Nadene Goldfoot
The news shown on YouTube just had a segment showing relatives of a family in Moldova who had fled to them from Ukraine. It's one of the poorest spots in eastern Europe. For a short time in the 1990s, at the founding of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the name of the current Republic of Moldova was also spelled Moldavia. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country began to use the Romanian name, Moldova.
It's a Romanian province. Jewish traders from Poland went to Moldavia in 1349. Jews from Poland and Germany began arriving in the early 16th century. Heavy taxes and other forms of persecution in 1574 were the prelude in their expulsion 5 years later in 1579. In 1612, Jews were permitted to return.
In 1648, Jews arrived from Poland and the Ukraine, fleeing the Chmielnicki horrors. Cossacks massacred many Jews in Moldavi in 1648 and 1652.
The Blood Libel appeared in Moldavia for the 1st time at Neamtz in 1710. In the 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of Jews arrived at the invitation of the boyars, and were granted exemption from taxes for a number of years, and free land for their institutions. During this period, they founded 63 towns and villages.
From 1859, Moldavia, as part of the new principality of Romania, shared the vicious anti-Semitic atmosphere prevailing till the end of WWI of 1917. In 1889, there were 200,000 Jews in Moldavia, in most cities of which the Jews then constituted at least 1/3 of the population.
In 1900, 4,000 Jews walked from Berlad to Hamburg where they sailed for the United States. Before WWII, there were 165,000 Jews in Moldavia with important centers at Iasi (Jassy), Botosani, Dorohoi, Galati, and Roman.
After WWI of 1917, Moldavia became a part of Greater Romania, and it reverted to Russian control in 1940–41 and again after World War II, when it was joined to a strip of formerly Ukrainian territory, the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, on the left bank of the Dniester River (Moldovan: Nistru) to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
By 1970, its Jewish population was officially put at 98,072 but subsequent emigration reduced this figure considerably.
The former Bessarabia is now the Moldavian Republic and was formerly part of the USSR with a Jewish population of 80,127 in 1989.
Bessarabia Governorate was a part of the Russian Empire in 1812–1917. Initially known as Bessarabia Oblast and, following 1871, a governorate (Russian: губе́рния, romanized: guberniya), it included the eastern part of the Principality of Moldavia along with the neighboring Ottoman-ruled territories annexed by Russia by the Treaty of Bucharest following the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812).
Let me get this straight. Russia took over Ottoman Empire land and part of Moldavia formerly known as Bessarabia Oblast in a treaty after a Russian-Turkey War now known as Republic of Moldova. I'm just thinking of all the shared genes that could have been going on during this period with some of the people involved which includes Jews.
The economic transition was impeded by the fact that much of Moldovan industry was located in the separatist region of Transdniestria, which had proclaimed independence from Moldova in 1990, resulting in a brief civil war. Although a cease-fire was declared in 1992, relations remained tense between Moldova and Transdniestria, and Russian troops are still present in the security zone. Transdniestria is also the source of much of Moldova’s electricity, which has been cut off at various times. Thus, Moldova’s road to nationhood has remained bumpy—from the first efforts at nation-building to the country’s pursuit of peace and prosperity in the 21st century.
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova#:~:text=For%20a%20short%20time%20in,use%20the%20Romanian%20name%2C%20Moldova.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessarabia_Governorate
https://www.britannica.com/place/Moldova
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