Maladzyechna Voblast

Маладзечненская вобласць Молодечненская область Maladzyechna Voblast Voblast of Byelorussian SSR ← 1944–1960 →   →   → Map of the Byelorussian SSR with Maladzyechna Voblast. Capital Maladzyechna 54°19′N 26°51′E / 54.317°N 26.85°E / 54.317; 26.85Coordinates: 54°19′N 26°51′E / 54.317°N 26.85°E / 54.317; 26.85 History  - Established September 20 1944  - Disestablished September 20 1960 Area  - 1959 24,300 km2 (9,382 sq mi) Population  - 1959 848,000       Density 34.9 /km2  (90.4 /sq mi) Political subdivisions Raions: 24

Maladzyechna Voblast or Molodechno Oblast (Belarusian: Маладзечненская вобласць, Russian: Молодечненская область) was a Voblast of the Byelorussian SSR. Initially the Voblast was formed on December 4, 1939 following the annexation of West Belarus into the BSSR from the Second Polish Republic as the Vileyka Voblast. However after the liberation of Byelorussia by the Red Army in July 1944, most of the pre-war civil administration was not possible for a number of reasons, one of which was that the city of Vileyka was heavily damaged during the war, and the transportation links between it and the rest of the Voblast were too.

However the nearby city of Maladzyechna (only 20km away from Vileyka) escaped heavy destruction, and as a result on 20 September 1944, the Maladzyechna Voblast of Byelorussia was established. Initially it contained all 14 raions. However on January 8 1954, in course of administrative-territorial reform of the BSSR, the neighbouring Polatsk and Baranavichy Voblasts (along with others) were disestablished.

Maladzyechna Voblast incorporated 10 raions from the two Voblasts with its size growing from 14.8 to 24.3 thousand square kilometres. However on 20th of January 1960, Maladzyechna Oblast too was disestablished. Its territory, with 848 thousand people was divided between the modern Vitsebsk, Hrodna and Minsk Voblasts, with the city of Maladzyechna being incorporated into the latter. This turned to be the last of the administrative division reform in Belarus, and since then the Voblast borders gained their present form.

External links

• Information on WHP (Russian)