History
Bielsk Podlaski was given city status in 1495.
The town is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship (since 1999); previously, it was in Białystok Voivodeship (1975-1998) (1975–1998). It is the capital of Bielsk County.
The Carmelites Church in Bielsk and monastery was founded in 1641 by Adam Kazanowski (Starost of Bielsk from 1638) and dedicated to the Mother of God of Mount Carmel. The project was also financed by his wife Elżbieta (Halszka) Słuszczanka (about 1619-1671).
Bielsk Podlaski has a rich Jewish history which was wiped out in the Holocaust. More information can be found at Bielsk Podlaski JewishGen including the full text of the English section of the Bielsk Podlaski Memorial Book and documents of the organization of US immigrants from Bielsk Podlaski called The Bielsker Bruderlicher Unterstitzungs Verein.
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“In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Spain is an overflow of sombreness ... a strong and threatening tide of history meets you at the frontier.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“The best history is but like the art of Rembrandt; it casts a vivid light on certain selected causes, on those which were best and greatest; it leaves all the rest in shadow and unseen.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)