Rashkov

Jews began to settle in Rashkov in the second half of the 18th Century. This town became an important hub of Jewish life, being known as one of the centers of Hasidic Judaism, where the first Hassidic works were published. In 1897, when Rashkov was part of the Russian Empire, it was home to 3,201 Jews, who made up 55 percent of the total population. From 1918 on, the new demarcation line between Romania and the Soviet Union passed through Rshkov. In 1924, the town was annexed to the Ukrainian SSR, becoming part of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1924, a Jewish kolkhoz named Noye Heym ("New Home" in Yiddish) was established in Rahskov. It specialized in viticulture. Many Jews worked at the state-owned cooperatives. There was also a Jewish rural council. In 1926, Rashkov had 2,031 Jewish residents, who comprised 37.9 percent of its total population. In August 1941, following the outbreak of the Soviet-German War and the arrival of Romanian troops in Rashkov, the new authorities compiled a list of over 300 Jews who were still in the town. All Jewish men were required by the Romanian authorities to perform forced labor of various kinds. Shortly afterward, Romanian gendarmes committed two massacres of Jewish men from Rashkov. On August 4, about 65 men were driven into the Dniester River and shot dead. On August 17, a second group of 34-38 Jewish males were also shot in the Dniester River. The Jewish women and children of Rashkov were deported to the town of Camenca, and subsequently to other camps in Transnistria. In May 1942, several Jewish families who had been found hiding in the town and its vicinity were shot in the Dniester River by Romanian gendarmes. Rashkov was liberated by the Red Army on March 24, 1944.