Botosani, Romania

other names: Botoschan (Ger), Botoszany (Pol), Botoshani (Rus,Ukr),  Botuschani.  Location 47°45' / 26°40'

Botosani early 1900s

Botosani 2008

Take a Tour 

Old Botosani

New Botosani

Botosani History

Botosani is a major city in northeast Romania and the capital of Botosani Judet (county). Early Jewish population is known from the 16th/17th centuries. Over the next few hundred years Jews leaving the Russian Empire, Galicia, and Germany headed south toward northern Romania (Moldovia and Bukovina). Jewish population growth was very rapid throughout the 19th century. Botosani Judet  and Dorohoi Judet became major Jewish centers along with Jassy. Dorohoi merged with Botosani after WW2.  

Elias Schwarzfeld, writer and Romanian Jewish historian from Jassy, wrote two important articles which appeared in the American Jewish Yearbook, 1901-02:

The Jews of Roumania - From the Earliest Times to the Present Day and Situation of the Jews in Roumania - Since the Treaty of Berlin (1878)

Radu B. Rosetti (a.k.a. Verax) wrote his own view of how the Jews came to Romania in Romania and the Jews, 1904. This is a very detailed and interesting history but it is very worthwhile to preface this by reading the Introduction and especially page VII.

A key turning point in Jewish life in Romania occured in 1866 with laws that  denied them citizenship, schooling, and economic opportunity. In 1878 the Congress of Berlin attempted to legislate basic rights for religious and other minorities, however it soon became apparent that nothing had changed for Jews in Romania. At the same time a new era of economic and religious opportunity opened across the Atlantic. It was not surprising that from 1890 to 1910 about 1/3 of the Romanian Jewish population emigrated with the majority to the United States [Samuel Joseph, 1914] and [David Vital 1999]. 

A large community remained up through the Holocaust and tried to regroup after WW2. However, the communist regime placed numerous restrictions on Jews including measures such as closing schools, outlawing all Jewish organizations and restricting occupations/professions that were common to Jews.  This time the new state of Israel was relatively close and a very friendly option. At first Jewish families slowly left for Israel until eventually a critical mass was achieved and the emigration rate increased significantly. The following table tells the story:

Population numbers by ethnicity from census reports for the period 1930-2002,   Romanian National Institute for Statistics.

Botosani Links

Botosani Research projects

In 2008 a small group of dedicated Botosani descendants/researchers began a project to photograph and develop computer indexes for all Jewish civil records and  registers (Mitrices) located at the Botosani branch of the Romanian State Archives. The bulk of records are from Botosani city but we will also add major towns with significant Jewish populations. Inaddition, early fiscal/census records for Botosani (catagrafie and condica) are available at the Iasi and Bucharest Archives. Iasi was the capital of historic Moldavia from 1564 to 1859 and holds many of those records.

Major milestones of the project include:

Details of the project were published in Avotaynu - The International Review of Jewish Genealogy [Vol 27-2, Summer 2011, 11-13].

HOW YOU CAN HELP 

Help transcribe. We especially need people who are somewhat familiar   with the Romanian language and Jewish names.   

Help us photograph and acquire new records. In order to keep costs low we hire local photographers and do all transcribing by unpaid volunteers. We need to pay for the photographer,  archive fees, and  small administrative costs. All money received go directly to acquiring records. Make contributions for your specific towns to help us continue these projects.    For more information send email to: recsbot@gmail.com or the webmaster.

 Romania and Border Countries

Additional Maps

Google Maps: Satellite View of Botosani