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A small moving monograph on the life and destruction of the Jews of Bessarbia. Hurban Yehudei Bessarabia (destruction of the Jews of Bessarbia) is comprised of essays by different authors on the Jews of this region. The title page, in black, has picture of a boot with a swastika stepping in the title, given in red. Bessarbia is located between the rivers Prut and Dniester. It has passed from Ottoman rule to Russia 1812–1918; became part of Rumania from 1918–40 and was returned to Russia 1940, who ruled when the Germans invaded. The larger (central) part is in Moldova; the extreme northern and southern sections in the Ukraine
After the entry of the Red Army into Bessarabia on June 28, 1940, life for Jews in Bessarabia was gradually brought in line with the general pattern of Jewish existence under the Soviet regime. On June 13, 1941, a comprehensive "purge" was carried out throughout the region. Thousands of Jews - communal leaders, active members of the Zionist movement, businessmen, and persons suspected of disloyalty to the regime - were arrested and deported to internment camps or exiled to Siberia.
The first Soviet occupation of the area lasted from 1940 until the beginning of hostilities between Germany and Russia in June of the following year. Rumania was an ally of Germany. Bessarabia was reconquered by German and Rumanian troops by July 23, 1941, and remained under Rumanian authority until August 1944, when it was reoccupied by the Russians. Central and northern Bessarabia, as well as a narrow strip on the west side of the Dniester, became the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic with the capital in Kishinev. When Bessarabia was reoccupied by the Soviets, only a few Jews were still alive. The great majority had been massacred by the Einsatzkommandos and by the German and Rumanian soldiers, while others were deported to Transnistria, where more than half of them died. Many of the deported Jews preferred to slip back into Rumania, and from there to leave for Israel. |
