów]]).<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Grabowski|first=Waldemar|year=2011|title=Armia Krajowa|magazine=Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej|language=pl|publisher=IPN|issue=8-9 (129-130)|page=116|issn=1641-9561}}</ref> Białystok native and future President of Poland [[Polish government-in-exile|in exile]] [[Ryszard Kaczorowski]] was a member of the local Polish resistance and was arrested in the city by the NKVD in 1940.<ref name=rk>{{cite web|url=https://uwb.edu.pl/ryszard-kaczorowski-1919-2010|title=Ryszard Kaczorowski (1919 - 2010)|website=Uniwersytet w Białymstoku|access-date=6 September 2021|language=pl|archive-date=28 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528072234/https://www.uwb.edu.pl/ryszard-kaczorowski-1919-2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Initially the Soviets sentenced him to death, but eventually he was sentenced to 10 years in [[Gulag|forced labor camps]] and deported to [[Kolyma]], from where he was released in 1942, when he joined the [[Anders' Army]].<ref name=rk/>

[[File:Henryk Poddębski Białystok Kościół 02.jpg|thumb|right|Białystok in the interbellum]]

In the course of the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion of the Soviet Union]] in 1941, Białystok was occupied by the [[Wehrmacht|German Army]] on 27 June 1941, during the [[Battle of Białystok–Minsk]], and the city became the capital of [[Bezirk Białystok]], a separate region in [[German occupation of Poland|German occupied Poland]], until 1944.<ref>{{Cite journal |publisher=IPN |series=Biuletyn IPN |volume=35-36|title=Budapest Review of Books |journal=Books: Budapest Review of Books |edition=12/2003-1/2004 |location=Warsaw |issn=1641-9561|language=pl|oclc=212382824 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gnatowski |first=M |title=Białostockie Zgrupowanie Partyzanckie |year=1994 |location=Białystok|language=pl}}</ref> Between July and June the [[1941 Białystok massacres]] took place. The [[Great Synagogue (Białystok)|Great Synagogue]] was burnt down by Germans on 27 June 1941, with an estimated number of 2,000 Jews inside. From the very beginning, the Nazis pursued a ruthless policy of pillage and removal of the non-German population. The Germans operated a Nazi prison in the city,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=441|title=Schweres NS-Gefängnis Bialystok|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=6 September 2021|language=de|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906182613/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=441|url-status=live}}</ref> and a [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] camp for Jewish men.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=440|title=Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden Bialystok|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=6 September 2021|language=de|archive-date=6 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906182618/https://www.bundesarchiv.de/zwangsarbeit/haftstaetten/index.php?action=2.2&tab=7&id=440|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 1943, the ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' carried out deportations of Poles including teenage boys from the local prison to the [[Stutthof concentration camp]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Drywa|first=Danuta|editor-last=Kostkiewicz|editor-first=Janina|year=2020|title=Zbrodnia bez kary... Eksterminacja i cierpienie polskich dzieci pod okupacją niemiecką (1939–1945)|language=pl|location=Kraków|publisher=[[Jagiellonian University|Uniwersytet Jagielloński]], [[Biblioteka Jagiellońska]]|page=187|chapter=Germanizacja dzieci i młodzieży polskiej na Pomorzu Gdańskim z uwzględnieniem roli obozu koncentracyjnego Stutthof}}</ref> The 56,000 Jewish residents of the town were confined in a ghetto.<ref name=ushmm>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005170 |title=Bialystok |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |access-date=2007-07-26| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070805001654/http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005170| archive-date= 5 August 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> On 15 August 1943, the [[Białystok Ghetto Uprising]] began, and several hundred [[History of the Jews in Poland|Polish Jews]] and members of the [[Anti-Fascist Military Organisation]] ({{langx|pl|Antyfaszystowska Organizacja Bojowa}}) started an armed struggle against the German troops who were carrying out the planned liquidation of the ghetto with deportations to the [[Treblinka extermination camp]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Ruch oporu w getcie białostockim. Samoobrona-zagłada-powstanie |author=Mark, B |year=1952 |location=Warsaw|language=pl}}</ref> Ultimately the ghetto was liquidated, and the vast majority of its remaining 40,000 occupants including men, woman and children, were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, primarily at the Treblinka death camp.

The city fell under the control of the [[Red Army]] on 27 July 1944. The Soviets carried out mass arrests of Polish resistance members in the city and region, and imprisoned them in Białystok. On 20 September 1944 the city was transferred back to Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the [[Fall of Communism]] in the 1980s, and the Soviet [[NKVD]] and [[SMERSH]] continued the persecution of the Polish resistance in the following months. From November 1944 to January 1945, the Russians deported nearly 5,000 Poles from the local prison to the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Zwolski|first=Marcin|year=2005|title=Deportacje internowanych Polakow z wojewodztwa białostockiego 1944–1945|magazine=Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość|volume=2|language=pl|publisher=IPN|issue=8|pages=98–99|issn=1427-7476}}</ref> Later on, the Soviet-appointed communists held political prisoners and other members of the [[Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–1953)|Polish resistance]] in the local prison, and until 1956, they also carried out burials of executed Polish resistance members there.<ref name=gr/>

===Post-war period===
After the war, the city became capital of the initial [[Białystok Voivodeship (1945–1975)|Białystok Voivodeship]] of the [[People's Republic of Poland]].<ref>{{cite web|title=New Provinces of Poland (1998)|url=http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pro/plpro.html|access-date=2011-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608133233/http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~zbzw/ph/pro/plpro.html|archive-date=2011-06-08|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Map of Poland|url=http://www.map-of-poland.co.uk/|access-date=2011-03-28|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110426190140/http://www.map-of-poland.co.uk/|archive-date=26 April 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jankowiak|first=S|title=Trudny "powrót do macierzy"|publisher=IPN|url=http://pamiec.pl/pa/biblioteka-cyfrowa/biuletyn-instytutu-pam/10132,nr-9-102005.html|language=pl|access-date=2013-11-22|archive-date=2019-12-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191226033428/https://pamiec.pl/pa/biblioteka-cyfrowa/biuletyn-instytutu-pam/10132,nr-9-102005.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the [[Administrative reform in Poland (1975)|1975 administrative reform]], the city was the capital of the now smaller [[Białystok Voivodeship (1975–1998)|Białystok Voivodeship]].<ref name="ustawa">{{cite book|title=Dziennik Ustaw|year=1975|number=16|page=91|language=pl}}</ref> Since 1999 it has been the capital of the [[Podlaskie Voivodeship]], [[Poland|Republic of Poland]].<ref name="ustawa" />

From the European Regional Development Fund, contracted within the framework of the Integrated Regional Development Operational Programme (ZPORR), Białystok received approximately PLN 43 million for a project to improve the quality of the transport system. The implementation of Part I of the project allowed for the purchase of 43 new buses for public transport in 2005–2006, and new streets were built in [[Osiedle Bacieczki, Białystok|Bacieczki district]]. The Białystok Waterworks implemented a project to improve water quality. Cycle paths in Białystok were expanded and a path to [[Supraśl]] was built.