Bessarabian Jews
This article is a brief outline of the history of the
Bessarabian Jews .
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1889: There were 180,918 Jews of a total population of 1,628,867 in Bessarabia.
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1897: The Jewish population had grown to 225,637 of a total of 1,936,392
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1903:
Kishinev in
Russian Bessarabia had a Jewish population of 50,000, or 46%, of a total of about 110,000 in the city. 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 Chişinău alone.
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February 16,
1903:
Kishinev pogrom.
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1920: The Jewish population had grown to 267,000.
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1941: The
Einsatzkommandos,
German mobile killing units drawn from the
Nazi 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. In 1941 up to 75,000 Jews from Bessarabia, northern
Bukovina and present-day districts of
Suceava and
Botoşani in
Romania were deported to
Transnistria, where they were locked in ghettos under Romanian control. Under 20% of these people survived, many have died of poor conditions, and many have been killed by the retreating German mobile units in 1944.
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July 8,
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. (This quote can be found in "The Stenograms of the Ministers' Council, Ion Antonescu's Government", vol. IV, July-September 1941 period, Bucharest, year 2000, page 57) (
Stenogramele şedinţelor Consiliului de Miniştri, Guvernarea Ion Antonescu, vol. IV, perioada iulie-septembrie 1941, Bucureşti, anul 2000, pagina 57).
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1993: By the end of this year, there were an estimated 15,000 Jews in the
Republic of Moldova. 2,173 Jews immigrated to
Israel. There were two Jewish periodical publications, both published in Kishinev (Chişinău). The one most widely circulated was
Nash golos —
Undzer kol ("Our Voice"), in
Yiddish and
Russian.
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Kishinev pogrom*
Article about Bessarabia in the Jewish Encyclopedia
