On our last common day in Moldova Achim, Petra and I went from Bălţi (Beltsy) back to Chişinău (Kishinev). We decided to take a western route to visit the Jewish cemetery in Făleşti (Faleshty).
Today we have been in the outer northwest of Moldova, in Briceni and Lipcani. Here you find yourself in a triangle between Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. In both places there are remarkable old Jewish cemeteries.
Soroca is located in the border area with Ukraine. This has given us the opportunity to make a trip from Otaci to Mohyliv-Podilskyi today. The local Jewish cemetery is one of the most important witnesses of the past.
From Soroca we went further north to Zguriţa (Zguritsa) and Otaci (Ataki). In both places there are Jewish cemeteries and former synagogues. Both cemeteries have a special magic – the one due to its picturesque location, the other due to the age and the artistic quality of the gravestones.
Our journey takes us further into the north of Bessarabia – now up to Soroca. We visited the Jewish cemetery, were welcomed in the synagogue and saw the famous “Gypsy palaces”.
To go from Rezina to Rîbniţa (Rybnitsa) and Raşcov (Rashkov) one has to cross the border from Moldova to “Transnistria”. The border is controlled only on the Transnistrian side, as Moldova considers the region as part of its national territory. The Jewish cemetery in Rîbniţa and the old synagogue in Raşcov were our destinations.
On our way to Rîbniţa (Rybnitsa) and Raşcov (Rashkov) we made a stop in Rezina on the banks of river Dniester. The Jewish cemetery of Rezina is the most dilapidated we’ve seen so far on our trip.
My friends – Petra and Achim – and I continued to explore the area east of Bălţi (Beltsy). We were in Vadul-Raşcov (Vadul Rashkov) on the banks of river Dniester and Prodăneşti (Prodaneshty), to visit the local Jewish cemeteries. Vadul-Raşcov cemetery is one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever seen.
Bălţi is located in the heart of the Bessarabian shtetl land. Today we went eastwards to visit the Jewish cemeteries in Alexandreni, Mărculeşti, Floreşti and Tirgul Vertiujeni. We found very different locations and conditions.
Bălţi (Beltsy) was and is an important urban center in Bessarabia. Until the war, half of the population was Jewish. Not much is visible of that today, but the Jewish cemetery continues to tell of the past.
Vanished World 