Talachyn

Talachyn or Tolochin^[a] is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Talachyn District.^[1] As of 2025, it has a population of 9,542.^[1]

Talachyn Талачын (Belarusian) Толочин (Russian)
Town
Church of the Protection of Our Lady
Flag Coat of arms
Talachyn Location in Belarus
Coordinates: 54°25′N 29°42′E
Country	Belarus
Region	Vitebsk Region
District	Talachyn District
First mentioned	1433
Elevation	199 m (653 ft)
Population  (2025)[1]
• Total	9,542
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK)
Postal code	211070
Area code	+375 2136
License plate	2

History

The town was first mentioned in 1433. Talachyn was a private town of the Sapieha, Szemiot and Sanguszko families,^[2] administratively located in the Vitebsk Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1604 Lew Sapieha founded a Basilian monastery, church, hospital, and schools.^[2] It was repeatedly seized by Russians during the Polish–Russian War of 1654–1667.^[2] It was a shtetl.^[3]

In 1939, 1,292 Jews lived there, making up 21.2 percent of the total population of the town.^[4]

World War II

Talachyn in 1941

The town was under German military occupation from 6–7 July 1941 until 1944.^[4]

The Germans established a ghetto in September or October 1941, which consisted of 15 houses and had 2,000 inmates.^[4] The ghetto was liquidated on 12 or 13 March 1942 and its inmates were killed.^[4] The Germans killed more than 2,000 Jews, according to estimates made by the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission.^[5] However, this figure is disputed, due to the pre-war Jewish population being significantly lower, and some Jews having been drafted or able to flee.^[4] The Einsatzkommando reported that it had killed 1,551 Jews in March, presumably in the entire district.^[4]

A memorial has been erected to remember the fate of the victims.

Notable structures

• Memorial to Jewish victims of World War II
• Church of St Anthony (Catholic)
• Church of the Holy Intercession (or: of the Protection of Our Lady)
• Pokrovsky Monastery
• Basilian Monastery, Talachyn
• Brothers' Cemetery (military cemetery)
• War Memorial

Notable people

• Jacob Rutstein (1877–1946), businessman

Notes

1. Belarusian: Талачын, romanized: Talačyn, IPA: [taɫaˈtʂɨn]; Russian: Толочин; Polish: Tołoczyn; Yiddish: טאָלאָטשין; Lithuanian: Talačynas.