Usnarz Górny
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Usnarz Górny
| settlement_type = Village
| total_type =
| image_skyline = File:Usnarz Górny - Road.jpg
| image_alt = Road into Usnarz Górny
| image_caption = Road into Usnarz Górny
| image_flag =
| image_shield =
| image_map =
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{POL}}
| subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
| subdivision_name1 = Podlaskie
| subdivision_type2 = County
| subdivision_name2 = Sokółka
| subdivision_type3 = Gmina
| subdivision_name3 = Szudziałowo
| coordinates = {{coord|53|20|N|23|46|E|region:PL|display=title,inline}}
| pushpin_map = Poland
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
| elevation_m =
| population_total =
| website =
}}
Usnarz Górny {{IPAc-pl|'|u|s|n|a|ż|-|'|g|u|r|n|y}} is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Szudziałowo, within Sokółka County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland.{{cite web|url=http://www.stat.gov.pl/broker/access/prefile/listPreFiles.jspa|title=Central Statistical Office (GUS) – TERYT (National Register of Territorial Land Apportionment Journal)|date=2008-06-01|language=Polish}} It is situated close to the border with Belarus. It lies approximately {{convert|8|km|mi|0}} north-east of Szudziałowo, {{convert|20|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} south-east of Sokółka and {{convert|47|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} north-east of the regional capital Białystok.
The word 'górny' in its name means 'upper',{{cite encyclopedia |dictionary=Collins Polish-English Dictionary |publisher=HarperCollins and Polska Oficyna Wydawcza "BGW" |edition=2nd |editor-first=Jacek |editor-last=Fisiak |page=79 |title=górny |date=1998 |orig-date=1st edition published 1996 |isbn=83-7066-661-2 |quote=górny adj (warga, piętro) upper; (półka) top }} and the village just east of Usnarz Górny, on the Belarusian side of the border, is known in Polish as Usnarz Dolny{{cite map |url=http://www.mapywig.org/m/WIG_maps/series/100K/P35_S37_SOKOLKA_1928_600dpi_bcuj298298-287292.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615200017/http://www.mapywig.org/m/WIG_maps/series/100K/P35_S37_SOKOLKA_1928_600dpi_bcuj298298-287292.jpg |archive-date=2017-06-15 |title=SOKÓŁKA. |date=1928 |author=Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny |scale=1:100000 |lang=pl |at=Longitude 23° 46-48' East, latitude 53° ~20' North}}{{cite map |url=https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3423195,23.76909,1840m/data=!3m1!1e3 |title=Google Maps |access-date=2021-10-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211030023414/https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3423195,23.76909,2188m/data=!3m1!1e3 |archive-date=2021-10-30 }} ('lower Usnarz').
History
Near the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Usnarz Górny was owned by Kazimierz and Zuzanna Wiszczyński.{{Cite web | url =http://www.ciekawepodlasie.pl/opis/1401,Cerkiew++pw.+%C5%9Awi%C4%99tych+Aposto%C5%82%C3%B3w+Piotra+i+Paw%C5%82a+z+1867r..htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210823065204/www.ciekawepodlasie.pl/opis/1401,Cerkiew++pw.+%C5%9Awi%C4%99tych+Aposto%C5%82%C3%B3w+Piotra+i+Paw%C5%82a+z+1867r..htm |archive-date=2021-08-23 |language=pl | title =Cerkiew pw. Świętych Apostołów Piotra i Pawła z 1867 r. (Samogród) | trans-title=Orthodox Church of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul from the year 1867 (Samogród) | work=CIEKAWE PODLASIE I OKOLICE |trans-work=Interesting Podlasie and its Surroundings |access-date = 2021-09-06}}{{Cite journal |last=Drożdżewicz |first =Leonard |title =Dziedzictwo historyczno-kulturowe powiatu sokólskiego |language=pl |trans-title=Historical-cultural heritage of Sokółka County |journal =Znad Wilii |volume=2 |issue=86 |page =60 |date =2021 |publisher =Stowarzyszenie Użyteczności Publicznej na Rzecz Rozwoju Kultury "Znad Wilii" |issn =1392-9712 |doi =}} From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Białystok Voivodeship.
