| Drahichyn | |
| Native Name: | |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Flag Size: | 150px |
| Pushpin Map: | Belarus |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Belarus |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Belarus |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Brest Region |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Drahichyn District |
| Established Title: | First mentioned |
| Established Date: | 1452 |
| Population As Of: | 2024 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Population Total: | 14,804 |
| Timezone: | MSK |
| Utc Offset: | +3 |
| Coordinates: | 52.1833°N 34°W |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 225830 |
| Area Code: | +375 1644 |
| Blank Name: | License plate |
| Blank Info: | 1 |
Drahichyn (be|Драгічын|Drahičyn; ru|Дрогичин|Drogichin; pl|Drohiczyn; yi|דראהיטשין|Drohichin; lt|Drohičinas) is a town in Brest Region, in south-western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Drahichyn District.[1] As of 2024, it has a population of 14,804.[1]
The settlement was first mentioned as Dowieczorowicze in 1452.
The Treaty of Drohiczyn between the city of Riga and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was signed in Drohiczyn in 1518.
It was located in the Pinsk County in the Brześć Litewski Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, when it was annexed by Russia. During World War I, the town was occupied by Germany from 1915 to 1918. After the war, it was part of reborn Poland, within which it was a county seat within the Polesie Voivodeship of Poland. At the time the town was also known as Drohiczyn Poleski, after the region of Polesie within which it is located, in order to distinguish it from the more historically significant town of Drohiczyn in Podlachia.
Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, the town was first occupied by the Soviet Union until 1941, and then by Nazi Germany until 1944. The German occupiers established and operated a Nazi prison, a forced labour battalion for Jews,[2] [3] and the Drahichyn Ghetto for local Jews during the Holocaust. In 1944 it was re-occupied by the Soviet Union, which eventually annexed it from Poland in 1945.