Pishchalauski_Castle

Pishchalauski Castle

Pishchalauski Castle

Castle and prison in Minsk, Belarus

The Minsk Detention Center No. 1 or SIZO No. 1 (Russian: СИЗО №1, Belarusian: СІЗА №1), informally known as Volodarka,[1] Belarusian pronunciation: Valadarka (Валадарка), is the central prison of the Republic of Belarus located in Minsk.

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Drawing, 19th century
Photo, 1927

Name

The prison castle is known in Belarusian as Pishchalauski Castle (Пішчалаўскі замак), also spelled Pischalauski Castle,[2] a name derived from the landlord who built it, Rudolph Pischallo.[1] The Russian version of the name is Pishchalovsky castle.[3]

Its popular name, Volodarka, was coined after the October Revolution, when the street on which the building stood was renamed in honour of revolutionary leader V. Volodarsky.[1] It is also sometimes called the Belarusian Bastille.[2]

Current usage

Operated by the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, SIZO No. 1 is the only facility that houses death row inmates. Their execution occurs at the prison.[citation needed]

The prison is also used as a pre-trial detention centre where arrested political activists are held.[4]

History

Russian Empire

The stone building was completed by 1824, and it was commissioned in spring 1825.[1] The castle-shaped structure was purposely built as a prison by the landowner Rudolph Pischallo (also spelled Rudolf Pischalo), who entrusted architect Kazimir Khrschonovich (also spelled Casimir Hrschanovicha) with the design.[1][5] The project was approved by Tsar Nicholas I himself.[1] The main building is three stories high, flanked by four corner towers, and surrounded by the prison yard.[1]

Inmates and executions

  • Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich (c. 1808–1884), Belarusian writer and social activist (imprisoned 1864-1865)[1]
  • Felix Dzerzhinsky, future leader of the Soviet secret police, here repeatedly on transfer during his arrests for "revolutionary activity"[1]
  • Alés Harun (1887–1920), Belarusian writer (imprisoned 1907)
  • Karuś Kahaniec (1868–1918), Belarusian writer (imprisoned 1905-1906 & 1910-1911)[1]
  • Jakub Kołas (1882–1956), Belarusian writer (imprisoned 1908-1911)
  • Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), future Polish statesman, held here while under investigation after being arrested in 1887[1]
  • Ivan Pulikhov (Pulichaŭ; 1879-1906), revolutionary terrorist who attempted to assassinate the Minsk governor, hanged at the prison gates[1]

Soviet Union

After the First World War, the prison was taken over by the Cheka-GPU.[1] Famous Socialist Revolutionary Boris Savinkov, arrested after being lured back to Soviet territory as part of operation "Trust", was held here for a while in 1924.[1]

On the night of 29/30 October 1937, during Stalin's Great Terror, NKVD officers executed 36 representatives of Belarusian culture, science and art in the castle basement, by shooting them in the head. Another 52 were executed that night in the basement of the building of the internal prison of the NKVD in Minsk near the Pishchalovsky castle. In total, during the repressions of 1937-1940, about 100 people were executed in the Pishchalovsky Castle, accused of anti-Soviet activities.[6]

World War II

As a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland starting on September 17, 1939, a large number of Polish POWs (military, police, and civil servants) as well as Polish common criminals were imprisoned at Pishchalauski Castle.[1] In 1940-1941, the prisoner was Ryszard Kaczorowski, later the last President of Poland-in-exile.

After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, the Germans kept on using the prison as such.[1]

During the Great Patriotic War, arrested partisans and members of the underground were kept in the Pishchalovsky Castle. Some were executed or tortured there.[citation needed]

Post-WWII

In the years 1944-1945 the prisoner was Kazimierz Świątek, later a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

After 1953, it was the only institution in the Byelorussian SSR where death sentences were carried out.[1]

In chronological order of execution:

Independent Belarus

Pishchalauski Castle is a registered state architectural monument.[7] As of 2013, it was in urgent need of major repairs, with part of one of its four towers having collapsed in April 2008.[1][2] As of 2013, there were speculations that "Volodarka" might be transformed into a museum.[1]

Opponents of Lukashenko regime

Arrested during and after the 2020 presidential campaign, which lead to the contested reelection of Alexander Lukashenko:

Executions

In chronological order of execution:

See also

References

  1. [1]
    ""Володарка". История одной тюрьмы" [Volodarka: history of a prison]. Minsk: Tut.By. 30 January 2013. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
  2. [2]
    "Tower collapses in "Belarusian Bastille"". BelePAN. April 22, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2009.
  3. [3]
    "Soviet serial killers used to be society role models". Pravda. 25 Apr 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  4. [4]
    "Charter'97: News from Belarus". charter97.org. Retrieved Aug 14, 2020.
  5. [5]
    "Pischalauski Castle, Minsk, Belarus". KeepTravel. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  6. [6]
    Commemoration of victims of Stalinism took place in Kurapaty. At naviny.by.[dead link]
  7. [7]
    "Pishchalauski Castle, Minsk". Virtual Guide to Belarus. Retrieved Aug 14, 2020.
  8. [8]
    "Блогер Николай Дедок находится на Окрестина. Адвокат настаивает на судебно-медицинской экспертизе" [Blogger Nikolay Dedok is located in Okrestin. The lawyer insists on a forensic medical examination (Google-translated)]. Minsk: Tut.By. 13 November 2020. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  9. [9]
    "Mikalai Dziadok: blogger, anarchist, sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment". Viasna Human Rights Center. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  10. [10]
    "Aliaksandr Kabanau". Viasna Human Rights Center. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  11. [11]
    "Адвакат не можа сустрэцца з палітвязнем Раманам Пратасевічам" [Lawyer cannot meet with political prisoner Roman Protasevich].
  12. [12]
    "К Роману Протасевичу второй день не пускают адвоката" [Roman Protasevich was not allowed to see a lawyer for the second day].
  13. [13]
    "Belarus: "They are stealing the best of us". Arbitrary arrests and forced expulsion of leading opposition activists" (PDF). Amnesty International. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  14. [14]
    "Народная Воля ("People's Will") article, 4 Nov. 2020". Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  15. [15]
    "Письма из «таких мест». Юрист Максим Знак: «Там в прекрасном далеко просто должно быть хорошо»" (in Russian). Brestskaya Gazeta. 29 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-01-30. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  16. [16]
    "Maxim Znak: member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council, lawyer, sentenced to 10 years in prison". Viasna Human Rights Center. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
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