Brest

Brest is a city with a long and complex history, and at different times it has been part of different countries and linked to different cultures. First mentioned in 11th century chronicles, Brest was a city in the eastern part of Kievan Rus. Later it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and eventually in the 16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. When, in the late 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned between Prussia, Russia and Austria at the end of the 18th century, Brest became part of Russia on the newly created eastern border with Austria. After the First World War Poland was re-established as a country and gained control of Brest and of most of today's western Belarus. In 1939 this area was again annexed, this time by the Soviet Union, and became part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Brest became a city in the modern Belarus.

The city has been invaded many times and often laid to waste. In the 13th century it was the Mongols, in the 14th the Teutonic Knights. The khan of Crimea burned it down in the 15th century and in the 17th and 18th centuries it was invaded by Swedish armies. In the middle of the 19th century the town was completely demolished in order to make place for the new Brest fortress. The new Brest was built 2 km eastwards. It did not last long, because in 1915 the retreating Russian army burned the town to the ground and took the population to the east. Then the Germans marched in. It was also here that the new Bolshevik government signed the Treat of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers in 1918, thus taking Russia out of World War I, but having to pay reparations and cede territory to the Central Powers in exchange. After the war the city was rebuilt, many parts of the city centre by Jews.

In September 1939 the Germans marched in again, just to hand the town and fortress over to the Soviets a few days later. In 1941 the Germans understood that they better had taken Brest and the fortress for themselves, they marched in again, this time with heavy losses, fighting went on for several days (not for a month as later was stated by Soviet propaganda). Brest escaped the fate of Minsk which was laid to waste in the Second World War, but the entire Jewish population (about 44%) was killed (see Holocaust remembrance). This loss of human lives was one of the greatest catastrophes in the city's history, but there hardly is any public commemoration of this. On ul. Kujbysheva there is a small monument to the killed Jews, and that's it. The main synagogue on ul. Sovetskaya was converted into a cinema (cinema "Belarus'") and until now was not returned to the Jewish community.

If you are interested in getting to know something about the Jewish history of Brest you won't find anything in the state museums. The Soviet ban of the topic is lifted, but still the topic is omitted. The only small exhibition about Jews in Brest and the Shoah is organised by a Jewish NGO (see below). A totally innovative project to spread information on the topic is the audio performance "Brest Stories Guide" by the theatre "Kryly Khalopa" (see below), but it is in Russian only, so far.

Brest (Belarus)
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D       36     0 −5       35     2 −4       33     7 −1       39     14 4       67     20 9       68     24 13       83     26 15       62     25 14       56     19 9       42     13 5       39     6 1       40     1 −3 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation+Snow totals in mm Source: Wikipedia
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D       1.4     32 24       1.4     35 25       1.3     45 31       1.5     58 40       2.6     68 48       2.7     74 55       3.3     78 58       2.4     77 57       2.2     67 49       1.7     55 41       1.5     43 34       1.6     35 27 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation+Snow totals in inches

• Until the Shoah Brest was a mainly Jewish town. With the audio performance Brest Stories Guide^{[dead link]} by the theatre "Kryly Khalopa" you can explore the city space and learn about the local history of anti-Semitism and the Shoah. A free app for smartphones and tablet computers contains a map with routes and audio files. The Brest Stories Guide is not an audio-guide, but a completely new and innovative approach to history, a theatre piece in public space, where the city itself turns into scenery.

• Prastora Kryly Khalopa (KX, KKh, Пространство КХ) in ul. Khalturina 2/1 is an independent theatre as well as room for exhibitions and other events. Theatre workshops, lectures, seminars, yoga and language meetings, a film club and other events regularly take place here. In front of the door one can find a Bookcrossing Zone. In Belarus’ (and not only) "KKh" is a unique place and a real enrichment of Brest cultural life. Quite a lot of Belarusian and international awards won by it and its activists witness about it's high quality. Most activists in "KKh" speak English. It's not too easy to find the place, since the entrance is located in a small street eastwards to the “main” ulitsa Khalturina you'd find in the town maps. (phone: +37 5298231916, +37 5295251652)

• Walk on ul. Sovetskaya, Brest's Broadway, with all shops and restaurants.
• Go ice-skating in the Ice Palace on the intersection of Ul. Moskovskaya and Ul. 28 Iyulya.
• There are several swimming pools: A smaller one (25 m, €2 per hour; "sessions" start at every full hour) near "Grebnoj kanal" (Kavalyovka) with good water quality and a bigger one (50 m, more chlorine in the water) at the sports palace on the eastern part of pr. Masherova. Flip-flops and bathing cap required!
• Football: Dinamo Brest and Rukh Brest both play soccer in the Premier League, the top tier in Belarus. The playing season is March-Nov.

It's a bit difficult to get really good food in Brest. Vegetarians are hardly a target group for Brest restaurants.

• Restaurant Vesta.  
• Venezia Restaurant. A place where one at least gets some good food. 
• Restaurant U ozera. In a town park, good meat and starters. Good for business lunches. 
• Jules Verne (in the city center). Not cheap for citizens, but good for foreigners, with tasty European food. 

Avoid at any cost the German owned café Crezo on Sovetskaya. Very rude staff, taking your passport if you want to use the Wi-Fi, for which you have to pay separately from the café charges. Horrible.

Belarus has a low rate of crime, and the atmosphere is mostly very friendly even on big celebrations (when everyone is drunk).

Try not to wander off too far at night.