FĂLEȘTI (ro) / FALESHTY (ru) / FALESHT (yid)
The Jews are believed to appear here after 1812. In 1817, the community numbered 176 families (out of a total of 364 families). 4.518 Jews lived in Fălești in 1897 from a total population of 6.672. 3.258 Jews lived in Fălești in 1930. Prior the WW2 the community supported a hospital which also served Christians, and an old peoples home for the poor who had no place to live. Seven synagogues and the house of study served the religious needs of the Jews. There were two elementary schools, one for boys and one for girls. For a while there was a Hebrew high school. In 1932 a private high school (not only for Jews) was established. In the late 1930s a large high school was built by the Romanian authorities and Jews were allowed to attend.
In 1940-41 and 1949 about 200 people from Fălești were condemned by the Soviet authorities.
In June 1941, Fălești was bombed and then occupied in the very first days of the war. Few Jews succeeded to escape, most perished.
Today not too much recalls the Jewish history of Făleștibut the cemetery that is very impressive and worth seeing.
© Jewish Heritage Moldova (Maghid NGO) Research, Education, Guiding