Alexandreni

The village of Alexăndreni was founded as a Jewish agricultural colony under the Russian Empire in the mid-19th century by several dozen Jewish families originating from the regions of Podolia and Kiev. In 1897 1,190 Jews lived in the colony, where they comprised approximately 95 percent of its total population. Many of those Jews were engaged in growing tobacco. In 1918, after the World War I, Bessarabia was incorporated into the independent Romanian state and Alexǎndreni came under Romanian rule. According to the 1930 census Alexăndreni-Tîrg (the name used at the time) had 1,018 Jewish inhabitants, who comprised 67 percent of its total population. In June 1940, following the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Bessarabia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Alexăndreni became part of Soviet Moldova. On June 22, 1941, allied with Nazi Germany, Romania entered the war against the Soviet Union and soon regained control over Bessarabia. In July 1941, after Romanian troops entered the colony, a massacre of the local Jews was carried out. On July 15-16, 1941, outside the village Romanian gendarmes shot to death 85 Jewish residents of Alexăndreni and 38 Jewish residents of the town of Bălți, who had sought refuge in Alexăndreni. On July 17, the Romanian authorities brought to Alexăndreni 15 Jewish residents of Bălți; those Jews were killed and buried in the local Jewish cemetery. The remaining Jews of Alexăndreni were later deported to Transnistria. Alexăndreni was liberated by the Red Army on March 23, 1944.