DUBĂSARI (ro) / DUBOSSARY (ru) / DUBASAR (yid)
Dubăsari exists since 15th or 16th century. Jewish community is believed to appear here not later than 18th century. In 1882, two Jews were killed and six injured in antisemitic disturbances. Thousands of Jewish refugees passed through Dubasari in 1920-22. The Jewish population was 5.220 (of total 12.089) in 1897, dropping in the Soviet period to 3.630 (of total 4.530) in 1926 and 2.198 in 1939. Had 6 synagogues by 1920s. German and Romanian forces captured Dubăsari in mid-July 1941. Almost all Jews in the district and wider, numbering about 6.000, were concentrated there, including refugees from Bessarabia. A ghetto was set up on a few streets in the suburbs. Mass executions by 5 Einzatzgrup D officers and 20 soldiers with the assistance of the local collaborants commenced in September 1941. By the end of the month, nearly all the Jews were dead and buried in mass graves. A partisan unit led by Yankel Gronitzky of Dubăsari operated from the beginning of the occupation.
Today Dubăsari has a tiny but vibrant Jewish community. Here we should visit the old Jewish cemetery and the rededicated synagogue, and ahorrendous must-see is the Holocaust memorial at the mass grave where about 18.000 people were killed.
© Jewish Heritage Moldova (Maghid NGO) Research, Education, Guiding