Editing Grodno (section)

==History==
===Early history===
Before arrival of the [[East Slavs]] to the [[Grodno Region]] in the 10th–11th centuries, the area was inhabited by [[Balts|Baltic]] tribe [[Yotvingians]], who were heavily [[Lithuanization|Lithuanized]] in the 5th-7th centuries already and especially during the formation of the State of [[Lithuania]] in the 13th century, and subsequently for a long time Grodno and its area was a part of the [[Ethnographic Lithuania]] (e.g. even in the 19th century the Lithuanian-inhabited areas were still nearby the present-day suburbs of Grodno city).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vidugiris |first1=Aloyzas |title=Gardino sritis |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/gardino-sritis/ |website=[[Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija]] |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> The modern city of Grodno originated as a small fortress and a fortified trading outpost maintained by the [[Rurikid]] [[prince]]s on the border with the lands of the Baltic tribal union of the Yotvingians. The first reference to Grodno dates to 1005.<ref name="USSR/1965">[https://books.google.com/books?id=4HziAAAAMAAJ  ''Археографический ежегодник за 1964 год''.] The Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1965, pg. 271. The name derives from the [[Old East Slavic]] verb ''gorodit'', i.e., ''to enclose, to fence'' (see "[[Grad (geography)|grad]]" for details) or [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] 'gardas', i.e., "a fence" (see [https://www.lietuviuzodynas.lt/zodynas/Gardas Lithuanian language dictionary] for details), both from an old [[Indo-European]] [https://etimologija.baltnexus.lt/?w=gardas word].</ref>

The official foundation year is 1128. In this year Grodno was mentioned in the ''[[Kievan Chronicle]]'' as '''Goroden''',{{sfn|Heinrich|1977|p=11}} and located at a crossing of numerous trading routes.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} The same chronicle also reports in the year 1183: 'That same year all of Goroden burned, including all the stone churches, from a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder in a thunderstorm.'{{sfn|Heinrich|1977|p=401}} 

Grodno became part of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] in the 13th century, and the local stronghold was rebuilt by Lithuanians.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=4}} Prince [[Daniel of Galicia]] briefly captured the city in 1253 and once again attacked it in 1259.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=4}} In 1276, Duke [[Traidenis]] gave shelter in Grodno to Yotvingians fleeing the [[Teutonic Knights]]' massacre.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=4}} The city was unsuccessfully attacked by the Rus' princes and Tatars in 1277, then repeatedly attacked, with varying success, by the Teutonic Knights in 1283, 1296, 1306, 1311, 1312, 1328, 1361, 1363, 1373, 1375, 1377.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|pp=5–6}} In 1358 a convention took place in Grodno on border disputes between Lithuania and the Polish [[Duchy of Masovia]].{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=6}}

Since 1385 Grodno formed part of the [[Polish–Lithuanian union]]. The famous Lithuanian Grand Duke [[Vytautas]] was the prince of Grodno from 1376 to 1392, and he stayed there during his preparations for the [[Battle of Grunwald]] (1410). During the [[Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392)|Lithuanian Civil War of 1389–1392]], the city was captured by [[Władysław II Jagiełło]] in 1390, and then by Vytautas in 1391, with Vytautas-allied [[Konrad von Wallenrode]] committing a massacre of 15 Polish prisoners-of-war.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=7}} After the [[Ostrów Agreement]] of 1392, Vytautas expelled the Teutonic Knights, who in revenge captured the city, burned the castle and took 3,000 prisoners.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=7}} The city was attacked one more time by the Teutonic Knights in 1402.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=8}} Since 1413, Grodno had been the administrative center of a [[powiat]] in [[Trakai Voivodeship]]. Polish King Władysław II Jagiełło often stopped in Grodno, including in 1414, 1416, 1418 and 1425.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=9}} In 1425, Polish-Teutonic talks concerning the borders took place there.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=9}}

===Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth===
{{wide image|File:Horadnia. Горадня (1567).jpg|800px|align-cap=center|Cityscape of Grodno city in 1567}}
To aid the reconstruction of trade and commerce, the grand dukes allowed the creation of a [[Jew]]ish commune in 1389. It was one of the first Jewish communities in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1441 the city received its charter, based on the [[Magdeburg Law]]. In 1445, [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] received a delegation from [[Kraków]] in Grodno announcing his election as king of Poland.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=9}}

