Maladzyechna,<!--See WP:BELARUSIANNAMES--> or Molodechno, is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. As of 2026, it has a population of 87,339. The town itself was first mentioned the following year in a document issued by Kaributas, Prince of Severian Novgorod, who on December 16 assured his tributary fidelity to his cousin, King Władysław II Jagiełło and Jadwiga of Poland.

After Michael's heirless death, the locality passed through different hands until finally in 1567 it was acquired by Princess Nastazja Zbaraska, wife of Stafan Zbaraski, the voivode of Trakai. Among the owners of the area were Kazimierz Ogiński and Tadeusz Ogiński, the Castellan of Trakai (Lithuania). The Ogiński family became the main benefactors of the area, as they made it one of the main centres of their domain. They erected a new, classicist palace with notable frescoes, as well as a late renaissance church. It was also them to ask the king Sigismund II Augustus to grant the town with a city charter. Although it was not granted, in 1730 the monarch granted the town with the privilege of organization of two fairs a year and 2 markets every week. In mid-18th century the Ogiński's also founded a monastery of the Trinitarians there. To counter the threat of economic decline, it became a capital of separate powiat (county) within the Wilno Voivodeship on April 1, 1927, and on April 26, 1929, the town was granted with city rights and its city limits were expanded.

World War II

On 17 September 1939, Maladzyechna was occupied by the Red Army and, on 14 November 1939, incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR. On 4 December 1939, Maladzyechna became a part of the newly formed Vileyka Region of the Byelorussian SSR. The NKVD expropriated the local school for teachers and set up one of its concentration camps there.

thumb|Mołodeczno in 1941

From 25 June 1941 until 5 July 1944, Maladzyechna was occupied by Nazi Germany and administered as a part of the Generalbezirk Weißruthenien of Reichskommissariat Ostland. On 13 and 18 July, the German Sonderkommando 7a and Einsatzkommando 9 committed massacres of some 100 people, almost entirely Jews. In June 1942, the Jewish ghetto was liquidated with some 700 Jews massacred near the city by the Sicherheitsdienst, and then some 25–30 Jews from a local forced labour camp were massacred on 7 September 1942, and the camp was eventually dissolved in July 1943 with the remaining Jews deported to Wilejka. Stalag 342 held Soviet POWs, and at least 30,000 people were killed. FC Molodechno plays for the Belarusian First League, at City Stadium, which holds 4,800 people.

Demographics

Population

In 2024, the town had a population of 89,068. In 2025, it was 88,290, and in 2026, it was 87,339.

  • Valentin Tishko (born 1989), Belarusian Christian and political activist

Notes

References

  • Photos on Radzima.org
  • Photos on Globus Belarusi
  • Official website
  • Maladziečna history
  • Maladziečna geography
  • Maladziečna news