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LEOVA
Moldova
This web site is
dedicated to the study of the Jewish History of
the town of Leova, Moldova
LOCATION:
46°29' N, 28°15' E - 100 km SW of Chisinau
(Kishinev) on the Prut River
OTHER NAMES: Leova
[Rom, Mold, Yid], леово
(Leovo) [Rus], Leowa [Ger], Leowo [Pol], Leva,
Levo
Children bundled
up in winter clothing pose on a horse-drawn
cart with a man near a wooden fence (Leova,
1920)
(Written in Yiddish) "This is how Shaye used to
bring the children to kindergarten."
Photo provided by YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research, New York, NY. All rights
reserved.
LEOVA MAPS
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Click on
Map to Enlarge
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Leova is located at
the edge of the former Soviet Union in
what is now the Republic of Moldova.
Before 1918 this region was part of
Czarist Russia, but at the end of the
first World War, the region established
its independence and quickly voted to
unify with Romania. In 1939 the Germans
and Russians signed a secret agreement,
the Molotov Ribbentrop
pact, which divided up Europe
between Germany and the Soviet Union. On
August 2, 1940 the Bessarabian region of
Romania (between the Prut and the
Dniester Rivers) was annexed by the USSR
as the Moldovan Socialiist Soviet
Republic (MSSR), but this was short
lived. On June 22, 1941, the Germans
violated the Molotov Ribbentrop
agreement and invaded the Soviet Union.
At the end of the war, in 1944 the
region was again integrated into the
Soviet Union. |
It took considerable research to
reconstruct a street map of prewar Leova
(3.3 MB). Three
documents from the US National Archives
collection of captured German World War II
records, and one from the Moldovan State
Archives facilitated this effort.
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Click on
Map to Enlarge
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Aerial Surveillance
Photo of Leova - May 25, 1944 (2.5 MB) -
The markings on this photo indicate that
it was taken May 25, 1944.Though the
photo is blurry, one interesting thing
to note is the bridge over the Prut
River.
Aerial Surveillance
Photo of Leova- Sometime Between April
and August 1944 (2.2
MB) - The markings on
this photo indicate that it was taken
sometime between April and August 1944,
but noting that the bridge is no longer
standing, it is evident that this photo
was taken sometime on or after May 25,
1944. It is probable that this photos
was taken after a bombing run to assess
if the target was destroyed.
Hand drawn map of
Leova - June 6, 1941 (3 MB) - This
map was drafted by Otto Volf, a German
Jew from Leova. In 1940 Otto and
his family joined an estimated 93,000
German colonists who were evacuated from
Bessarabia to repatriation camps in
German held territory. Shortly
after the Volf family arrived at the
repatriation camp in Reid im Innkreis,
Austria, Otto was taken away from his
family and forced to draw this map.
1942
List of Real Estate Property
Confiscated by the Romanian
Authorities: Original Romanian
(1 MB) |
English Translation
- About one year after the Germans and
Romanians invaded Russia, the Romanian
administration that governed the town of
Leova, put together the following report
of how they were exploiting the real
estate properties owned by citizens
collectively defined as "evacuated". The
term "evacuated" refers not only to Jews
who were victims of the Holocaust, but
also to Leova residents of German
heritage who were voluntarily evacuated
between September and November of 1940,
and to those who were deported to
Siberia and Central Asia by the Soviet
authorities in 1940-1941. This report,
dated July 31, 1942, lists the name of
the former owners of the each real
estate property, the street address, the
name of the new tenant and the annual
rent the new tenant was paying.
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Additional Maps:
LEOVA DURING WORLD WAR II/THE
HOLOCAUST
The 1930 census, the last one completed
prior to the war, counted 2,326 Jews living in
Leova, about 1/3rd of the entire town
population. In June 1940 the Romanians handed
over Bessarabia and Bucovina to the USSR as part
of the terms of the Molotov Ribbentrop pact. As
Romanian troops left Bessarabia, soldiers
committed many atrocities in their wake, however
the Jews of Leova were unharmed. However, just a
month later the Soviets started deporting
citizens of their newly annexed territories to
Siberia, including Zionist leaders and wealthy
Jews. In June 1941 some Jews in Leova sensed war
was coming and fled east, into central Asia.
Other able bodied men joined the fight against
the Germans by enlisting in the Soviet Army.
When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on
June 22, 1941, those Jews who stayed in Leova
and hoped for the best almost all perished. Many
who weren't killed on the spot were interned in
a concentration camp near the city of Cahul.
The following documents add some more detailed
information on the fates of the Jews of Leova:
- The List of People from Leova
Persecuted by the Soviet Regime
1940-41: Original Romanian (3.4 MB) | English Translation
- During
the brief Soviet occupation of Bessarabia
between June 1940 and the beginning of the
war in June 1941 many Bessarabians were
persecuted under the Stalin
regime. This document
lists the names and sentences of
Leova citizens, both Jews and Gentiles
persecuted by the Soviets between 1940 and
1941.
- This
information is from the book Cartea
Memoriei: Catalog Al Victimelor
Totalitarismului Comunist.
Special thanks to the author, Elena
Postica, for granting permission to
republish this list.
