Since Thursday, 28 February, my friends Marla, Jay, Iryna, Anna, Vasyl and I are on the road again. Our 7 days trip through Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova has begun. We spent a day in Chişinău and from there are encouraging news – the last remaining Jewish cemetery of the city is undergoing restauration works.
Last Wednesday I started my journey and flew from Cologne to Lviv in Ukraine. Already on the next morning our little group moved to Chişinău – a long and exhausting car ride of more than 600 kilometers. On Friday morning, March 1, we met Irina Shikhova, a leading expert for Chişinău’s Jewish past and present – and beyond this a charming person.
Together we went to Chişinău’s last remaining Jewish cemetery. When I was here the last time in May 2018, the cemetery was an inaccessible jungle. A few weeks ago it was completely cleaned. For the first time since decades visitors get an impression of the enormous size of the place. At the same time the full scale of destruction gets visible. Unfortunately the clean up works also caused new damages. Obviously there is no light without shadow. The plans for the cemetery are ambitous: they include renovation works and the inclusion into the city’s touristic profile.
Due to the lack of internet access my blog post comes with one day delay. Today we continued our trip to locations in Transnistria and reached Bălţi in the evening. From now on we will head further north to other locations in the north of Moldova and in Podolia and Galicia in Ukraine. More will follow as soon as possible.
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Vanished World 
Thank you for your efforts and for sharing your journey with us. My paternal grandfather lived there in Kishinev before the family moved to Zhitomer, and then to New York. I very likely have ancestors buried in the cemetery you describe.
Hello,
What a beautiful work, you are doing!
I also live in Germany and am starting to plan a visit to Bukowina, where 3 of mine grandparents came from.
I intend going to Czernowitz and Bălţi after my rootes.
Could you please share with me your guides’ contacts? I am specially interested about the Jewish life in the beginning of last century and one generation before (end of 19th. century).
Do you know if there is any list with the names on the graves?
Please feel free to share with me any other tip that can make my trip better, nicer or easier 🙂
Did you fly from Dortmund (I live in Münster -NRW)? Is there any problem to cross the border from Ucraine to Moldavia with a rented car? Do you have any tip concerning car rental?
I plan to take 2 small children with me for that trip.
Thanks a lot!
Best regards and congratulations!
Eliana
These are quite a lot of questions, Eliana. 🙂 Please be so kind to contact me via cyberorange@gmx.de and I will try to answer them as good as I can.
Pingback: Chișinău Jewish cemetery – Boris Gorelik
Thank you for this post. I recall that I took pictures at the same place exactly two years ago. Today, after reading your post, I uploaded these pictures here: https://gorelik.net/2019/03/04/chisinau-jewish-cemetery/