Paper Factory in Dobrush

Dobrush is a city located in the south-east of the Republic of Belarus, on the banks of the Iput River, 25 kilometers away from Gomel. It was first mentioned in chronicles in 1560. For a long time Dobrush has been a major manufacturing center. Once sails and ropes were manufactured there, and now - paper and other paper products. Today there is one of the biggest enterprises of Belarus there - Paper Factory «Hero of Labour».

Factory on Iput has a rich and interesting history. In 1849 Duke I. Paskevich - the famous military leader of the Russian Empire, Field-Marshal, the owner of a manor in Gomel decided to build a paper factory in Dobrush. But he didn”t managed to put it into practice. For him it made his heir - the royal adjutant general F. Paskevich. In 1870 the young prince invited foreign and Russian specialists to Dobrush to build the factory that in future could had become the largest in the Russian Empire. And so it happened. In 1903 the paper factory in Dobrush where more than 900 people were working entered the top ten in the country.

During the whole period of its existence Dobrush factory had taken part in the Russian exhibitions two times - in 1882 in Moscow and in 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod. The existance of the factory in Dobrush helped to develop the social infrastructure of the city. A school, a hospital, a pharmacy were opened there. A choir and a brass band were formed in the city.

In 1917 the factory was closed, and two years later the factory was nationalized. In the 20s of the XX century Dobrush paper factory began to increase its production. On 17th October, 1922 it was awarded the title «Hero of Labour».

Dobrush factory was severely damaged during World War II. Only in the 50-th years of the XX century it restored its pre-war level of production.