- The
German Jews of Leova: English - As one of
the conditions of the 1939 Molotov
Ribbentrop nonaggression pact between
Germany and Russia, in late 1940 the
ethnic Germans residing in Bessarabia were
offered resettlement in Germany. Fearing
Soviet oppression, almost all (93,000)
agreed. The approximate 20 ethnic
German families residing in Leova were
apparently mostly Jewish. They too
chose to evacuate and often met with
harsh conditions when they arrived at
repatriation camps in Germany and Austria.
- Document
Concerning the Massacres of the Jewish
population of Leova Region by the Fascists: Original
Russian | English
Translation - Special thanks to Gary
Goldberg for translating this document
- The List of Jews Persecuted from
Leova in 1941: Original Russian (7.5 MB) | English Translation -
It is not
possible to get an accurate list of all
who fell victim to the Germans and
Romanians but in 1942 the Soviet Union
launched the "Extraordinary State
Commission to investigate German–Fascist
crimes on Soviet territory". The
document presented here was created by the
Extraordinary Commission from testimonies
of neighbors, witnesses, and
survivors. It lists the names
of "The Jewish population residing
in the city of Leova in 1940-41 who were
forcibly removed to an unknown destination
and did not return until now to their
former place of residence"
- The List of Jews from Leova
Interned in Cahul Camp: Original Romanian (7.5 MB) | English Translation -
Those Jews
who managed to survive the initial German
attack but were unable to avoid being
captured were handed over to the
Romanian Gendarmes who marched them
to "transit camps" . Many more died
or were killed on these "death
marches". This document, obtained
from the archive of US Holocaust Memorial
Museum, lists the names of 389 Jews,
most from Leova and surrounding villages,
who managed to make it to the Cahul
Transit Camp.
- Additional
information about Cahul Camp and a
description of conditions in
Bessarabian transit camps: Original English
(1 mb) - Pages 128-133 of "The
Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of
Jews and Gypsies Under the Antonescu
Regime, 1940-1944", by Radu Ioanid ,
Published by Ivan R. Dee Publisher, an
imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield
Publishing Group, in association with
the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, All Rights Reserved.
- Index of
Jewish Refugees in Tashkent: Introduction | List in English
- Many
people from all part of the Soviet
Union fled east, ahead of the
advancing Nazi Army and eventually ended
up in Central Asia. This
documents lists the names of over 100 Jews
from Leova who managed to reach a refugee
camps in Tashkent, the capital city of
Uzbekistan, where they endured horrible
conditions but were out of reach of the
Germans. Each entry in this list includes
a hyperlink to the original registration
card (Russian) for that individual.
- Citizens of
Leova that died during WWII while
fighting Facism: Photo of plaque and
list transcribed into English
- Others
joined or were conscripted into the Red
Army and fought against the Nazi's.
Some survived, many did not. This
monument, erected in 1970 in the Leova
town center, list the names Leova
citizens who died during World
War II while serving in the Soviet
military.
VIDEO TESTIMONIES OF HOLOCAUST
SURVIVORS FROM LEOVA
BOOKS AND ARTICLES
- Our House
in Leova: Original Yiddish (750 KB) | English Translation -
A book of the memoirs by Jacob Baltzan, who
was born in Leova in 1872 and lived there
until 1904.
- A
Town in Eastern Europe: Leova
(Bessarabia): Original French (3.7 MB) | English Translation (2.0 MB) - An
article by Michel Roblin, La Géographie
Magazine - April 1935. a publication
of Société de Géographie, Paris, France, 24
pages. Great appreciation to Heidi and
Daniella Volf for their exceptional work
translating this document.
- Encyclopedia of Jewish
Communities in Romania: Original Hebrew (100 KB) | English Translation -
A short section about Leova.
LEOVA JEWISH CEMETERY
FAMILY PHOTOS AND STORIES
PROPERTY RESTITUTION ISSUES
In
considering grounds for filing property
restitution claims, an important distinction
needs to be made between persecution by the Nazis
and Romanians in the Holocaust and
persecution by the Soviets
before and after World War II under Stalin
Unfortunately
there is currently no Moldovan
law to compensate victims of Nazi/Romanian
persecution during World War II. It is
unclear whether Romanian laws to compensate
Holocaust victims apply to victims from
Bessarabia.
Moldovan
citizens who were persecuted by the Soviet
Regime and their heirs can pursue
property restitution under Moldovan Law Nr.
1225 dated December 8, 1992 Russian | Romanian | English Translation
(Unofficial)
- See The List of People from Leova
Persecuted by the Soviet Regime 1940-41
Original
Romanian (3.4
MB) | English
Translation to determine if your
family members are officially recognized by
the Moldovan authorities as victims of
Soviet persecution.
- See also the 1942 List of Real
Estate Property Confiscated by the
Romanian Authorities Original
Romanian (1 MB)
| English
Translation to determine your family's
real estate holdings in Leova.
Unclaimed
Securities Assets - List of 28 people from
Leova who held shares in Jewish Colonial Trust
that were never claimed. Heirs can claim
these assets by clicking here
GENEALOGICAL
RESOURCES
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Please contact Joel D.
Waters for additions or comments
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Compiled by Joel D. Waters and Rennie M. Salz
Last updated March 17, 2012
Copyright 2009 Rennie M. Salz
Copyright 2010-2012 Joel D. Waters
This site is hosted at no cost by JewishGen,
Inc., the Home of Jewish Genealogy. If you
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