[[File:Horadnia, Novy zamak. Горадня, Новы замак (XVIII).jpg|thumb|The [[New Grodno Castle|New Castle in Grodno]] used to be a summer residence of [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] monarchs]]
As an important centre of trade, commerce, and culture, Grodno was a notable [[royal city]] and was also one of the royal residences and political centers of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. In the 1580s, Grodno was the ''[[de facto]]'' capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, when King [[Stephen Báthory of Poland]] moved his main residence and military headquarters there.<ref name=sm>{{cite journal|last=Marozau|first=Siarhei|year=2020|title=Stefan Batory w pamięci historycznej Grodna i jego mieszkańców (XX – początek XXI wieku)|journal=Studia Białorutenistyczne|publisher=Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej|location=Lublin|volume=14|page=90|issn=1898-0457}}</ref> Stephen Báthory rebuilt the [[Old Grodno Castle]] into an important royal residence and built the [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] Batorówka Palace.<ref name=sm/> The Old and [[New Castle in Grodno|New Castles]] were often visited by the Commonwealth monarchs. Kings [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]] and Stephen Báthory died there, and the latter was initially buried at the local [[Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grodno|Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary]].{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=10}}<ref name=sm/> Grodno was one of the places where the [[Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Sejms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] were held, incl. the [[Grodno Sejm|last Sejm in the history of the Commonwealth]] in 1793.

The city was the site of two battles, [[Battle of Grodno (1706)]] and [[Battle of Grodno (1708)]] during the [[Great Northern War]].

After the [[Second Partition of Poland|Second Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and a subsequent administrative reform of the remainder of the Commonwealth, Grodno became the capital of the short-lived [[Grodno Sejm|Grodno Voivodeship]] in 1793.

===Late modern period===
In 1795, [[Russian Empire|Russia]] annexed the city in the [[Third Partition of Poland]]. It was in the New Castle on 25 November that year that the last Polish king and Lithuanian grand duke [[Stanisław August Poniatowski]] [[abdication|abdicated]]. In the [[Russian Empire]], the city continued to serve its role as a seat of [[Grodno Governorate]] since 1801. The industrial activities started in the late 18th century by [[Antoni Tyzenhaus]], continued to develop.

During the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and fights for Polish liberation, in 1812, Polish [[uhlans]] of Prince [[Józef Poniatowski]] entered Grodno, followed by the French led by [[Jérôme Bonaparte]].{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|pp=45–46}} The entry of the allied Polish and French troops was met with enthusiasm by the population, the ''Accession to the Confederation of the inhabitants of the Grodno district'' was announced, [[Napoleon]]'s [[name day]] was officially celebrated and an obelisk was erected in honour of the French.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=46}}

[[File:Horadnia, Vilenskaja. Горадня, Віленская (N. Orda, 1.07.1867) (2).jpg|thumb|Grodno in the 1860s on a drawing by [[Napoleon Orda]], seat of authorities of the underground Polish Grodno Voivodeship from the [[January Uprising]] on the left]]
In 1833, following the unsuccessful [[November Uprising]], notable local Polish independence activist and insurgent Michał Wołłowicz was [[hanged]] by the Russians, and the local Dominican gymnasium was seized by the Tsarist authorities.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=47}}

Local Poles took part in Polish national mourning after the Russian massacre of Polish protesters in [[Warsaw]] in 1861.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=48}} The [[Dean (Christianity)|dean]] of Grodno, Józef Majewski, was deported to [[Tobolsk]] in [[Siberia]] for attempting to organise a procession to [[Różanystok]], a regional Catholic pilgrimage destination.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=48}} Count Aleksander Bisping was arrested and imprisoned here during the [[January Uprising]] (1863-1864) before his exile to [[Ufa]].<ref name=Anderson>Anderson, F.L.M., 1864, Seven Months' Residence in Russian Poland in 1863, London: Macmillan and Co.</ref>{{rp|210–211}} After the fall of the uprising, a ban on the use of Polish in public places was introduced in 1865, and [[martial law]] was in force in Grodno until 1871.{{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=50}}

