Jewish Community of Tiraspol
The bulk of the Jewish population settled in Bessarabia and the territory of today's Pridnestrovie after the partition of Poland in 1772-1775 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1791. Jews settled in Novorossiya in the 18th century according to the rescript of Catherine II of January 27, 1792. The Jewish settlers came from the Volyn and Podolsk provinces.
Jews appeared in Tiraspol immediately after the city was founded in 1792, and in 1795 their number was 464 people. In 1863, there were three stone synagogues and a private Jewish school in Tiraspol.
“Trade in all its forms is a special occupation of the Jewish population of the district; every Jew regards any other occupation as temporary and is engaged in it only until the first opportunity to take up trade (…) a Jewish artisan never misses an opportunity to put the money he has into circulation”
"Fruit was sold under different conditions. Jews living in the settlements of state peasants, where gardening and vegetable gardening were developed, bought several harvests. For example, three harvests over 10 years, and paid an advance of 30-50 rubles for a garden of about one dessiatine, or, say, 8 harvests over 15 years. For a garden of at least one dessiatine, consisting of apple, pear, nut, plum trees, they paid 100 rubles, with the right to an annual harvest for 12 years. For a vineyard of 1,000 bushes yielding 500-550 buckets of wine, they paid an advance of 140 rubles for a harvest of 10 years. Visiting Jews and Great Russians from Ploskoye usually bought the harvest for one year and paid more. As did, incidentally, the merchants from Tiraspol and Odessa who made a living in this area. From Tiraspol, fresh and dried fruits went far beyond the province: to Kyiv, Kharkov, Brest, Bialystok and other cities of Russia.”
According to the 1897 census
In Tiraspol district there were 240 thousand inhabitants, of which 23,811 were Jews; including in Tiraspol about 32 thousand inhabitants, among which 8,668 were Jews (27%).
At the beginning of the 20th century
Jews already made up a third of Tiraspol's population. A Jewish hospital was opened in the city. It was located at the end of Bazarnaya Street (now Sverdlova) and Pokrovskaya Street (now 25 Oktyabrya), behind Kurganny Lane (in the University area).
On the map of 1906
In Tiraspol, the street is designated as Jewish. There was a Jewish school, a club, 18 synagogues, and the rabbi was I. Zeiliger.
In 1916
At 32 Privoznaya Street, there was the Jewish Public School "Talmud Torah". In the same year, the accountant of the Tiraspol Savings and Loan Association, B.I. Lev, left his job and opened a Jewish primary school. In the same year, Reveka Markovna Zelterman opened a higher primary school in Tiraspol. She also owned a Jewish school for women.
In 1926
The population was 29.7 thousand inhabitants, including Russians - 54.8%, Jews - 29.4%, and Moldovans - 1.4%.
In 1797-1816, 105 settlements appeared on the territory of Tiraspol district, including 7 Jewish colonies.
In Tiraspol:
- In 1795, there were 15.8% Jews living there.
- In 1799, there were 465 Jews living there.
- In 1847, about 1,406 Jews;
- In 1870 (according to the census): 3,616 Jews out of 17,000 Tiraspol residents.
- In 1897 (according to the census): 8,668 Jews out of 32 thousand Tiraspol residents.
…“The Jews religiously observed their religious rites and customs. On Saturdays, elderly Jews strolled in groups along the main street, Pokrovskaya, dressed in long frock coats. They politely bowed to the wife of the pharmacist Limonnik, who sat importantly in an elegant dress on the porch of her house in an armchair.”
The Jewish population was involved in most spheres of activity: businessmen, artisans, traders, workers, people of the liberal professions – they made their contribution to the economic and cultural development of the region. Synagogues and prayer houses, charitable societies, hospitals and gymnasiums, melameds and pharmacists, editors and photographers, musicians and artists – this is what Jewish life in Tiraspol and Bender consisted of.
The isolated, closed to non-believers, position of the Jewish population contributed to the preservation of traditions and culture. Compact living virtually excluded the possibility of assimilation and made mixed marriages extremely rare. Children from Jewish families studied in a public primary school and at the same time in a cheder, where they studied Hebrew and the basics of Judaism. Community projects were supported by funds from the Jewish population.
Synagogues were built at the expense of the faithful, and had sections for men and women. Each parishioner, according to the accepted order, bought a place closer to the "Aron Kodesh" where the Torah was kept to perform prayer, and the more expensive the place was.
The distinctive features of the Jewish population include the fact that they spoke many languages, adopting the language of their surroundings. This contributed to the success of trade and crafts.
Before the start of the Great Patriotic War, most of the Jews of Tiraspol, along with the rest of the population, were evacuated deep into the Soviet Union. According to some sources, during the German-Romanian occupation from 1941 to 1944, between 1,500 and 3,000 Jews died in Tiraspol. According to other sources, the number of dead may be as high as 12,000.
Holocaust in Transnistria
More than a dozen concentration camps and ghettos were created on Transnistrian soil. One of the first tasks of the occupation authorities was "final solution" Jewish question.
Jews in Pridnestrovie
Jews have long lived in the territory of Transnistria, mainly in ancient cities. Factory owners, traders, financiers, musicians, writers - the contribution of Jews to the economy and culture of the region is difficult to overestimate.
The community today
The Jewish community today numbers about 500 people permanently residing in Tiraspol and thousands of our fellow countrymen who emigrated to Israel, Canada, America, Germany and other countries. Many of their relatives are here: both living and deceased.
In our Jewish community of Tiraspol, the Keren Or (Ray of Light) synagogue operates, traditional Jewish holidays are held, and much attention is paid to preserving the memory of the Holocaust victims. As far as we can, we monitor Jewish cemeteries and other burial sites.
Despite the fact that from the beginning of the 90s and until 2000 the majority of Tiraspol Jews emigrated, there are always people who discover the Jewish roots of their families, who have a desire to learn about Jewish history and tradition. Jewish life in Tiraspol, even after hundreds of years of complex, tragic and ambiguous history, continues to exist and develop.
Our activities are a living and vivid example of this.