Nesvizh was first documented in 1223. It was part of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1793, but the Grand Duchy was part of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth since 1569. In the 15th century, while still a minor town, it belonged to the
Kiszka family and later to the
Radziwiłł family, and remained the family's seat until 1813. In 1561 or 1562 Maciej Kawęczyński founded the print works of the
Polish Brethren. The first
Belarusian language book printed in
Latin script, a
catechism by
Symon Budny, was published in Nesvizh in 1562. The
Nieśwież Bible (
Biblia nieświeska), one of the oldest
Polish translations of the Bible, also by Budny, was completed there in 1571 and published in 1572.
Nesvizh Castle was erected in 1583, and between 1584 and 1598 the
Benedictines and
Jesuit religious orders founded monasteries and a college. At the request of
Mikołaj "the Orphan" Radziwiłł Nieśwież was granted
Magdeburg town rights by King
Stephen Báthory in 1586. Two epidemics affected the city early in the 17th century which led to the establishment of a pharmacy in 1627. During the
Great Northern War of 1700–21, the city was significantly damaged by Swedish troops. It was rebuilt in the 1720s by
Michał "Rybeńko" Radziwiłł. In the aftermath of the war, in the 1740s and 1750s he founded a
Pas slucki factory which was later moved to
Sluck. He introduced a military school, several textile factories and restored the
Corpus Christi Church and opened a print works. Michał's wife,
Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa, founded the
Nieśwież Radziwiłł Theatre, including a choir and a ballet school. Between 1764 and 1768 the city was occupied by Russian troops, and in 1772, at the
First Partition of Lithuania-Poland, the library, which comprised circa 10,000 volumes, along with paintings and other art objects, was seized and transferred to
St. Petersburg. Some books from the library were passed to the
Russian Academy of Sciences. After the
Second partition of Lithuania-Poland in 1793, Nieśwież was annexed by
Russia, and renamed
Nesvizh. In 1906, the
Polish Society "Oświata" ("Education") in Nesvizh was established, but its activities were hampered by the Russian administration, before banning it at the start of 1910. in interwar Poland Following the
Soviet invasion of Poland at the start of
World War II in September 1939, it was part of the
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1939 to 1941, then was occupied from 1941 to 1944 by the Germans in accordance with
Operation Barbarossa. The town was re-occupied by the Soviets during
Operation Bagration in 1944. Nyasvizh's status as part of the
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was solidified in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement.
The Jews of Nesvizh The Jewish population in 1900 stood at 4,687, and approx. 4,500 on the eve of the German invasion,
Operation Barbarossa. With the occupation from June 27, 1941, a
Judenrat was established. On October 30, 4,000 of the town's Jews were murdered and the rest confined to a ghetto. On July 20, 1942, the ghetto was surrounded by Belarusian police and the German commander announced that the ghetto's population would be liquidated with the exception of 30 essential skilled workers. The ghetto's underground organization, based on a Soviet-era Zionist group, called an uprising armed only with one machine gun, small arms but mostly knives. Most of the Jews were killed. A few escaped to nearby forests and joined partisan units, such as the Zhukov Jewish partisan unit. == Demographics ==