Săseni

Săseni is a village in central Moldova. Historically, it has been inhabited primarily by Moldovans. In the early 20th Century, the village was home to 32 Jews, out of a total population of 1,076. In 1918, Bessarabia became part of Romania. According to the census of 1930, the population of Săseni stood at 1,525; only 25 of them (i.e., less than 2 percent of the total) were Jews. In 1940, Bessarabia was annexed to the Soviet Union and transformed into the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

On June 22, 1941, Romania joined the German invasion of the USSR, and was soon able to regain control over Bessarabia. Following the outbreak of war, some Jews from Săseni fled eastward with the Soviet authorities, while others remained in the village. In July, after the withdrawal of the Soviet forces and several days before the arrival of Romanian troops, some non-Jewish locals arrested 16-17 Jews and shot 7 of them at an anti-tank trench outside the village. Shortly afterwards, when the Romanian authorities arrived in Săseni, the remaining arrestees were handed over to the chief of the Gendarmerie, Ivan Pǎpuşoi, and subsequently killed by the Romanian gendarmes outside Săseni, near the village of Vîprova.

Săseni was liberated by the Red Army in April 1944.