The Jews in Storojineț during the Holocaust

According to existing data, the settlement of the Jews here began at the end of the 18th century. Their settlement in Storojineț was limited in the following decades by Austrian regulations regarding the settlement of Jews in cities. In 1865, Solomon Anhauch received the right to buy land in the city and to trade without any restrictions, being the first Jew from Storojineț who was granted this privilege. In the 19th century, the Jewish population in the cities grew, after Jews from Galicia and Russia settled in the city. In 1880, the number of Jews was 1,601, and in 1910 it reached 4,832, representing 48.3% of the total population. The occupations of the Jews were in the field of trade, wood industry, crafts, and liberal professions.

The Jews of Storojineț have been the victims of repressive measures since the city was under Soviet administration, June 1940 – June 1941. The private business owned by the Jews was closed and their property confiscated. Also, on June 13th, 1941, 256 businessmen of Jewish origin and intellectuals from Storojineț were deported to Siberia.

On July 4th, 1941, Romanian and German troops entered the city, the Jews were soon picked up, and some of them executed. Their homes were also looted and vandalized. A testimony about the crimes committed that day can be found in one of the works published by Marius Mircu: “In Storojineț, when the Romanian troops (3rd border guards reg.) entered the town, one morning, the locals did not go to work, they went to plunder and kill the Jews. The army took groups of Jews out of the suburbs. Each patrol proceeded as they saw fit. Some of them were shot in the house, others were chased out of the field, they were robbed. In some houses, the soldiers received the gifts offered by the Jews and left them alone.”

On July 5th, 1941, the Jewish population was imprisoned in two educational institutions, divided according to sex and age. The women were imprisoned in the primary school in Panca Street, and the men in the boarding school of the boys’ high school. According to Marius Mircu, 4,000 local Jews were imprisoned in the two detention centers.

“The primary school was booby-trapped, but the women stayed there. For three days they were without food, without water. They were not allowed to go to the yard, where they could get water. After three days they were given dry bread. The water was not working, the soldiers closed it. But they were allowed to collect rainwater from the ground.” On July 20th, 1941, Jews from the two schools were moved to a ghetto in the southern part of the city, which included several streets in the Jewish Quarter. During the ghettoization, they were forced to wear the “yellow star”. They could only leave the ghetto on the basis of a permit. Jews were also taken daily to sweep the streets.

In October 1941, the Jews of Storojineț were deported to Transnistria. According to existing information, two massive waves of deportations took place. The first was in October 1941, when 1,300 Jews were deported to Mărculești, and then to Iampol. Subsequently, a new transport to Edineți took place. There were about 30 Jews left in the city, pharmacists, dentists, electricians who were used for forced labour by the town hall, hospital, and other authorities. During the deportations, only a few Jews survived. According to some information, after the war, 10 Jewish families returned to Storojineț, which re-entered under Soviet rule after 1945. Subsequently, they all emigrated to Israel.

Ovidiu Creangă, Storojineț, in Geoffrey P. Megargee (general editor), Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2018, pp. 773-774.

Marius Mircu, Pogromurile din Bucovina și Dorohoi [The Pogroms in Bukovina and Dorohoi], București, Editura Glob, 1945, pp. 28-32. 

***, The Jewish Community of Storojinet, accessible online at https://dbs.anumuseum.org.il/skn/en/c6/e240086/Place/Storojinet