As a result of Russian discriminatory policies (see ''[[Pale of Settlement]]'') the city experienced an influx of Jewish immigrants in the 19th century, and thus had a significant Jewish population before [[the Holocaust]]: according to [[Russian census of 1897]], out of the total population of 46,900, Jews constituted 22,700 (around 48%, or almost half of the total population).<ref>Joshua D. Zimmerman, ''Poles, Jews, and the Politics of Nationality'', Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-299-19464-7}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6sbr9cZyw_4C&dq=population+Brest+Poles+Jews&pg=PA16 Google Print, p.16]</ref>

===World War I and interwar period===
[[File:Grodno Military Command, decorated with three flags of Lithuania, Belarus, and with Vytis (Pogonia), 1919.jpg|thumb|left|Grodno Military Command, which is decorated with three flags of Lithuania, Belarus, and with the Coat of arms of Lithuania in January 1919<ref name="Lukosevicius"/>]]
After the outbreak of World War I, Grodno was [[belligerent occupation|occupied]] by [[German Empire|Germany]] (3 September 1915){{sfn|Jodkowski|1923|p=51}} and ceded by [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Bolshevist Russia]] under the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Russia–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] in 1918. After the war the German government permitted a short-lived state to be set up there, the first one with a ''Belarusian'' name—the [[Belarusian People's Republic]]. This declared its independence from Russia in March 1918 in [[Minsk]] (known at that time as Mensk), but then the [[Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic]] had to leave Minsk and fled to Grodno and later to the [[Temporary capital of Lithuania|temporary]] Lithuanian capital [[Kaunas]].<ref name="SantykiaiVle">{{cite web |last1=Mockienė |first1=Jurgita |last2=Spečiūnas |first2=Vytautas |title=Baltarusijos santykiai su Lietuva |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/baltarusijos-santykiai-su-lietuva/ |website=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> All this time the military authority in the city remained in German hands until April 1919.<ref name="Gardinoapskritis">{{cite web |title=Gardino apskritis |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/gardino-apskritis/ |website=[[Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija]] |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> Nevertheless, military units of the [[Lithuanian Armed Forces]] were formed in the German-controlled part of the [[Grodno Region]] in 1918–1919.<ref name="Gardinoapskritis"/><ref name="Surgailis1374">{{cite book |last1=Surgailis |first1=Gintautas |title=Lietuvos kariuomenės gudų kariniai daliniai 1918–1923 m. |date=2020 |publisher=[[General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania]] |location=Vilnius |isbn=978-609-8277-00-5 |pages=13–74 |url=https://etalpykla.lituanistika.lt/fedora/objects/LT-LDB-0001:B.03~2020~1602607958931/datastreams/DS.001.0.01.BOOK/content |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> For example, a Belarusian unit named [[1st Belarusian Regiment]], commanded by Alaksandar Ružancoŭ, was formed mainly from Grodno's inhabitants in 1919 as a part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and participated in Lithuania's side during the [[Lithuanian Wars of Independence]], thus large amount of its members were awarded with the highest state award of Lithuania –  [[Order of the Cross of Vytis]].<ref name="Surgailis1374"/><ref name="Lukosevicius">{{cite web |last1=Lukoševičius |first1=Ernestas |title=Baltarusių karžygiai – Lietuvos laisvės ir nepriklausomybės kariai |url=https://alkas.lt/2016/03/25/e-lukosevicius-baltarusiu-karzygiai-lietuvos-laisves-ir-nepriklausomybes-kariai-nuotraukos/ |website=Alkas.lt |date=25 March 2016 |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> In accordance with an agreement between Lithuania and Belarus (Rada BNR), the Grodno Region was joined to Lithuania.<ref name="SantykiaiVle"/> According to Lithuanian president [[Antanas Smetona]], the Lithuanians considered granting an autonomy to the Belarusian territories within Lithuania (as requested by Belarusian side; there were Belarusian members in the [[Council of Lithuania]] and representation in the Government of Lithuania by [[Lithuanian Ministry for Belarusian Affairs]]).<ref name="Blaszczak11">{{cite journal |last1=Błaszczak |first1=Tomasz |title=Baltarusiai Lietuvos valstybės taryboje 1918–1920 metais |journal=Parliamentary Studies |date=2013 |issue=15 |publisher=[[Vytautas Magnus University]] Czesław Miłosz Centre |location=Kaunas |pages=98–118–98–118 |doi=10.51740/ps.vi15.236 |url=https://journals.lnb.lt/parliamentary-studies/article/view/236/199 |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Smetona |first1=Antanas |author-link=Antanas Smetona |title=Vairas (Be rytojaus) |date=1924 |location=Kaunas |pages=1–3 |volume=6th |url=https://www.epaveldas.lt/object/recordDescription/LNB/LNB00AD1C8E |access-date=22 June 2024|language=lt}}</ref>

