1921 Jewish Refugees at the Romanian Border

Background

Jewish refugees, who previously were engaged in crafts and trade, were forced out of their residences by the war, the revolution, banditry and the pogroms of 1919-1920. Their houses were destroyed, and the majority of the refugees were disabled, physically and mentally, exhausted, and absolutely unsuitable for any kind of work. The refugees lived in extremely difficult conditions, huddling in close quarters of synagogues or in private houses that were damaged and completely unfit for living. Some of the children were in somewhat favorable conditions, being placed in orphanages where minimal help and security were provided.

Those who had money managed to cross the border rather quickly, while the majority of the refugees remained at the border, unable to cross it. The government commission that was created to assist them divided remaining refugees into four categories:

1. First category: wives with children traveling to their husbands and the elderly attempting to join their children. The commission viewed this category as subject to evacuation
2. The Second category: persons over 40 years old without a specific occupation. This category was also viewed by the commission as subject to evacuation.
3. Third category: skilled workers.  These workers would be directed to work according to their occupation.
4. Fourth category: young, healthy people who in the opinion of the commission can be considered as counter revolutionary.

The government commission conducted registration of the refugees at the following locations: Balta, Rybnitsa, Kodyma, Rashkov, Peschanka,Kamenka, Myastkovka, Yampol, Yruga, Dzygovka, Mogilev, and Chernovtsy.

Database Contents

This information was extracted from File #12 about Jewish Refugees, People Commissariat of Internal Affairs.

(Rybnitsa # of records 445, Kamenka in process).

The majority of the records contain the following information:

1. Last Name
2. First Name
3. Patronymic name
4. Relation to head of household
5. Age

Acknowledgements

The project manager is Inna Vayner (Fair Lawn, NJ), volunteer translators Elena Gitelman (Sderot, Israel) and Talia Kogan (Pleasanton, California)

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