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Leova Holocaust Period Records

Introduction by Joel Waters

In memory of Liba Vasserman, my Great Grandmother, who died in Cahul along with many of her neighbors.

· Background
· Database
· Acknowledgements
· Searching the Database

This database contains information on 438 Jews living in Leova before the war, as well as 118 citizens (Jews and non-Jews) exiled to Siberia prior to the German invasion.

Background

The 1930 census, the last one completed prior to the war, counted 2,326 Jews living in Leova, about 1/3rd of the entire town population.  In June 1940 the Romanians handed over Bessarabia and Bucovina to the USSR as part of the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.

During the evacuation, retreating Romanian soldiers committed many atrocities in their wake, however the Jews of Leova were relatively fortunate in this instance in that they were unharmed.  However, just a month later the Soviets started deporting citizens of their newly annexed territories to Siberia, including Zionist leaders and wealthy Jews.

In June 1941 some Jews in Leova sensed war was coming and fled east, into central Asia.  Other able bodied men joined the fight against the Germans by enlisting in the Soviet Army.  When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, those Jews who stayed in Leova and hoped for the best almost all perished.  Many who weren't killed on the spot were interned in a concentration camp near the city of Cahul. (Information on those held at Cahul can be found here).

Database

This database includes 556 records from the two lists described below:

List Title Description Records
I List of property confiscated by the Romanian Authorities in 1942 Names and addresses of many of the estimated 600 Jewish families living in Leova before the war 438
II People from Leova persecuted by the Soviet regime Leovans, both Jews and Gentiles, who were exiled to Siberia, during the year prior to the German invasion and for several years after the war. 118

The fields for this database are as follows:

  • Name (Surname + Given Name) (List I: Former Owners, List II: Resident's Name)
  • Relationship (For List II only)
  • Year of Birth (For List II only)
  • Address (For List I only)
  • Source ("List I" or "List II")
  • Comments (List I: Current Owners/Tenants, List II: Description of Repression)

Acknowledgments

The information contained in this database was translated by Joel Waters.  Yocheved Klausner assisted with the translations for both lists.  The list of persecuted Leovans came from Cartea Memoriei: Catalog Al Victimelor Totalitarismului Comunist by Elena Postică (Chişinău: Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a Moldovei, 2005).

In addition, thanks to JewishGen Inc. for providing the website and database expertise to make this database accessible.  Special thanks to Warren Blatt and Michael Tobias for their continued contributions to Jewish genealogy.  Particular thanks to Nolan Altman, coordinator of Holocaust files.

Nolan Altman
Coordinator - Holocaust Database
March 2011


Searching the Database

This database is searchable via JewishGen's Holocaust Database, JewishGen's Romania Database, and JewishGen's Ukraine Database.


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