The history of the Jews in Transnistria is mainly connected to the history of the Jews in Moldova, the history of the Jews in Ukraine, the history of the Jews in Romania and the history of the Jews in the Soviet Union, the Holocaust in Transnistria as well as to countries in several other neighboring areas.

Background Transnistria, or Transdniestria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, is a primarily unrecognized state that split off from Moldova after the dissolution of the USSR and mostly consists of a narrow strip of land between the river Dniester and the territory of Ukraine. Transnistria has been recognized by three other mostly non-recognized states: Abkhazia, Artsakh, and South Ossetia.About Abkhazia – Abkhazia.info . English translation: Google translator. Link was not available/working 21 December 2014. The region is considered by the UN to be part of Moldova.

On 30 May 2022, Aleksandr Rozenberg became the Prime Minister of Transnistria, being the first Jewish person to hold this position.

Tiraspol mass graves In 2022, two mass graves were discovered in Tiraspol, totaling over 200 victims. According to the sources, the victims were killed between 1917 and 1930, on the orders of Lenin and Stalin, most of them being anti-communist Jews.

Related information Jews in Moldova

The history of the Jews in Moldova reaches back several centuries. Bessarabian Jews have been living in the area for some time. Today, the Jewish community living in Moldova number less than 4,000 according to one estimate, while local estimates put the number at 15–20,000 Jews and their family members.

Jews in Romania

The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Jewish communities existed in Romanian territory in the 2nd century AD. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after around 1850, and more especially after the establishment of Greater Romania in the aftermath of World War I. A diverse community, albeit an overwhelmingly urban one, Jews were a target of religious persecution and racism in Romanian society – from the late-19th century debate over the "Jewish Question" and the Jewish residents' right to citizenship, to the genocide carried out in the lands of Romania as part of the Holocaust. The latter, coupled with successive waves of aliyah, has accounted for a dramatic decrease in the overall size of Romania's present-day Jewish community.

Jews in Ukraine

The history of the Jews in Ukraine goes back over a thousand years. Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century)Kipiani, V. "Interesting Books": Jewish addresses of Kyiv. News Broadcasting Service (TSN). 6 April 2012 and developed many of the most distinctive modern Jewish theological and cultural traditions such as Hasidism. According to the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish community in Ukraine constitute the third biggest Jewish community in Europe and the fifth biggest in the world.Ukraine. World Jewish Congress.

Jews in Russia

The history of the Jews in Russia and on areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1500 years. The presence of Jewish people in the European part of Russia can be traced to the 7th–14th centuries CE. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious diaspora; the vast territories of the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest population of Jews in the world. Within these territories the primarily Ashkenazi Jewish communities of many different areas flourished and developed many of modern Judaism's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions, while also facing periods of anti-Semitic discriminatory policies and persecutions. The largest group among Russian Jews are Ashkenazi Jews, but the community also includes a significant proportion of other non-Ashkenazi from other Jewish diaspora including Mountain Jews, Sephardic Jews, Crimean Karaites, Krymchaks, Bukharan Jews, and Georgian Jews.

Jews in Bessarabia

The history of the Jews in Bessarabia, a historical region in Eastern Europe, dates back hundreds of years. Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had knowledge of Levantine commerce and relationships.

Bukovinian, Bessarabian and Dorohoi Jews Deported to Transnistria between the Dniester and Bug Rivers (1941-1944)

