IGCSE Students Visit Holocaust Past in Chisinau
Looking Through the Eyes of History to the Jews in Chisinau...
By Ana-Maria Todica & Gabriela Taran
The history of the Jews in Moldova reaches back several centuries. Bessarabian Jews have been living in the area for some time. The 27th of January was chosen to be the day of commemorating the genocide that resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators…
On 30th of January grade 9 and student council members went on a trip to some places in Chisinau, that have connection with the Holocaust and the Jews.
According to studies, between 1941-1944 in the concentration camps from Bessarabia and Transnistria there were exterminated almost 700 000 jews and gipsies. This huge number of deaths wasn't forgotten by the Jewish community in Moldova. So, they made a museum in the "Rambam" Jewish School from their own resources and with the help of others, which is daily supplied with new information. And this was our first destination. We were warmly welcomed by students and teachers there. The guide gave us a brief tour of the school and its activity and then we went down stairs to the museum. Besides the fact that the museum is small (15 meters square), it contains a lot of detailed information and photos. Also they developed an experiment with buttons, in which they want to fill up a box with 1.5 million buttons which is equal to the number of Jewish kids that died.
Afterwards we went to the Monument to the victims of the Jewish ghetto, which is located in the area where the Jewish ghetto was. The memorial was erected in 1993 and was designed by the Jewish sculptor Haum Epelbaum. The monument consists of two red granite slabs, notches at the sides form a Star of David. In front of the granite elements is a bronze sculpture.
Our last destination was the KEDEM (Kishinev Jacob Jewish Centre) The Jewish Cultural Center KEDEM was established in 2005 by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee as an integral part of the Kishinev Jacobs Jewish Center, which is the largest ethno-cultural institution in the republic.
It was established with the primary goal of developing a thriving Jewish community and to fulfill the social and cultural needs of all the residents of the city and country. The guide showed us the centre and let us know it's activity. They run over 50 programs and hosts 100 mass events a year, as well as events with Jewish and international significance, attracting about 10,000 visitors.
We had a great time researching new things about the past of the Jews who lived in
Chisinau. We are thankful to our teachers and Mr. Rob, for giving us the opportunity to discover new places which we didn't even know that existed in our city. And a big thanks to the teachers who came with us, Mr. Goga, Ms. Lynda, Ms. Tatiana Popa, and Ms. Tatiana Magaleas.
Altogether it was an overwhelming experience we will never forget…
