Report on the Jews of Secureni.
Report on the Jews of Secureni.
RG-25.004M.0015.00000617.
Report on the Jews of Secureni.

The Jews in Secureni during the Holocaust

July 1941

The Jews began to settle in Secureni in the first decades of the 19th century. In 1897, the number of Jews was 5,042, which meant 56% of the total population. In 1930, 4,200 Jews lived in the locality, or 73% of the total population. The local Jews were small traders, tobacco growers and craftsmen.

Persecutions

Since the 1920s, Jews in Secureni have been victims of anti-Semitic violence. In 1921, for example, Jews walking the streets on the eve of the Yom Kippur holiday were arrested by the police. They were taken to the outskirts of the city under armed guard, and some of them were assaulted. The purpose was to identify two alleged spies. After the town was occupied by the Soviets in June-July 1940, wealthy Jews were deported to Siberia.

After the entry of the Romanian army in Secureni, on July 10th, 1941, Romanian officials encouraged the local population to organize acts of violence against Jews. Locals and nearby peasants carried out raids and searches of Jewish homes, robbing and mistreating them. In those days, 87 Jews were killed on suspicion of being communists or of having pro-Soviet sentiments.

According to some information, about two weeks after the entry of the Romanian army into the city, the Jews were taken to the Synagogues street and “sold”. Those who bought them received the right to take their clothes and shoes or any other goods they owned and were considered of interest. According to some reports, the men were beaten, and the girls were taken to the synagogue and raped. The violence then continued for another two weeks.

At the end of July and the beginning of August 1941, the Jews from Secureni were gathered and deported to Briceni. Subsequently, they were sent back to Secureni, being interned in an improvised ghetto in several houses. At least 20 people lived in such a house, without water or food. Subsequently, all the local Jews were deported to Transnistria on the Atachi-Moghilev route.

Some of the Jews deported from Bukovina and Bessarabia were also brought to Secureni. On August 8th, 1941, 27,849 deported Jews were in the open field between Secureni and Atachi, and on August 11th, 1941, a transit camp was opened in Secureni. 20,852 Jews were imprisoned here. On August 15th, 1941, a second camp was opened in Secureni. In October-November 1941, all Jews in the Secureni camp were deported to Transnistria.

Sources
Ovidiu Creangă, Secureni, in Geoffrey P. Megargee (general editor), Encyclopaedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2018, pp. 758-759.
Radu Ioanid, Holocaustul în România [The Holocaust in Romania], ediția a II-a, București, Editura Hasefer, 2006, p. 196.