The jews of bessarabia the holocaust period

 

 

when they stepped into mine fields and others who tried to turn back were shot by 

Romanian soldiers. 

Those Jews who originated from Bessarabia, but resided for many years in Romania 

and did not wish to return, were accused of being Communists and were threatened 

with expulsion to Transnistria.  The citizenship of those who did wish to return to 

Bessarabia after June 28 was cancelled. 

587 Jews who wished to return to Bessarabia were transported to Transnistria at the 

end of 1942 and were shot by Germans near Rashtadt. 

 

THE JEWS OF BESSARABIA UNDER SOVIET RULE (1940-1941) 

THE ANNEXATION 

On June 28, 1940 units of the Red Army entered Bessarabia, as previously described.  

Soon a large part of Bessarabia was annexed as a Republic of the Soviet Union. 

This fertile area encompassing 44 500 sq.m in the northeastern part of the Romanian 

kingdom, between the Prut River and the Dniester, was one of the last European areas 

to be annexed by the Soviet Union during WWII.  At the time the population of 

Bessarabia was about 3,000,000 people including about 206 938 Jews (7.2%). 

It can be assumed that the Sovietisation process of Bessarabia (and of northern 

Bucovina) was based on lessons learned during the takeover of the Baltic countries two 

weeks earlier and former Polish areas (western Belarus and Ukraine), 250 days earlier.  

The Jews of Bessarabia had some knowledge of what had occurred in the parts 

annexed previously- either from press publications or from refugees who escaped.  At 

the beginning, many factory and property owners as well as community leaders, tried 

not to remain under Soviet rule.  However, not enough is known about their efforts.  

Before the Red Army entered Bessarabia and Bucovina there was much discussion –in 

youth and Zionist circles- about what was coming with the annexation in light of what 

happened in Poland.  

---

 

 

Bessarabia was one of the last areas to be annexed and there were still some 

interesting events during the Sovietisation process which touched the lives of the Jews.  

Firstly, the northern area including Khotin and its villages, the southern area including 

Akkerman (Cetatea Alba) and its villages were annexed to Ukraine.  The remaining 

central area (Kishinev) went to the Moldovan Republic across the Dniester.  This plastic 

surgery resulted in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova with Kishinev as its capitol.  

In this manner many Jewish families could no longer be in touch with each other. 

As a result of the repatriation agreement between the Soviet Union and Romania and 

due to illegal border crossings, ideology or family reunions, many Jews arrived in 

Bessarabia from other Romanian areas in the summer of 1940.  However, hundreds of 

Jews born in Bessarabia who approached the Romanian and Soviet authorities were 

refused entry.  A small number of Jews who were stuck in Bessarabia managed to 

escape.  Some were caught, arrested and exiled deep into the Soviet Union.  Others 

escaped west across the Prut River.  These were people of means who had good 

contacts with the Romanian authorities and they had good reason to fear the new 

authorities.  Although there was an interest in family reunions, many Jews from 

Bessarabia understood that they were unwanted in Romania.  In addition, there were 

no proper ways to travel since the Romanians used any wagons, horses and oxen 

available to move government property out of Bessarabia. 

The general uncertainty about the future was also supplemented by fog surrounding 

the Soviet ultimatum.  There was indication that the Soviets gave at least 48 hours for 

the retreat from Bessarabia, but some units of the Red Army arrived in Kishinev on June 

29.  For this reason the Jews really hardly had any time to make a decision about 

leaving. 

During the annexation of Bessarabia by the Soviet Union there were many instances of 

attacks by the retreating Romanian soldiers.  Actually, few Jews suffered from these 

attacks since they also joined in attacks against the Romanian militia and soldiers.  On 

the other side of the border attacks and pogroms against Jews were starting and some 

people from Bessarabia were hurt. 

In addition to the story of the retreat, there should also be a discussion of the political 

reality existing in Romania since the anti-Semitic campaign in 1938 of the Goga-Kuza 

---

 

 

government.  Many Jews in Bessarabia had suffered from it.  The new citizenship law 

affected them when they had to prove their eligibility.  They were always under the 

threat of expulsion or extra taxes.  During this time of fear and search for proof many 

of the merchants and free professionals lost their livelihood.  Others were pressed to 

pay more taxes and suffered as a result.  As well, there was a systematic push to 

eliminate all cultural and public Jewish institutions.  Many of these closed or had to 

change their plans and/or titles.  The only daily Jewish newspaper in all of Bessarabia, 

“Our time”, also closed.  The united party of Zeirei Zion and Poalei Zion (operating 

under the new name of “Building Our Land”) did publish some issues from time to 

time.  In essence, the Jews of Bessarabia at that time and as the Red Army entered, 

remained without any newspaper.  There was bitterness, disappointment and a lack of 

purpose among the leadership, especially in Zionist circles when they discovered that it 

would not easily be possible to move activists to Bucharest and then to Eretz Israel. 

It is no wonder that in this atmosphere the influence of Communism grew especially 

among the younger Jews.  Some of them who were left-leaning attempted to cross the 

Dniester (with some success).  Even among the Zionist youth groups, especially 

Hashomer Hatzair, there was a switch to the Communist crowd.  Even ordinary people, 

as well as some merchants and free professionals, felt an affinity with the Soviets.  

Many Jews in Eastern Europe, as in Bessarabia, wished to cast their lot with the great 

Soviet state fearing a German invasion.  The youth groups, Zionist and politically 

aware, still encouraged the preparatory kibbutzim, but they were cognizant of a 

possible need to go underground in case the Red Army was in charge.  

The entrance of the Red Army in Bessarabia found the Jews in an unstable and 

uncertain position from an organizational point of view.  It seems that aside from the 

difficult times, many of the Jews of Bessarabia were not really surprised by events. 

Little is known about the fate of the Jews and how they managed in the year that 

passed between the arrival of the Red Army and its retreat under German pressure.  

The next three chapters discuss three paths in the lives of the Jews of Bessarabia 

during that year:  civil and political, economic and social and cultural. 

CIVIC AND POLITICAL PATHS 

---