[[File:Horadnia, Lipavaja-Nioman, Stary most. Горадня, Ліпавая-Нёман, Стары мост (1938).jpg|thumb|Grodno skyline in 1934]]
After the outbreak of the [[Polish–Bolshevik War]], the German commanders of the [[Ober Ost]] feared that the city might fall to Soviet Russia, so according to the 1919 Treaty of [[Białystok]] on 27 April 1919 they passed authority to Poland,<ref name="Gardinoapskritis"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Balstogės sutartis |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/balstoges-sutartis/ |website=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> which just regained independence several months earlier. The city was taken over by the [[Polish Army]] the following day and Polish administration was established in the city. The Poles disbanded the Lithuania's 1st Belarusian Regiment (which refused to carry out Polish orders) in Grodno and publicly humiliated, looted and repressed soldiers of this unit, including officers, as well as Lithuanian and Belarusian symbols and flags in the city were torn down and publicly ridiculed, and were replaced with Polish equivalents.<ref>Gintautas, Surgailis (2020). ''Lietuvos kariuomenės gudų kariniai daliniai 1918–1923 m.'' Vilnius: General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania. pp. 65, 70–71. ISBN 978-609-8277-00-5.</ref> The city was lost by Poles to the [[Red Army]] on 20 July 1920 in what became known as the [[First Battle of Grodno (1920)|First Battle of Grodno]].<ref>{{cite journal|author=Witold Ławrynowicz |date=April 1, 2002 |title=The Defense of Grodno. July 17 – 20, 1920 |journal=Tanks E-Magazine |issue=5 |url=http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/Stories/eMagazine4-1-2/Witold2/GrodnoEng.html |access-date=2012-05-07 |publisher=www.tankhistory.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140811093843/http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/Stories/eMagazine4-1-2/Witold2/GrodnoEng.html |archive-date=August 11, 2014 }}</ref> The city was also claimed by Lithuanian government, after it was agreed by the [[Soviet–Lithuanian Treaty of 1920]] signed on 12 July 1920 in Moscow that the city would be transferred to Lithuania.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Minkevičius |first1=Jonas |last2=Jasas |first2=Rimantas |last3=Vidugiris |first3=Aloyzas |title=Gardinas |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/gardinas/ |website=Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> However, Soviet defeat in the [[Battle of Warsaw (1920)|Battle of Warsaw]] made these plans obsolete, and Lithuanian authority was never established in the city. Instead, the Red Army organised its last stand in the city and the [[Battle of Neman]] took place there. On {{awrap|23 September}} the Polish Army recaptured the city. After the [[Peace Treaty of Riga]], Grodno remained in Poland.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://www.grodno-region.by/en/hictory-en/ |website=Grodno Oblast Executive Committee |access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Horadnia, Miaščanskaja-Stary Rynak. Горадня, Мяшчанская-Стары Рынак (1935).jpg|thumb|View of Grodno in 1935]]
Initially, prosperity was reduced due to the fact that the city remained only the capital of a powiat, while the capital of the [[Białystok Voivodeship (1919–1939)|voivodeship]] was moved to [[Białystok]]. However, in the late 1920s the city became one of the biggest Polish Army garrisons. This brought the local economy back on track. According to the [[1921 Polish census]], the population of the city was 49.9% Polish, 43.4% Jewish, 4.3% Belarusian, 2.0% Russian, 0.26% German and 0.05% Lithuanian.<ref name=gus>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|title=Skorowidz miejscowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Tom V|year=1924|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Główny Urząd Statystyczny|page=30}}</ref>