According to some sources, about 57,000 Jews from Bukovina were deported to Transnistria by the Romanian authorities by November 1941.The same figure (57,000 deportees) appears in Dr. Costiner, "Situatia Numerica Aproximativa a Evreilor Deportati in Transnistria" ("The Numerical Situation of the Jews Deported to Transnistria"), in Centrul Pentru Studiul Istoriei Evreilor din Romania ("The Centre for the Study of the History of Romanian Jewry), Martiriul Evreilor din Romania, 1940-1944, Documente si Marturii ("The Martyrdom of the Jews in Romania, 1940-1944: Documents and Testimonies"), with a foreword by Dr. Moses Rosen (Bucuresti: Editura Hasefer, 1991), p. 192 (the photocopy) and p. 191, 193 (the transcribed document).Jean Ancel, "Bukovina", in Israel Gutman (editor in Chief), Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990), vol. 1, p. 263. This number included the Jews of town of Hertsa and the Hertsa region, as well as a part of the Edinet camp Jews of Hotin County of northern Bessarabia as well as a part of the Jews of Dorohoi county; only 5,500 of the Jews were listed as having been deported out of Dorohoi County, though the number was much higher (see below).The details appear in Dr. Costiner, "Situatia Numerica Aproximativa a Evreilor Deportati in Transnistria" ("The Numerical Situation of the Jews Deported to Transnistria"), in Centrul Pentru Studiul Istoriei Evreilor din Romania ("The Centre for the Study of the History of Romanian Jewry), Martiriul Evreilor din Romania, 1940-1944, Documente si Marturii ("The Martyrdom of the Jews in Romania, 1940-1944: Documents and Testimonies"), with a foreword by Dr. Moses Rosen (Bucuresti: Editura Hasefer, 1991), p. 192 (the photocopy) and p. 191, 193 (the transcribed document). The number of Jewish deportees to Transnistria sent there who reached the latter province included 110,033 people, including 55,867 from Bessarabia, 43,798 from Bukovina, 10,368 from Dorohoi (minus the Hertsa area); out of these, 50,741 still survived by September 1, 1943.See Radu Ioanid, The Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of the Jews and Gypsies Under the Antonescu Regime (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000), p. 174.Excerpts from the (Romanian) Ministry of Internal Affairs document ("Referat") that provide these numbers may be found in Centrul Pentru Studiul Istoriei Evrilor din Romania ("The Centre for the Study of the History of Romanian Jewry), Martiriul Evreilor din Romania, 1940-1944, Documente si Marturii ("The Martyrdom of the Jews in Romania, 1940-1944: Documents and Testimonies"), with a foreword by Dr. Moses Rosen (Bucuresti: Editura Hasefer, 1991), p. 231-232. In November 1943, according to General Constantin Vasiliu, undersecretary of state for police and security in the Ministry of the Interior, if one includes the Jews deported from Dorohoi in 1942, but excluding the Hertsa area, 10,368 Jews were deported from the county, while if one includes the Jews of Hertsa, about 12,000 or more were deported.Jean Ancel, The History of the Holocaust in Romania (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2011), p. 304. On May 20, 1942, 204 Jews from Chisinau were deported to Transnistria, while on July 10, 1942, other 27 Chisinau Jews were deported to Transnistria; the total number of Jews deported by train from Chisinau to Transnistria in 1942 was 231.Jean Ancel, The History of the Holocaust in Romania (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2011), p. 466. In 1942, it was decided that 753 Bessarabian Jews (96 urban and 657 rural) would not be deported, while 26 Bessarabian Jews who were slated for deportation were not deported.Jean Ancel, The History of the Holocaust in Romania (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2011), p. 540, 542. All the Jews deported from Chernivtsi in 1941 were deported by train; half of the transports went to Atachi, typically middle-class people, many of whom were able to take lei and valuables into Transnistria (just like the southern Bukovinian Jews), directly on the border with Transnistria, from where they crossed the border into Transnistria, and were not beaten and forced to buy food at high prices in a transit camp.Radu Ioanid, The Holocaust in Romania: The Destruction of the Jews and Gypsies Under the Antonescu Regime (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000), p. 137-138, 158, 163-165.Jean Ancel, The History of the Holocaust in Romania (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2011), p. 279-280. The other half, mostly working class individuals, were sent to the transit camp in Marculesti transit camp, where most gave up much of their jewelry and precious metals in exchange for food, and were often beaten and plundered by Romanian gendarmes, and from where they walked to nearby Atachi to be sent across the river to Transnistria. A further 4,290 Chernivtsi Jews were deported to Transnistria in June 1942.See Jean Ancel, The History of the Holocaust in Romania (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2011), p. 541. About 16,794 of the Jews were allowed to stay in Chernivtsi, and 17,159 in Bukovina in its historical borders, after that.For the same data in English, see Jean Ancel, The History of the Holocaust in Romania (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press and Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, 2011), p. 541, 543.See "Chernivtsi", by Andrei Corbea-Hoisie, in The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, at https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/914