Ethnic group
Moldovan Jews
Evreii din Moldova
?????? ????????
|
|
est.
85,000
to
120,000
|
|
Israel
| 80,000?100,000
[1]
|
---|
Moldova
| 4,000 to 15,000?20,000
[2]
[3]
|
---|
Romania
| ~1,000
|
---|
|
Hebrew
(in Israel),
Romanian
,
Russian
,
Yiddish
|
|
Judaism
|
The
history of the
Jews
in
Moldova
reaches back to the 1st century
BC
, when
Roman Jews
lived in the cities of the province of
Lower Moesia
.
Bessarabian Jews
have been living in the area for some time. Between the 4th-7th centuries
AD
, Moldova was part of an important trading route between
Asia
and
Europe
, and bordered the
Khazar Khaganate
, where
Judaism
was the state religion.
[4]
Prior to the
Second World War
, violent antisemitic movements across the
Bessarabian region
badly affected the region's Jewish population. In the 1930s and '40s, under the Romanian governments of
Octavian Goga
and
Ion Antonescu
, government-directed pogroms and mass deportations led to the concentration and extermination of Jewish citizens followed, leading to the extermination of between 45,000-60,000 Jews across Bessarabia.
[5]
[6]
The total number of
Romanian
and
Ukrainian Jews
who perished in territories under Romanian administration is between 280,000 and 380,000.
[5]
Today, the Jewish community in Moldova has been revived and are primarily represented by the Jewish Community of the Republic of Moldova (JCM) organisation. The group was registered in its current form in 1997, but its roots stretch back to founding of the Union of Jewish Communities in Bessarabia on 3 November 1935.
[7]
The group estimate that the total population of Moldovan Jews in 2022 to be approx. 20,000.
[8]
The
World Jewish Congress
(of which the JCM is an affiliate member) states that there has been "a widespread development of a national self-consciousness and a return to their roots by the Jews of Moldova, with
Jewish identity
and
culture
being celebrated in a number of forms".
[9]
Diplomatic relations with
Israel
began in 1992 and the
Israeli consulate
is located in the capital city,
Chi?in?u
. Since 2014, Moldova has been an observer country to the
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
, and since 2019 has adopted the IHRA
Working Definition of Antisemitism
for official use. The Museum of Jewish History was opened in
Orhei
on 30 January 2023.
[10]
There is one Jewish kindergarten in Chi?in?u, two Jewish schools and a municipal Jewish library named after
Itzik Manger
. A Jewish newspaper, Nash Golos ("Our Voice"), is published twice a month by the Jewish Community of the Republic of Moldova.
[9]
There is a Jewish Cultural Center in Chi?in?u, as well as
seven synagogues
, with synagogues also present in
Orhei
,
Soroca
, and
Tiraspol
, and "Memorials to the Kishinev ghetto, to the Victims of Fascism, to the Victims of
Chi?in?u Pogrom
are sites for remembrance in Chi?in?u."
[9]
Other organisations include
Chabad Lubavitch Moldova
and
Kedem
.
The
constitution of Moldova
guarantees the right to freedom of religion and the total separation of church and state, while noting the "exceptional importance" of Orthodox Christianity.
[8]
Holocaust denial
and insulting the memory of the
Holocaust
are criminal offences.
[8]
The "production, sale, distribution, or public use of
fascist
,
racist
, or
xenophobic
symbols or ideology, unless used for art, science, or education. The law prohibits the promotion of xenophobia, racism, fascism, and hatred and violence on ethnic, racial, or religious grounds."
[8]
Since 2015, 27 January is annually recognised as the National Holocaust Remembrance Day.
[9]
In 2016, the Moldovan parliament endorsed the
Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania
by
Elie Wiesel
.
Discrimination
on the basis of religious affiliation is illegal, and
incitement to religious and ethnic hatred
was made illegal in May 2022.
[8]
Bessarabian Jews
[
edit
]
Early history
[
edit
]
- 1889: There were 180,918 Jews of a total population of 1,628,867 in Bessarabia.
- 1897: The Jewish population had grown to 225,637 of a total of 1,936,392.
[11]
- 1903:
Chi?in?u
(Kishinev) in
Russian
Bessarabia had a Jewish population of 50,000, or 46%, out of a total of approximately 110,000. While almost non-existent in the countryside, Jews had been present in all major towns since the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. Jewish life flourished with 16
Jewish schools
and over 2,000 pupils in Chi?in?u alone.
- 19 - 21 April 1903: The
Kishinev pogrom
occurs.
- 1920: The Jewish population had grown to approximately 267,000.
- 1930: Romanian census registers 270,000 Jews.
[12]
Kishinev pogrom
[
edit
]
In 1903, a young
Christian
Russian boy, Mikhail Rybachenko, was found murdered in the town of
Dub?sari
(Dubossary), 37 km northeast of Chi?in?u. A
Russian language
antisemitic
newspaper "Bessarabian" began to disseminate rumors about the
murder being part of a Jewish ritual
. This newspaper had been publishing rumors about the Jews that brought ruin to the local Jewish population. As for the murder, it reported that the victim visited the shop of a Jewish tobacconist before his disappearance.
