Editing Slonim (section)

==History==
[[File:1501._Roman_Catholic_churches_within_the_Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania,_where_the_priests_must_know_the_Lithuanian_language.svg|left|thumb|300x300px|Slonim was the location of one of many Roman [[Catholic churches]] where the priests had to know the [[Lithuanian language]] according to the [[Grand Duke of Lithuania]] [[Alexander Jagiellon]] in 1501]]

=== Middle Ages ===
The earliest record is of a wooden fort on the left bank of the [[Shchara River|Shchara river]] in the 11th century, although there may have been earlier settlement.

The area was disputed between the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] and [[Kievan Rus']] in early history and it changed hands several times. In 1040, the Kievans won control of the area after a battle but lost Slonim to the Lithuanians in 1103. The [[Ruthenians]] retook the area early in the 13th century but were expelled by a [[Tatars|Tatar]] invasion in 1241 and the town was pillaged. When, later in the year, the Tatars withdrew, Slonim became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania once again, in [[Polish–Lithuanian union|personal union]] with the [[Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)|Kingdom of Poland]] after the [[Union of Krewo]] of 1385.

===Early modern period===
In 1532 King [[Sigismund I of Poland]] granted Slonim [[town rights]].<ref>[[Wanda Rewieńska]], ''Miasta i miasteczka magdeburskie w woj. wileńskim i nowogródzkim'', Lida, 1938, p. 11 (in Polish)</ref> In 1558, King [[Sigismund II Augustus]], in a privilege issued in [[Vilnius|Wilno]] (now Vilnius), established two two-week [[fair]]s.

In 1569, the [[Polish–Lithuanian union]] was transformed into a single state and Słonim became an important regional centre within the newly established [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. Administratively it was part of the [[Nowogródek Voivodeship (1507–1795)|Nowogródek Voivodeship]]. Thanks to the efforts of nobleman, statesman and Słonim [[starost]] [[Lew Sapieha]], King [[Sigismund III Vasa]] renewed the town rights of Słonim and granted the city coat of arms,<ref name=HI>{{cite web|url=https://historykon.pl/nowe/pomnik-sapiehy-stanal-w-slonimie|title=Pomnik Sapiehy stanął w Słonimie|website=Historykon|access-date=September 30, 2019|language=pl}}</ref> which included the [[Lis coat of arms]] of Sapieha. Also thanks to Lew Sapieha, from 1631 to 1685 the city flourished as the seat of the Lithuanian [[diet (assembly)|diet]].<ref name=HI/>
[[File:Słonim, Opernaja. Слонім, Опэрная (1800).jpg|thumb|The Ogiński Theater around 1800]]
The wars had damaged Slonim, but in the 18th century, a local landowner, [[Michał Kazimierz Ogiński|count Ogiński]], encouraged the recovery of the area; a canal was dug to connect the [[Shchara River|Shchara]] with the [[Dnieper River|Dnieper]] river, now known as the [[Oginski Canal]]. Ogiński also built a greater complex, combining an opera theater, a school of music and a school of ballet, and a printing house.

===Late modern period===
[[Image:Słonim, Rynak, Bernardynski. Слонім, Рынак, Бэрнардынскі (1930-39).jpg|thumb|left|Polish Słonim in the 1930s, market at Bernardyńska Street before [[World War II]]]]
The [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] was dismantled in [[Partitions of Poland|a series of three "partitions"]] in the second half of the 18th century and divided among its neighbours, [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Austria]] and [[Russian Empire]] which took the largest portion of the territory. Slonim was in the area annexed by Russia in 1795. Administratively it was part of the Slonim Governorate until 1797, [[Vilna Governorate]] until 1801 and [[Grodno Governorate]] until [[World War I]]. In 1897 it was the fourth largest city of the governorate after the leading cities of [[Białystok]], [[Grodno]] and [[Brest, Belarus|Brześć]].
[[File:Słonim, Bernardynskaja. Слонім, Бэрнардынская (V. Pikiel, 1931).jpg|thumb|Pre-war Polish county office]]
Russian control lasted until 1915, when the German army captured the town. After the [[First World War]], the Slonim area was disputed between the [[Soviet Union]] and the newly recreated state of [[Poland]]. The town suffered badly in the [[Polish-Soviet war of 1920]]. It was ceded by the Bolsheviks to Poland in the 1921 [[Peace of Riga]] and became a part of [[Nowogródek Voivodeship (1919–39)|Nowogródek Voivodeship]] of the [[Second Polish Republic]].