In 2011, the village was inhabited by 75 people;{{cite web |website=Polska w Liczbach |trans-website=Poland in Numbers |url=https://www.polskawliczbach.pl/wies_Usnarz_Gorny |title=Wieś Usnarz Górny w liczbach |trans-title=The village of Usnarz Górny in numbers |access-date=2016-09-12 |language=pl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030003545/https://www.polskawliczbach.pl/wies_Usnarz_Gorny |archive-date=2021-10-30}} most of its inhabitants are elderly.{{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/dec6249e-3c8d-492d-960f-c9bc26dea830 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210828131729/https://www.ft.com/content/dec6249e-3c8d-492d-960f-c9bc26dea830 |archive-date=2021-08-28 |title=Poland-Belarus border stand-off leaves Afghan migrants stuck in limbo |website=Financial Times |first1=James |last1=Shotter |first2=Agata |last2=Majos |date=2021-08-27 }} Many of its mostly wooden houses are now unoccupied, and although an asphalt road leads to the village, the roads within the village are unpaved.{{cite web |url=https://www.rp.pl/spoleczenstwo/art18831891-uchodzcy-pomiedzy-lufami-karabinow |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030004331/https://www.rp.pl/spoleczenstwo/art18831891-uchodzcy-pomiedzy-lufami-karabinow |archive-date=2021-10-30 |first=Marek |last=Kozubal |language=pl |website=Rzeczpospolita |date=2021-08-19 |title=Uchodźcy pomiędzy lufami karabinów |trans-title=Refugees between the barrels of rifles }}
{{Main|2021 Belarus-European Union border crisis}}
In August 2021, the village was talked about in the media when a group of 32 immigrants from Afghanistan and Iraq camped for a long time near it on the Belarusian side of the border (in the khutor of Dolny Usnar), not allowed to enter Poland by the Polish border guards and military and prevented from returning to Belarus by Belarusian soldiers. They had been led to the border by the Belarusian government as part of the operation codenamed "Sluice".{{Cite web | url =https://wyborcza.pl/7,75399,27491606,skad-sie-wzieli-imigranci-na-granicy-z-bialorusia-lukaszenka.html?disableRedirects=true |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831171423/https://wyborcza.pl/7,75399,27491606,skad-sie-wzieli-imigranci-na-granicy-z-bialorusia-lukaszenka.html?disableRedirects=true |archive-date=2021-08-31 | title=Skąd się wzięli imigranci na granicy z Białorusią? Łukaszenka dał zgodę na operację "Śluza" |trans-title=Where did the immigrants on the border with Belarus come from? Lukashenko agreed to Operation "Sluice" | first=Michał |last=Kokot |website=Gazeta Wyborcza | date=2021-08-25 | language=pl | access-date= 2021-09-06}} On October 24 of the same year, the Polish border guard reported that a group of about 60 migrants, including some of those trapped on the border since August, tried unsuccessfully to forcibly cross the border into Poland near Usnarz Górny, with the assistance of Belarusian soldiers, who tried to cut through the recently erected border fence; some of the migrants threw stones at the Polish soldiers guarding the border, two of whom were lightly injured.{{cite web |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211026100612/https://www.ft.com/content/1eb6c4da-73c3-45e5-b171-b7912e2325f4 |archive-date=2021-10-26 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/1eb6c4da-73c3-45e5-b171-b7912e2325f4 |date=2021-10-25 |title=Poland to boost troop numbers on Belarus border |first=James |last=Shotter |website=Financial Times }}{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/polish-troops-hurt-migrants-forcing-belarus-border-80767237 |date=2021-10-25 |website=ABC News |agency=Associated Press |title=2 Polish troops hurt as migrants try forcing Belarus border |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030013754/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/polish-troops-hurt-migrants-forcing-belarus-border-80767237 |archive-date=2021-10-30 }}{{cite web |first=Alice |last=Tidey |date=2021-10-26 |website=Euronews |title=Two guards hurt during violence at Poland-Belarus border |url=https://www.euronews.com/2021/10/25/two-guards-hurt-during-violence-at-poland-belarus-border |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211030014347/https://www.euronews.com/2021/10/25/two-guards-hurt-during-violence-at-poland-belarus-border |archive-date=2021-10-30 }}