CHISINAU (Kishinev. Chişinău. Keshenev. Kischinew, Kyshyniv, Kiszyniów, Kišiněv Keshinov, Khisinau, Kishinëv, Kishinef, Kiscinev,, | Moldova, inc. Transnistria Region

Alternative names: Alternate names: Kishinev [Rus], Chişinău [Rom], Keshenev, קעשענעוו [Yid], Kischinew [Ger], Kyshyniv [Ukr],Kiszyniów [Pol], Kišiněv [Cz], Kişinev [Turk], Keshinov, Khisinau, Kishinëv, Kishinef, Kiscinev, Russian: Кишинёв. Moldovan: Кишинэ, Yukrainian: Кишинів in Kishinev Raion at 47°00' 28°51. Capital of the Republic of Moldova.

Jews owned a score of factories employing thousands of Jewish workers in this flourishing 18th century commercial and industrial Jewish center on the trade route from Iasi to Bendery and the Crimea and had 6 Jewish schools with 2,100 students, and 70 synagogues. The town was under Turkish sovereignty and Russian rule. The name Kishinev means a spring, but evokes Easter Sunday 1903 when 49 Jews were massacred by frenzied mobs. See 1903 Pogrom: Triggered by the murder of a boy in the nearby town of Dubossary, anti-Semitic newspapers accused Jews of the crime for a ritual purpose. 49 people were killed, over 500 injured, and 1,500 Jewish houses and shops were plundered. Before World War II, 77 synagogues and about 70,000 Jews existed in Kishinev. 53,000 perished during the Holocaust. Nazis completed the devastation of the Jewish community, annihilating 53,000 of the 65,000 Jewish inhabitants of the city. Communism suppressed religion when in 1961, bar mitzvahs were forbidden; in 1964, all synagogues were closed, except the one used today; Jews were harassed and imprisoned on trumped up charges. Today, a Holocaust memorial is prominently located near the national government offices in Chisinau.

Jewish community information and photos.

Jewish community of Kishinev and Moldova website.

Currently, as many as 15,000 Jews and Jewish family members reside in Kishinev. Kishinev Jacobs Jewish Campus in Kishinev united key community Jewish organizations under one roof in September 2005. Kishinev Jacobs Jewish Campus stands on the site of the Woodcutters' Synagogue built in 1830's. Under Soviet rule, the building held offices, a chemical laboratory and garages. History of Kishinev [February 2014]

Reference:

Goberman, David. Carved Memories: Heritage in Stone from the Russian Jewish Pale. NY: Rizzoli, 2000.
Yizkors:Yehudei Kishinev (Tel Aviv, 1950 and )Kishinov ha-Yehudit : 'ir úva-em be-Shabeshta. 'Uvdot ve-ta'arikhim le-divred yameha shel ha-'ir Kishinov be-Beserabyah, agav biúkoret 'al ha-sefer 'Yehude Kishinov' le-Yitshak Korn (Tel Aviv, 1950/51
"The Pogrom of Kishinev" in the Encyclopedia Judaica quoted on the Dokumentations-Archiv für jüdische Kultur und Geschichte Web site.

CEMETERY:

Str. Milano Cemetery: photos. Located on flat land with a continuous masonry wall and a gate that locks, the 1,000,000 sq. m.cemetery has 23,430 graves. The oldest tombstone dates from the 19th century. Welfare fund "Dor le Dor" restored some of the cemetery and pays the caretaker. Contact: Tuev P. (+373-794)15654. Many tombstones are toppled and broken. A Holocaust memorial was desecrated in 1999. During Passover 2002, two teenagers destroyed almost fifty tombstones. The police arrested them, but claimed that their crime was not anti-Semitic. After construction in a Chisinau suburb revealed a mass grave from the Holocaust, the community alerted the government, which halted the construction and erected a memorial. In April 2003, President Voronin unveiled a monument commemorating the Chisinau pogrom on its 100th anniversary. Voronin has condemned anti-Semitism in speeches to Jewish audiences. [March 2009]

Heavy damage in Moldovan Cemetery Blamed on Loggers 5 April 2013 - Unlicensed loggers may be to blame for damage to a Jewish cemetery in the capital, Chisinau. Unidentified individuals broke into Chisinau's Metropolitan Jewish Cemetery and caused "serious damage" to graves. Russia's Jewish News Agency reported dozens of headstones and graves were destroyed in what appeared to be the work of unlicensed loggers who had felled dozens of healthy trees. Falling timber apparently smashed some headstones. The paths are still blocked by debris and fallen branches. Read the original article here. [Apr 2014]

Chisinau to restore Jewish cemetery destroyed in World War II | Jewish Telegraphic Agency [July 2015]

1979-1988. Part of the project is done, and sent to JOWBR at JewishGen (more than 3000 records.) This is one of the cemeteries in Kishinev (Doyna) with Jewish graves. Thanks to Terry Lasky, who translated 3227 records. Please see detailed information about the cemetery with photos, and the project at KishinevDoynaDetails. ]Sep 2015]

[UPDATE] Photos of Milano St. Cemetery by Charles Burns [November 2017]

Doyna Cemetery (St. Lazar)

Kishinev-Doyna Cemetery project needs Russian language volunteers for checking and correcting 10,000 to 11,000 automatic translation digitized records with the matzevot photo. Next project will be photographing and digitizing the main Kishinev Jewish cemetery. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Bessarabia SIG leader. [Feb 2014]

indexing and photographing 9630 records were added to JOcaprestiWBR with 9333 photos. There is a part to be done with about 1000-1500 graves which are located in non-Jewish sectors of the cemetery. Please see the overview, maps, phtographs at the Kishinev Doyna 2014 Cemetery Report 10 photos from unknown graves. [Sep 2015]

Photos courtesy This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. [July 2014]