===World War II===
[[File:German Army near the Church of the Discovery of the Holy Cross in Hrodna during World War II in 1940.jpg|thumb|left|German Army in Grodno during World War II in 1940]]
During the [[Invasion of Poland|Polish Defensive War]] of September to October 1939 the garrison of Grodno was mostly used for the formation of numerous military units fighting against the invading [[Wehrmacht]]. In the course of the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]] (initiated on 17 September 1939) heavy fighting took place in the city between Soviet and improvised Polish forces, composed mostly of [[march battalion]]s and volunteers.<ref name="Piesakowski0">''The Fate of Poles in the USSR 1939–1989'', by Tomasz Piesakowski {{ISBN |0-901342-24-6}} Page 36</ref> In the course of the [[Battle of Grodno (1939)|Battle of Grodno]] {{awrap|(20-22 September)}} the [[Red Army]] lost some hundred men (according to Polish sources; according to Soviet sources – 57 killed and 159 wounded) and also 19 tanks and 4 APCs destroyed or damaged. The Polish side suffered at least 100 killed in action, military and civil, but losses still remain uncertain in detail (Soviet sources claim 644 killed and 1543 captives with many guns and machine guns etc. captured). Over 300 captured Polish defenders of the city, including Polish Army officers and youth, were massacred afterwards by the Soviets.<ref>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Agresja sowiecka na Polskę i okupacja wschodnich terenów Rzeczypospolitej 1939–1941|year=2019|language=pl|location=Białystok-Warszawa|publisher=[[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]]|page=9|isbn=978-83-8098-706-7}}</ref> After the Soviet forces surrounded the engaged Polish units, the escaping Polish units withdrew to Lithuania.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

[[File:Horadnia, Zamkavaja. Горадня, Замкавая (1941-44).jpg|thumb|Grodno skyline with the [[Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grodno|Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary]] (left) and [[St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Grodno|Grodno Cathedral]] (right) in 1941-1944]]
In accordance with the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] of August 1939, the city was [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied]] by the Soviet Union and annexed into the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic]]. Several thousand of the city's [[Polish people|Polish]] inhabitants were [[Population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported]] to remote areas of the Soviet Union. On 1–2 October 1940, negotiations were held in Grodno between the Lithuanian and Belarusian communists to resolve territorial disputes between the [[Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic|Lithuanian SSR]] and Byelorussian SSR.<ref name="Sapoka2020">{{cite web |last1=Šapoka |first1=Gintautas |title=Aprašykime mažai žinomus 1939–1940 m. Lietuvos istorijos įvykius |url=https://alkas.lt/2020/12/21/g-sapoka-aprasykime-mazai-zinomus-1939-1940-m-lietuvos-istorijos-ivykius/ |website=Alkas.lt |access-date=22 June 2024 |language=lt |date=21 December 2020}}</ref> The Lithuanians received less territories than they were appointed by the Supreme Soviet Decree of 3 August 1940 and on 6 November 1940 the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union adopted a new decree regarding the borders of the Byelorussian SSR and Lithuanian SSR.<ref name="Sapoka2020"/> The Byelorussian SSR transferred cities and surroundings of [[Švenčionys]], [[Dieveniškės]], [[Druskininkai]] to the Lithuanian SSR that were mostly inhabited by Lithuanians and the Lithuanians began administrating them in January 1941.<ref name="SantykiaiVle"/><ref name="Sapoka2020"/> According to a 26 September 1940 meeting protocol of the Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of Byelorussia]], [[Panteleimon Ponomarenko]], the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia, narrated during the meeting that previously he discussed with the Soviet dictator [[Joseph Stalin]] the issue of the territorial transfers between the Byelorussian SSR and the Lithuanian SSR and Stalin said to him that if he will not transfer territories where there are many Lithuanians he will be punished.<ref>{{cite web |title=«Літоўскіх таварышаў не дражніць». У 1940-м БССР прымусілі аддаць Друскенікі, Сьвянцяны і Салечнікі |url=https://www.svaboda.org/a/30206047.html |website=[[Радыё Свабода]] |language=be}}</ref>

