Two Jewish Communities in Romania (today Moldova): Rezina, Bălți (3,471 km)

(2022-05-13/14) From Chișinău, I’m heading northwards along the Dniester to Rezina-Râbniţa, one of the five crossings where the Jews from Bukovina and Bessarabia were crossed to Transnistria; the other four were Atachi-Moghilev, Cosăuţi-Iampol, Tighina-Tiraspol and Olăneşti-Iasca.

My friend Christian Herrmann from Cologne has traveled the region repeatedly since 2016, and I know of no one who has better documented the Jewish cemeteries and synagogues. The US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, Yad Vashem and INSHR have published basic research on Jewish Heritage Sites and Monuments in Moldova:

Vanished World: https://vanishedworld.blog/category/bessarabia/

Jewish Heritage: https://bit.ly/3yChI4B

Rezina during the Holocaust: https://bit.ly/3PozLBm

The Story of Bălți: https://bit.ly/3Pkmb1Q

Bălți shows its good side, even if not so much has changed since my last visit in 2016. The photo of the Multifunctional Center for Public Services sums it up. While the flags of the Republic of Moldova and the European flag fly in front of the building, Marx, Engels and Lenin are emblazoned on the front. Bălți is stuck between a Russian, even sporadically Soviet, appearance and its aspirations for the European Union. This is certainly a tension, but I at least cannot see any controversy in everyday life.