[13]
Other anti-Semitic newspapers called for a pogrom.
[14]
Although the official investigation had determined the lack of any ritualism in the murder and eventually discovered that the boy had been killed by a relative (who was later found), the unrest caused by these and other rumors had resulted in a major
pogrom
during the
Easter
holidays. The pogrom lasted for three days, without the intervention of the police. Forty seven (some say 49) Jews were killed, 92 severely wounded, 500 slightly wounded and over 700 houses destroyed.
[15]
Many of the younger Jews, including
Mendel Portugali
, made an effort to defend the community. There was outcry from prominent Russian writers
Leo Tolstoy
and
Maksim Gorky
, as well as protests from Jews and non-Jews in Europe and the
United States
.
Haim Nachman Bialik
wrote about the pogrom in his poem, "The City of Slaughter", and
Vladimir Korolenko
in his book,
House No. 13
.
[16]
The Holocaust
[
edit
]
Up to two-thirds of Bessarabian Jews fled before the retreat of the Soviet troops. 110,033 people from Bessarabia and Bukovina (the latter included at the time the counties of Cern?u?i, Storojine?, R?d?u?i, Suceava, Campulung, and Dorohoi ? approximately 100,000 Jews) ? all except a small minority of the Jews that did not flee in 1941 ? were deported to the
Transnistria Governorate
, a region which was under Romanian military control during 1941?44.
- 1941: The
Einsatzkommandos
,
German
mobile killing units drawn from the
Nazi
-
Schutzstaffel
(SS) and commanded by
Otto Ohlendorf
entered Bessarabia. They were instrumental in the massacre of many Jews in Bessarabia, who did not flee in face of the German advancement.
- 8 July 1941:
Ion Antonescu
, Romania's ruler at the time, made a declaration in front of the Ministers' Council:
- ... With the risk of not being understood by some traditionalists which may be among you, I am in favour of the
forced migration
of the entire Jew element from Bessarabia and
Bukovina
, which must be thrown over the border. Also, I am in favor of the forced migration of the
Ukrainian
element, which does not belong here at this time. I don't care if we appear in history as
barbarians
. The
Roman Empire
has made a series of barbaric acts from a contemporary point of view and, still, was the greatest political settlement. There has never been a more suitable moment. If necessary, shoot with the machine gun.
[17]
The killing squads of
Einsatzgruppe D
, together with special non-military units attached to the German
Wehrmacht
and the
Romanian army
were involved in many massacres in Bessarabia (over 10,000 in a single month of war, in June?July 1941), while deporting other thousands to Transnistria. From 1941 to 1942, those Jews deported to territories to distant regions of USSR and war zones on orders of Marshal Antonescu reached 56,089.
[18]
A huge number of this population perished during the occupation of those territories.
[18]
In Nazi ghettos organized in several towns, as well as in Nazi concentration camps (there was also a comparable number of Jews from Transnistria in those camps) many people died from starvation or bad sanitation, or were shot by special Nazi units right before the arrival of Soviet troops in 1944. The Romanian military administration of Transnistria kept very poor records of the people in the ghettos and camps. The only exact number found in Romanian sources is 59,392 died in the ghettos and camps from the moment those were open until mid-1943
[19]
This number includes all internees regardless of their origin, but does not include those that perished on the way to the camps, those that perished between mid-1943 and spring 1944, as well as those that perished in the immediate aftermath of the Romanian army's occupation of Transnistria (see for example the
Odessa massacre
).
The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
[
edit
]
After World War II, the number of Jews in
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
increased significantly, peaking at 98,001 in 1970.
[20]
During the 1970s Soviet Union aliyah and immigration to the West and especially in the late 1980s, many of them emigrated to Israel, United States, Canada and some to Australia and Western Europe. The last
Soviet census of 1989
registered 65,672 Jews in the Soviet Republic.
[21]
Contemporary situation
[
edit
]
As of 2014, there are an estimated 15,000 Jews in Moldova, including over 10,000 in Chi?in?u alone. At the same time, there are 75,492 Moldovan Jews living in Israel, and also small communities in other parts of the world, such as Russia, the US, the UK, Germany, Romania, Australia, etc.
Since 2015, 27 January is annually recognised as the National Holocaust Remembrance Day.
[9]
In 2016, the Moldovan parliament endorsed the
Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania
by
Elie Wiesel
.
Discrimination
on the basis of religious affiliation is illegal, and
incitement to religious and ethnic hatred
was made illegal in May 2022.
[8]
However, antisemitism is still commonplace; several churches and political organisations still refer to antisemitic rhetoric. In addition, far-right and neo-Nazi groups are active in the country. Because religion was heavily restricted in Soviet times, it is likely that there are many more people of ethnic Jewish heritage in Moldova than those who practice the religion, but many simply may not know about it.