On 23 June 1941, the city came under [[Nazi Germany|German]] occupation that lasted until 16 July 1944. It was administered as part of the [[Bialystok District]]. Surviving inmates of the Grodno prison were released and the scale of the [[NKVD prisoner massacres]] revealed.<ref name="ipn/pdf">
[[Institute of National Remembrance]], [http://ipn.gov.pl/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/67615/1-30614.pdf Lato 1941 – polski dramat (Summer of 1941 – the Polish drama).]{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot= InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Special Issue, 22 June 2011. PDF file, 1.63 MB.
</ref>
In the course of [[Operation Barbarossa]] in World War II, the majority of Jews were herded by the Nazis into the [[Grodno Ghetto]] and subsequently killed in [[extermination camps]].<ref>Felix Zandman, J. Szwarc and A. May, eds. (2016). "Liquidation of the Ghettos and the Deportations to the Camps (November 2, 1942 – March 12, 1942)". The German Occupation - 4. Lost Jewish Worlds.</ref> The Germans also 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=1578|title=Gefängnis Hrodna|website=Bundesarchiv.de|access-date=7 May 2022|language=de}}</ref>

===Byelorussian SSR and Republic of Belarus===
Since 1945, the city has been a centre of one of the provinces of the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian SSR]], now of the independent Republic of Belarus. Most of the Polish inhabitants were expelled or fled to Poland in [[Polish population transfers (1944–1946)|1944–1946]] and [[Repatriation of Poles (1955–1959)|1955–1959]]. However, in 2019 Poles were still the second-most numerous nationality in the city (22%), after Belarusians.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}
{{historical populations|1897|46919|1921|34694|7=1939|8=49200|9=1959|10=72943|11=1970|12=132471|13=1979|14=194775|15=1989|16=270535|17=1999|18=301600|19=2009|20=327540|21=2019|22=355932|23=2024|24=361115|align=right|cols=1|source=<ref name=gus/><ref>{{cite web|title=Cities & Towns of Belarus|url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/belarus-cities.htm|date=2024-04-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_89355/|title=Численность населения на 1 января 2024 г. и среднегодовая численность населения за 2023 год по Республике Беларусь в разрезе областей, районов, городов, поселков городского типа|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402055418/https://www.belstat.gov.by/ofitsialnaya-statistika/solialnaya-sfera/naselenie-i-migratsiya/naselenie/statisticheskie-izdaniya/index_89355/|archive-date=2 April 2024|website=belsat.gov.by|access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>}}

The Grodno Old Town was severely damaged during World War II and post-war authorities lacked will to preserve its heritage. The [[Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grodno|Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary]], which because of its founder (14th century) was commonly referred to as ''[[Vytautas]]' Church'', was first turned into a warehouse and eventually in 1961 was blown up by a decision of the Grodno Executive Committee.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Almonaitytė-Navickienė |first1=Vaida |title=Vytauto bažnyčia Gardine |url=https://autc.lt/architekturos-objektas/?id=659 |website=Autc.lt |access-date=23 June 2024 |language=lt}}</ref> The [[:be:Гарадзенская ратуша|Grodno Town Hall]] (constructed in 1513) was demolished to expand [[Savieckaja Square]]. The early 17th century Baroque style [[:be:Кляштар бернардзінак (Гродна)|Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Bernardine Monastery]] was demolished in 1951 also by a decision of the Grodno Executive Committee and the Grodno Regional Drama Theatre was built in its place.<ref>{{cite web |title=Як выглядаў кляштар на месцы драмтэатра ў Гродне |url=https://planetabelarus.by/publications/yak-vyglyada-klyashtar-na-mestsy-dramteatra-grodne-shmat-starykh-fota/ |website=PlanetaBelarus.by |access-date=23 June 2024 |language=be}}</ref>