Slonim was one of the many towns in Poland that had a significant Jewish population. The imposing Great Synagogue, built in 1642, survived the destruction and brutal Nazi liquidation of the [[Słonim Ghetto]] with 10,000 Jews massacred in 1942 alone. The 10 small synagogues around the Great Synagogue called Stiblach did not survive.

===World War II and the post-war period===
[[File:אנדרטת סלונים.jpg|thumb|A monument in memory of the Jews of Slonim who were murdered in the Holocaust. In [[Kiryat Shaul cemetery]] in [[Tel Aviv]]]]
{{main|Słonim Ghetto}}
[[File:Słonim Ghetto burning (1942-06-29).jpg|thumb|[[Słonim Ghetto]] burning in 1942 during the Jewish revolt during German [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupation of Poland]]]]
In 1939, the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] between [[Nazi Germany]] and the [[Soviet Union]] resulted in the [[invasion of Poland]] by the two powers and its division between them. Slonim was in the area designated by the Pact to fall within the Soviet sphere of influence. The Soviets placed that area within the [[Byelorussian SSR]]. Two years later, Germany invaded the Soviets ([[Operation Barbarossa]]) and Slonim was captured. The Słonim Jews were herded into the [[Słonim Ghetto]] set up at the Na Wyspie neighbourhood across the bridge on the Szczara River. Soon thereafter, 70% of Slonim's Jews had been killed by the ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'',<ref name=ledger>{{cite web |last=Lichtenstein |first=Kalman |title=The Ledger of Slonim |publisher=Joanne Saltman |year=1998 |url=http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/slonim/Slonim_Ledger.htm |access-date=8 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807085152/http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/slonim/Slonim_Ledger.htm |archive-date=7 August 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> including 9,000 on 14 November 1941. The second mass murder of 8,000 Jews took place in 1942. In 1944, on the insistence of [[Joseph Stalin]] [[Yalta Conference|in Yalta]] the Soviet Union retained possession of the eastern parts of pre-war Poland including Słonim, as agreed between the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. The [[Polish population transfers (1944–46)|Polish population was forcibly resettled]] to new post-war Polish boundaries before the end of 1946.<ref name="gilbert">{{cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Gilbert  |title=The Holocaust |publisher=Fontana Press |year=1986 |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRJnAAAAMAAJ&q=Slonim  |isbn=0-00-637194-9 |pages=184, 403}}</ref>

After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], Slonim became part of an independent state of [[Belarus]].

In 2019 a Soviet-era statue of [[Vladimir Lenin]] in the city center was replaced with a new monument of [[Lew Sapieha]].<ref name=HI/>

===Historic population===
The population of Slonim fluctuated, influenced by local prosperity and wars {1883, 21,110; 1897 15,893}. Jewish settlement in Slonim appears to have started in 1388, following encouragement from the Lithuanian authorities. They were credited with the development of local commerce in the 15th century, nonetheless, they were temporarily expelled by the Duchy in 1503. In the late 19th century, Slonim's Jewish population had risen to more than 10,000.<ref name=ledger/> The [[Slonim (Hasidic dynasty)|Slonimer Hasidic dynasty]] came from there. [[Michael Marks|Michael]] and Ephraim Marks (of [[Marks & Spencer]]) were born in Slonim.

The wealthiest family in Slonim before World War II were the Rabinowicz brothers, Vigdor and Yossel. Their parents were Dov-Ber and Rivka Rochel (née Kancepolski). After World War I, they entered the forestry business together with Yaakov Milikowski, and were known as the Rabmils.  They escaped the Nazi atrocities by flying to [[Mandatory Palestine]].