Moldova: Information on how common it was for Jews following the end of World War II to go back to live in the villages they lived in before the war, and how common it was for Jews to relocate to larger centres
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 July 1995 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | MDA20522.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Moldova: Information on how common it was for Jews following the end of World War II to go back to live in the villages they lived in before the war, and how common it was for Jews to relocate to larger centres, 1 July 1995, MDA20522.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ac6db3.html [accessed 21 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
For background information on the changing status of Moldova during World War II, please consult the Europa World Year Book 1994 attachment.
In telephone interviews on 29 May and June 30 1995, a lecturer in German and Russian history in the Department of History at the University of Toronto provided the following information. The majority of Moldovan Jews who lived in villages before World War II relocated to the major cities after the war. Under war-time occupation, there was appropriation of Jewish property. After the war, there was hostility towards the Jews who attempted to return to their villages and reclaim their property. While this hostility would have also occurred in the cities, there was a larger security presence in the cities and the returning Jews would have felt more secure there. The lecturer added that any attempt to quantify the relocation of Jews after World War II would require analyses of the last Romanian census before the war and the first Soviet census after the war.
In a telephone interview of 15 June 1995, a research fellow at the Mayrock Centre for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, provided the following information. During World War II, the majority of Moldovan Jews who were not murdered were transported to Transdniester. The majority of Jews who returned from Transdniester and who had lived in villages before the war returned to those villages. There was some confiscation of Jewish property by the Romanians during the war, but the hostility towards Jews who returned upon the war's termination to reclaim their property would have been insufficient to preclude the Jews' return. The research fellow added that not all Moldovan Jews returned to Moldova, as some remained in Central Asia or the Caucasus where they had fled during the war, while others returned only temporarily but subsequently emigrated.
For additional information on whether Jews tended to return to their villages after the end of World War II, please consult page five of the Soviet Jewry attachment. For information on Soviet Jews during World War II, which may be of interest, please consult pages four and five of the Soviet Jewry attachment.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Lecturer, Department of History, University of Toronto. 30 June 1995. Telephone interview.
_____. 29 May 1995. Telephone interview.
Mayrock Centre for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies, Jerusalem. 15 June 1995. Telephone interview with research fellow.
Attachments
Altshuler, Mordechai. 1987. Soviet Jewry Since the Second World War: Population and Social Structure. New York: Greenwood Press, pp. 1-5.
The Europa World Year Book 1994. 1994. Vol. 2. London: Europa Publications, p. 2028.