Notable figures
[
edit
]
- Anton Rubinstein
(1829-1894). Composer, pianist, conductor.
- Yehuda Leib Tsirelson
(1859-1941).
Rabbi
, writer.
- Meir Dizengoff
(1861-1936). First mayor of
Tel Aviv
,
Israel
.
- Shmuel Cohen
(1870-1940).
Composer
of Israel's national anthem '
Hatikvah
'.
- Anna Tumarkin
(1875-1951).
Philosopher
and
psychologist
.
- Lev Berg
(1876-1950).
Icthyologist
,
geographer
, and
zoologist
.
- Lewis Milestone
(1895-1980). Film director, first winner of two Academy Awards.
- Dovid Knut
(1900-1955).
Poet
and member of the
French Resistance
.
- Lazar Dubinovschi
(1910-1982), sculptor.
- Liviu Deleanu
(1911-1967). Poet and writer, author of the
MSSR
anthem.
- Yaakov Yardaur
(1912-1997),
Lehi
militant
- Izi Diamond
(1920-1988).
Screenwriter
,
Oscar Award
-winner.
- Isidor Burdin
[
ru
]
(1914-1999). Conductor and composer, instrumental in the revitalization of folk
music in Moldova
.
- Saul Perlmutter
(1959?present).
Astrophysicist
,
Nobel Prize winner
.
- Marina Tauber
(1986-present).
Politician
, mayor of Jora de Mijloc, and member of parliament.
- Ilan Shor
(1987-present).
Politician
, mayor of Orhei, and founder of ?or, a Moldovan political party.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Ambasada Republicii Moldova in Statul Israel"
.
israel.mfa.md
. Archived from
the original
on 30 March 2018
. Retrieved
15 December
2015
.
- ^
"The Jewish Virtual World?Moldova"
.
Jewish Virtual Library
. Retrieved
14 December
2015
.
- ^
"Introduction and History of the Jews in Moldova"
.
- ^
"120 years anniversary of the Kishinev (Chisinau) Pogrom, 1903"
.
City Council of Chi?in?u ? 120 years anniversary of the Kishinev (Chisinau) Pogrom, 1903
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Final Report of the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania"
(PDF)
.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
. 11 November 2004
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
Solash, Richard (8 April 2012).
"Archive Reveals New Details of Holocaust in Moldova"
.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
"About Us ? JCM"
.
Jewish Community of the Republic of Moldova
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"2022 Report on International Religious Freedom: Moldova"
.
United States Department of State
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Community in Moldova (Republic of) ? World Jewish Congress"
.
World Jewish Congress
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
"Opening of Orhei Jewish Museum ? JCM"
.
Jewish Community of the Republic of Moldova
. 1 February 2023
. Retrieved
4 August
2023
.
- ^
Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку, губерниям и областям. Бессарабская губерния
Archived
30 May 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
.
(in Russian)
- ^
Popula?ia pe Neamuri
(in Romanian). Institutul Central de Statistic?. pp. XXIV
. Retrieved
20 July
2008
.
- ^
Cohen, Richard; Cohen, Richard M. (2014).
Israel: Can it Survive?
. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. pp. 36?37.
ISBN
978-1-4165-7568-9
.
- ^
Rossner, Rena (25 September 2018).
The Sisters of the Winter Wood
. Orbit.
ISBN
978-0-316-48329-2
.
- ^
Judge, Edward H. (1995).
Easter in Kishinev: Anatomy of a Pogrom
. NYU Press. pp. 42?47.
ISBN
0814742238
.
- ^
"The Jewish Community of Kishinev"
. The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot. Archived from
the original
on 24 June 2018
. Retrieved
24 June
2018
.
- ^
Quote from "The Stenograms of the Ministers' Council, Ion Antonescu's Government", vol. IV, July?September 1941 period, Bucharest, year 2000, page 57 (
Stenogramele ?edin?elor Consiliului de Mini?tri, Guvernarea Ion Antonescu
, vol. IV, perioada iulie-septembrie 1941, Bucure?ti, anul 2000, pagina 57.)
- ^
a
b
Brezianu, Andrei; Spanu, Vlad (2007).
Historical Dictionary of Moldova
. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 196.
ISBN
978-0-8108-6446-7
.
- ^
Maresal Ion Antonescu
.
(in Romanian)
- ^
Всесоюзная перепись населения 1970 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР
(in Russian)
- ^
Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года. Национальный состав населения по республикам СССР.
Archived
25 January 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
(in Russian)
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Weiner, Miriam; Ukrainian State Archives (in cooperation with); Moldovan National Archives (in cooperation with) (1999).
Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories
. Secaucus, NJ: Miriam Weiner Routes to Roots Foundation.
ISBN
978-0-96-565081-6
.
OCLC
607423469
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Sovereign states
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States with limited
recognition
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Dependencies and
other entities
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