Moldovan Jewish Life after WWII

Note: this article is the extract from the one published in .jewishvirtuallibrary.org on 2012

by Ariel Scheib

During WWII, the Jewish community of Kishinev was nearly annihilated, with the Nazis murdering 53,000 out of the 65,000 inhabitants of the city.

While many Moldavians are believed to have collaborated with their German and Romanian occupiers (Romania joined the Axis powers in late-1940), Israel has recognized 53 Moldavians as “Righteous Among the Nations” for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust.

In August 1944, the Russians reoccupied the region. This land became the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic with the capital in Kishinev.

Following the Holocaust, much of the Jewish community of Moldova met with increasing hardships, were forbidden to practice many Jewish traditions, under Communism.

In 1961, the Jews were forbidden by the government from celebrating Bar/Bat mitzvahs and, in 1964, all synagogues were closed except for one in Kishinev.

In 1992, Moldova was struck with a civil war which left the country divided. In settling the conflict, Moldova was partitioned into the Republic of Moldova and the Republic of Transnistria.

Because of this conflict, much of the Jewish community was evacuated from the area by the Moscow and Israeli Federation of Jewish Organizations and Communities (Va’ad).

Since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, more than 42,000 Moldovan Jews have immigrated to Israel

Following the fall of Communism, Jewish life in Moldova began to flourish again with the emerging democratic society.

You can read the part of the article concerning modern Jewish Life in Kishinev here