In 2005, the reconstruction of the historical centre of Grodno began. In 2008, the Belarusian Voluntary Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments declared violations of the Law on the Protection of Historical and Cultural Heritage: the destruction of the cultural layer in the historic Old Market Square, demolition of 28 [[Constructivist architecture]] buildings in Mickevich, Gorky and 17 September streets in order to replace them with a modern hotel complex and the main traffic flow is directed in dangerous proximity to the New and Old Castles, while the plans to rebuild the Grodno Town Hall and the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary (''Vytautas' Church'') are not being implemented.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Астаповіч |first1=A. |title=Прэс-рэліз Беларускага добраахвотнага таварыства аховы помнікаў гісторыі і культуры |url=http://baj.by/m-p-printpub-tid-1-pid-4674.html |website=Беларуская асацыяцыя журналістаў |access-date=23 June 2024 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The reconstruction of the [[Old Grodno Castle]] was started in 2017 and also received criticism due to the lacking of historical authenticity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://eng.belta.by/photonews/view/reconstruction-of-old-castle-in-grodno-6428/ |title=Reconstruction of Old Castle in Grodno |publisher=Belta |date =2020-08-14 |accessdate=23 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=10 Treasures of Polish-Belarusian Architectural Heritage |url=https://culture.pl/en/article/10-treasures-of-polish-belarusian-architectural-heritage |website=Culture.pl |accessdate=23 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Szulakowska |first=Urszula |year=2018 |title=Renaissance and Baroque Art and Culture in the Eastern Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1506-1696) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFmGDwAAQBAJ&dq=The+Cathedral+Basilica+of+Saint+Francis+Xavier+grodno&pg=PA324 |publisher=Cambridge Scholar Publishing |page= 319 |isbn=978-1-5275-1135-4 }}</ref> For instance, the contemporary viewpoint was added near the central gates.<ref>{{cite web |author=Lebed, E. |language = ru |url= https://vgr.by/2021/11/03/korol-vozvrashhaetsya-v-grodno-posle-pervoy-ocheredi-rekonstrukcii-dlya-posetiteley-otkryivaetsya-staryiy-zamok/ |title=Король возвращается в Гродно — после реконструкции для посетителей открывается Старый замок. Что внутри|trans-title=The King Comes Back to Grodno |publisher=Vecherniy Grodno |date=2021-11-03 |accessdate=23 June 2024}}</ref> Some specialists disputed the restoration project, they found significant mistakes in documentation that appeared because the constructor could not read historical inventory descriptions written in Polish and German. For example, the shape of the dome above the central tower, added levels between towers and galleries. Some authentic 16th century walls were demolished.<ref>{{cite web |language = ru |url = https://belsat.eu/ru/news/05-11-2021-rekonstruktsiya-ili-unichtozhenie-v-grodno-6-noyabrya-otkroyut-staryj-zamok/ |title=Реконструкция или уничтожение? В Гродно открыли Старый замок |publisher = [[Belsat]] |date = 2021-11-05 |accessdate=23 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://realt.onliner.by/2021/11/01/posle-rekonstrukcii-staryj-zamok |title =В Гродно после реконструкции открывается Старый Замок. Его уже можно будет посетить |publisher   = Onliner.by |date = 2021-11-01 |accessdate=23 June 2024}}</ref>

Despite its significant loss of heritage, the city still has the largest ensemble of historical buildings in Belarus. Known as the "royal city" and "a grand-ducal-royal city", it is a popular tourist destination.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grodno must-see landmarks and sights |url=https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/top-guide-belarus/grodno-must-see-landmarks-and-sights_i_91604.html |website=Belarus.by |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Old Castle and New Castle in Grodno |url=https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/old-new-castles-grodno |website=Belarus.by |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref> In 2022, the [[Brest Region|Brest]]-[[Grodno Region|Grodno]] area was declared a visa-free zone for foreign visitors staying up to 15 days.<ref>{{cite web |title=Visa-free tourism in Awgustow Canal Park and Grodno (Hrodna) |url=https://grodnovisafree.by |website=Grodnovisafree.by}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Visa-free travel to Brest-Grodno |url=https://www.mfa.gov.by/en/visa/freemove/brest_hrodna/ |website=Mfa.gov.by}}</ref> Nevertheless, the British, American, Lithuanian, Canadian authorities as well as representatives of the [[Belarusian opposition]] urged against travel to Belarus because of safety concerns relating to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws (resulting in arrests and detention) and the [[Russo-Ukrainian War]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Belarus travel advice |url=https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/belarus |website=Gov.uk |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Belarus International Travel Information |url=https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Belarus.html |website=Travel.state.gov |access-date=23 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Januzi |first1=Shkurta |title=Lithuania Urges Its Citizens to Refrain From Travelling to Belarus Due to Safety Reasons |url=https://schengen.news/lithuania-urges-its-citizens-to-refrain-from-travelling-to-belarus-due-to-safety-reasons/ |website=Schengen.news |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=21 August 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Canada |first1=Global Affairs |title=Travel advice and advisories for Belarus |url=https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/belarus |website=Travel.gc.ca |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=16 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Belarus opposition warn Lithuanians against using Minsk's visa-free travel |url=https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1697126/belarus-opposition-warn-lithuanians-against-using-minsk-s-visa-free-travel |website=[[Lithuanian National Radio and Television]] |access-date=23 June 2024 |date=18 May 2022}}</ref>

