Halshany

• Name — Halshany • Type — Agrotown • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Belarus • Subdivision Type1 — Region • Subdivision Name1 — Grodno Region • Subdivision Type2 — District • Subdivision Name2 — Ashmyany District • Time Zone — MSK • Utc Offset — +3

It was the birthplace of the Lithuanian princess and later Grand Duchess of Lithuania and queen of Poland Sophia of Halshany, extending Lithuanian Jagellon dynasty over two states. During the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth the town was in the hands of the Sapieha family, which constructed a castle there in early 17th century. The town grew smaller with the devastations of the mid-17th century wars wrought in the Commonwealth. The town became part of the Russian Empire with the partitions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century. During the French invasion of Russia, the vicinity was captured by the Franco-Polish troops on 30 June 1812. It was recaptured by the Russian Imperial Army on 8 December of the same year. After the First World War the town became a part of the Second Polish Republic; it was taken by the Soviet Union after the Soviet invasion of Poland and became part of the Belorussian SSR. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union it became part of modern Belarus.

• Ben Zion Goldberg (1895-1972), Yiddish journalist • Jazep Hermanovich (1890 - 1978), Belarusian Eastern Catholic priest, writer, poet and Gulag survivor