in the interwar period it received the name of the Directorate Park, which is preserved until today. 7 clerical houses were built in this area. In 1895, construction was completed and a new stone church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, located near the palace. During World War I most of the local Eastern Orthodox (ethnic Belarusian) population fled before the advancing German army which seized the area in August 1915. Catholics remained in the village (being ethnic Poles, but also partly Orthodox Poles) The Germans built a lumber mill in Białowieża, connected to the nearby town of Hajnówka by a railway. However, the village did not recover until 1921 when the Białowieża National Park was established. The village became the administrative center of the Park and one of the most popular tourist attractions of the area. Following the Polish-Soviet War, Białowieża was returned to Poland. On September 1, 1939 with the onset of World War II and joint German and Soviet attack on Poland, Luftwaffe bombed Bialowieza. The bombs seriously damaged the church and, to a lesser extent, a military field hospital located in one of the wings of the palace. Then Białowieża was taken over by the German 3rd Armored Division. On September 16, Podlasie Cavalry Brigade entered Białowieża. On September 20, general Zygmunt Podhorski pseud. "Zaza" appointed from the gathered units of the Suwalska Cavalry Brigade and the Podlaska Cavalry Brigade the improvised Cavalry Division "Zaza" consisting of the Cavalry Brigade "Pleats" and the Cavalry Brigade "Edward". In accordance with Ribentrop-Molotov Pact, the area came under Soviet occupation and was declared part of the Belastok Region of the Belarusian SSR. In 1939 and 1940 many local inhabitants were arrested and deported to Siberia. Many were arrested and sent to the Gulag. They were replaced with Russian forest workers, but in 1941 the forest came under German occupation and the Russian inhabitants were also deported. Hermann Göring planned to create the biggest hunting reserve in the world there, but those plans were never realized. After July 1941, the forest became a refuge for both Polish and Soviet partisans. The German authorities organized mass executions of people suspected of aiding the resistance. In July 1944 the area was captured by the Red Army. The withdrawing Wehrmacht blew up the historic Białowieża hunting manor. After the war Białowieża was transferred back to the communist Polish People's Republic, yet again recovered and