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MONUMENT IN MEMORY OF VICTIMS OF NOTORIOUS POGROMS DEDICATED IN STATE CEREMONY IN KISHINEV ON 100TH ANNIVERSARY A monument in memory of the victims killed in the notorious pogroms in Kishinev, capital of Moldova, 100 years ago was dedicated in a state ceremony this week attended by the President of Moldova, and guests from Israel and the Diaspora. Shai Hermesh, Treasurer of the Jewish Agency, headed the Jewish Agency delegation to the event. In 1903, a pogrom erupted in Kishinev, which was unprecedented in its ferocity. A blood libel provided the pretext for the pogrom, which took place at Easter time. Enraged rioters murdered 50 Jews, wounded 600 others, and looted and torched over 1,500 Jewish-owned businesses. In the wake of this pogrom, which shocked the entire Jewish world, Chaim Nachman Bialik wrote his famous poem "In the City of Killing." The pogrom was a turning point in the history of Jewish migration, in that it precipitated a mass emigration of Jews to the United States and to the Land of Israel. According to Jewish Agency emissary to Moldova, Alex Lubovsky, the government of Moldova has declared April 7 as a day of national appeasement and reconciliation. The following day, the Jewish Agency initiated an academic conference -- "100 Years after the Kishinev Pogrom" - attended by academics from the former Soviet Union as well as from Israel and the West. On Wednesday, 9 April the Jewish Agency held a round-table discussion for journalists and public figures that focused on the future of Jewish communities in the Diaspora. Lev Belkin, Editor-in-Chief of the Israeli Russian-language newspaper Vesti, who was the leader of the Jewish community of Moldova and saved dozens of Jews during the 1992-1993 civil war, participated in the events, as a member of the Jewish Agency delegation. 15,000 people eligible to immigrate to Israel currently reside in Moldova (11,000 in Kishinev). There are seven active synagogues in Moldova, two in Kishinev. The Jewish Agency, and many other Jewish organizations serve Moldova's Jewish community.
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