===Jewish community===
Jews began to settle in Grodno in the 14th century after the approval given to them by the Lithuanian Grand Duke [[Vytautas]].{{Sfn|ЭЕЭ|2005}} During the next years, their status had changed several times and in 1495 the Jews were deported from the city and banned from settling in Grodno (the ban was lifted in 1503). In 1560 there were 60 Jewish families in Grodno. They were concentrated on the "Jewish street" with their own synagogue and "hospital". In the year 1578 the great synagogue of Grodno was built by rabbi [[Mordecai Yoffe|Mordehai Yaffe]] (Baal ha-Levush). The synagogue was severely damaged in a fire in 1599.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

[[File:Grodno Wielka Synagoga 02.jpg|thumb|[[Great Synagogue (Grodno)|Great Synagogue]]]]
The community was not affected by the [[Khmelnytsky uprising]] but suffered during the 1655 Cossack uprising and during the [[Great Northern War#1702–1710: Russia and the Baltic provinces|war with Sweden]] (1703–1708). After Grodno was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1795 it was made part of the [[Pale of Settlement]] within which Jewish residency was allowed, and beyond which it was prohibited. Thus the Jewish population continued to grow and in 1907 there were 25,000 Jews out of a total population of 47,000.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

In the period of independent Poland, a yeshiva had operated in the city ([[Grodno Yeshiva|Shaar ha-Tora]]) under the management of Rabbi [[Shimon Shkop]]. Before the German-Soviet [[invasion of Poland]] there were about 25,000 Jews in Grodno out of 50,000 total population.<ref>[http://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/info_holocaust_in_grodno.htm The Holocaust in Grodno].</ref> During the German occupation of the city, on 1 November 1942 the Jews were concentrated in 2 ghettos. 15,000 men were confined to the old part of the city where the main synagogue was located. A high wall of 2 meters was built around the ghetto. The second ghetto was located in the Slovodka part of the city with 10,000 inhabitants. The head of the [[Judenrat]] was appointed Dr. Braur (or Brawer), the school's headmaster, who served in this duty until his execution in February 1943 during a roundup for a deportation to Treblinka.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Geoffrey |title=Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos |date=2012 |publisher=University of Indiana Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-35599-7 |page=Volume 2, page 892}}</ref> Several local Jews were [[Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust|rescued by Poles]] who either hidden them in the city or transported them to other locations.<ref>{{cite book|last=Datner|first=Szymon|year=1968|title=Las sprawiedliwych|language=pl|location=Warszawa|publisher=Książka i Wiedza|pages=53–55}}</ref>

On 2 November 1942 the deportations to the death camps began and during 5 days in February 1943, 10,000 Jews were sent to [[Auschwitz]]. Later, on 13 February, 5,000 Jews were sent to [[Treblinka]]. During the deportations, many synagogues were looted and some people were murdered. The last Jews were deported in March 1943. By the end of the war, only one Jew had remained in the ghetto. However, a few hundred survived in the camps or in hiding in the area.  Perhaps as many as 2000 survived, including those who fled or were deported to the USSR.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Megargee |first1=Geoffrey |title=Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos |date=2012 |publisher=University of Indiana Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana |isbn=978-0-253-35599-7 |page=893}}</ref>

After the war, the Jewish community was revived. Most of the Jews emigrated after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today there are several hundred Jews in the city with most of the community's activity centralized in the main synagogue that had been returned to the community by the authorities in the 1990s.{{Sfn|ЭЕЭ|2005}} The head of the community is Rabbi Yitzhak Kaufman.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

A memorial plaque, commemorating the 25,000 Jews who were murdered in the two ghettos in the city of Grodno was placed on a building in Zamkavaja vulica, where the entrance to the ghetto once was.<ref>{{cite web|title=Акт вандализма в Гродно|url=http://www.aen.ru/?page=brief&article_id=65854|publisher=Агентство еврейских новостей|access-date=12 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305195408/http://aen.ru/?article_id=65854&page=brief|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>