The Jews of Moldova

The Jewish history of Moldova dates back to the 1400's when Sephardic Jews began using the area as a trade route. These merchants needed a way to travel between the Black Sea and Poland. Present day Moldova was part of an area known as Bessarabia, which was basically the area between the Prut and Dniestr rivers. As time went on the northern and central parts of the area became home to Jewish communities. Later the communities spread throughout the area.
By the 1700's several Jewish communities 

had been established. The majority of the Jews in these communities were traders or involved in the distilling of liquor. The communities grew to the point that by 1812 their was an estimated 20,000 Jews living permanently in Moldova.
In 1812, Moldova fell under Russian rule. At the time there were over a dozen Jewish schools and 70 synagogues. The community was truly striving. By the late 1830, the Jewish population had grown to almost 100,000 and more than doubled again by the end of 19th century.
For the most part the Bessarabia region was free from the Russian anti-Jewish laws, however that began to change by about 1835, when  Bessarabia began to lose its autonomy. This led to the anti-Jewish laws being applied to all Jews, including those in Bessarabia.
 At least 4 times, in 1869, 1879, 1886 and 1891 the government issued decrees forcing the Jews out of various cities. Even with this anti-Jewish rule, the population continued to grow, and by 1900, at least half of the population of Kishinev was Jewish. However in the early 1900's tensions between the Jews and non-Jews mounted leading to the massacre of Jews that took place in 1903 and 1905 in Kishinev. These massacres, and the fact that the soldiers did nothing to stop them started the emigration of Jews out of Moldova.
The Russian Revolution brought some peace for the Jews of Bessarabia, however in 1918, Romania took control and the Jewish communities really began to prosper. The Jews received Romanian citizenship and were permitted to build schools and hospitals. By the early 1920's there were well over 125 Jewish schools and 13 Jewish hospitals. The Jewish population had now grown to over 265,000 people.
The Germans invaded Moldova in July of 1941. The majority of the Jewish community was either deported to camps or massacred on the spot. The city of Kishinev alone had over 50,000 people killed. In August of 1944, the Russians retook the area. Under the communist rule, the Jews were not allowed to practice their traditions. By 1964, all but 1 synagogue was closed.
With the fall of Communism and Civil War within the country, most of the Jewish population has now immigrated to other countries, mainly Israel and the United States. Today, because of that the Jewish population is most likely under 5,000.

Peter Rubinstein and Family of Romania and England

The histories of our ancestors are filled with the stories of tragedy and suffering. So many had given up so much of their lives in order to find new homes where they could live without fear of being killed for being Jewish. As I have been looking at a few of the families in the Knowles Collection- Jews of The British Isles database, one family in particular has caused me to think a lot about what their lives must have been like.

What little we know about Peter and Rosie Rubinstein and their family comes from the 1911 Census of England. At the time of that census they were living with 5 children at 140 Great Clowes Street in the parish of Broughton, Lancashire, England. Married for 31 years, they were both born in Romania as were the five children living with them. Those children were Joseph (b.1886), Nathan (b.1887), Sarah (b.1889), Harry (b. 1892) and Jane (b.1903). The census (shown below) is taken from http://www.findmypast.com/.

We can assume from this census that the family arrived in England sometime after 1903 when the youngest Jane was born in Romania. A double check of the 1901 Census does not find any mention of the family. The part of this story that has me thinking so much about this family is the information provided on total children in the family. In those columns we find that Peter and Rosie had 13 children born alive of whom 7 were still living and 6 had died by the time of the census. I can't help but wonder at how hard it must have been to leave their home in Romania after having suffered so much there. I of course don't know the circumstances behind their move, but it does make me grateful for all those who did sacrifice for us all.

The Jewish history of Romania may even go back as far as 101 C.E. when Jews may have arrived as merchants with the Roman legions. We do know that Jewish immigrants arrived in 1367 after being expelled from Hungary and again in the 16th Century after being expelled from the Balkan Peninsula. The modern history of Romania begins in the early 19th Century when Romania was really just starting to seek its own Independence.

From 1821 through the 1848 revolt against Russia, and up till 1878 the Jews of Romania were constantly trying to obtain basic rights. It wasn't until The Congress of Berlin in 1878, which finally gave Romania its own independence, that Jews began to hope that they would receive those rights. These hopes turned out to be fruitless as the treatment of Jews only got worse. For many the only hope was to leave Romania for a new life elsewhere. Between 1900 and the beginning of World War 1, almost 70,000 Jews left Romania, leaving about 240,000 Jews residing there at the beginning of the war. I wonder if this is what led to the Rubinstein's making their way to England.

The stories of the Rubinstein's may never be fully known, but the records of this family can be found in the Knowles Collection-Jews of the British Isles database.