Minsk Gubernia
At the top level of administration, Belarus is divided into six regions and the city of Minsk, which has a special status being the capital of Belarus. Minsk is also the capital of Minsk Region.
At the second level, the regions are divided into raions (“districts”).
The layout and extent of the regions were set in 1960 when Belarus (then Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) was a part of the Soviet Union.
Resources for the Minsk Gubernia
- Shtetls of Minsk Gubernia
- Guberniya District Maps from the 1899 edition of Vsia Rossiia, by Michael Steinore. Link for Minsk Gubernia is at the bottom of this page.
- Mestechki of Minsk Gubernia, which displays all (113) towns with the administrative designation mestechko from an original list of over 14,000 settlements in Minsk Gubernia, by Michael Steinore
- Minsk District Historic/Economic Summaries, provided by the Minsk Historical Genealogical Group
- Occupations of Minsk Guberniya Jewish Population, by Vitaly Charny
- Poor population among towns in Minsk Guberniya - 1905, by Vitaly Charny
- Department of the National Belarus Library in Minsk (email)
- Jewish agricultural colonies in Western Russia, prior to 1904, by Lou Goldman
- Jewish Population for Towns in Minsk Guberniya - 1897-1898, by Vitaly Charny
- Minsk Ghetto: An Issue of Jewish Resistance, by Leonid Smilovitsky
- Minsk gubernia administrative divisions, by Vitaly Charny. Required reading for anyone doing research in this area.
- Minsk History, from “Minsk: a Historical Guide” by Guy Picarda
- Minsk Voter List FAQ, Minsk Gubernia Duma Lists to be translated by the Belarus SIG
- Volosts and most important settlements of the Empire, 1884, provided by Vitaly Charny
Many of these works were provided by Vitaly Charny. Vitaly, a native of Minsk, Belarus, has been generously sharing his transliterations of surnames in the Family History Library's Minsk records. If you have further questions regarding specific surnames on these lists, please contact Vitaly Charny. You may also go to your local Family History Library and order the appropriate microfilm to view.
BOBRUISK
BORISOV
- Newsletter: Borisov: A Mirror of the Holocaust in Belorussia, by Leonid Smilovitsky, Ph.D.
MINSK
- Minsk Surnames - Index of surnames appearing in the LDS microfilms of the Jewish vital records of the city of Minsk. 3,435 entries
NOVOGRUDOK
RECHITSA
- Rechitsa pogrom (October 1905), by Leonid Smilovitsky Ph.D.