In the 19th century, Kishinev was the economic and cultural capital of Russian Bessarabia By mid-century, Jews made up almost half the population, the community supporting a synagogue, a Jewish hospital, and numerous schools. The Haskelah, Hasidic, Zionist, and revolutionary movements contributed to its lively intellectual ferment.
In April 1903 and October 1905, two anti-Jewish riots took place that would forever link Kishinev with the word "pogrom." The first was preceded by a series of vicious newspaper articles accusing Jews of a lengthy series of crimes. A violent mob attacked the community, killing 49 people, maiming 586, and destroying 1,350 Jewish houses and 588 shops. In the second pogrom, 19 Jews were murdered and 56 wounded.
The pogroms focused worldwide attention on the persecution of Jews in Russia, and started a major wave of emigration.
Following the German-Romanian occupation of Bessarabia in July 1941, thousands of Jews were killed in mass shootings, deportations, ghettos and concentration camps. The Jewish community of Kishinev was nearly annihilated.
Jewish religious and cultural life has slowly begun to rebuild in modern Chisinau. But in 1950, the writers of this book had no way of knowing it would. In these pages, they tried to recreate the Jewish community they had known.