Towns formerly in Romania or Bessarabia now may be in Moldova.
MOLDOVA - THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
Goberman, David. Carved Memories: Heritage in Stone from the Russian Jewish Pale. NY: Rizzoli, 2000 lists information for the following Moldova towns:
Shtetlink [March 2009]
Sephardic merchants using Bessarabia as a trade route between the Black Sea and Poland in the 15th century settled in northern and central Bessarabia. In 1812, about 2,000 Jews lived there. Massacres on April 6-7, 1903 spurred by a blood libel printed in a national newspaper resulted in 49 Jews killed, 500 wounded and hundreds of Jewish homes and businesses severely damaged. Czarist authorities ignored it. United States condemnation and trade restrictions against Russia resulted. Thousands of Moldovan Jews emigrated. Massacres during the 1905 Russian Revolution killed hundreds more Jews across Moldova. 1920 Jewish population: about 267,000. After the 1941 Nazi invasion, nearly 100,000 Jews died in mass shootings, deportations, ghettos, and concentration camps. Many Moldovans collaborated with the German and Romanian occupiers. 53 Moldovans "Righteous Among the Nations" risked their lives to save Jews. Now, 20,000 Jews live in Chisinau, 2,500-3,000 in Beltsy, and over 2,000 in Tiraspol (capital of Transnistria) as well as in Bender, Orgei, Rybnitsa, and Soroky with a few in 45 villages. Almost half of the community is elderly. About 12,000 Jews left due to hostilities in 1991. Jewish Communal institutions are in Chisinau: Moldovan Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities is the umbrella for the Jewish community. There are six JCCs in Moldova and Hillel chapter in Chisinau. Chabad Lubavitch maintains synagogues in Chisinau and Tiraspol. Chabad Rabbi Zalman Abelsky is Chief Rabbi of Moldova and President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Moldova. Jewish schools are all funded in part by the Moldovan government and the Israeli Cultural Center include eight Jewish Sunday schools. No policy of anti-Semitism exists at the state level, but incidents occur. The Jewish community received only two of the many communal properties seized during the Soviet period. The U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad encouraged the Moldovan to sign a Declaration of Cooperation with the US government to establish protocols for protection and preservation of cultural sites. In February 2002, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council signed an agreement with the Moldovan government, giving the Council free access to World War II-era government intelligence archives. |
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