April 4, 2003
2 Nisan, 5763
Jerusalem
Kishinev (Moldova) Events Commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Pogrom
Events held in conjunction with the Jewish Agency
A series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the Kishinev Pogrom will be held in Kishinev, capital of Moldova, from Monday to Wednesday, 7-9 April. The Jewish Agency is a partner in their organization.
On 7 April, a monument to the victims of the Pogrom will be dedicated in a national ceremony. The President of Moldova, official guests from Israel, and of Jewish Diaspora communities will attend. Jewish Agency Treasurer Shai Hermesh, will head the Jewish Agency delegation to this ceremony.
Jewish Agency emissary to Moldova, Alex Lubovsky said that the Government of Moldova has decided to consecrate the 7th of April as a day of National appeasement and reconciliation.
Upon the initiative of the Jewish Agency, an academic conference entitled "100 Years after the Kishinev Pogrom," will be held in Kishinev. Academics from the Former Soviet Union as well as from Israel and the West will participate. On Wednesday, 9 April the Jewish Agency will hold a round-table discussion for journalists and public figures on the subject of the future of Jewish communities in the Diaspora.
Lev Belkin, Editor-in-Chief of the Israeli Russian-language newspaper Vesti, who had been a leader of the Jewish community of Moldova, and had saved dozens of Jews during the 1992-1993 civil war, will participate in the events, as a member of the Jewish Agency delegation.
In 1903, a pogrom erupted in Kishinev, the ferocity of which had not been previously seen by Russian Jewry. 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 businesses belonging to Jews. 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.
15,000 individuals eligible to immigrate to Israel currently reside in Moldova (11,000 in Kishinev). In Moldova there are seven active synagogues (2 in Kishinev). Alongside the Jewish Agency many Jewish organizations operate in Moldova in servicing the Jewish community.
For additional information contact
the Office of the Spokesman:
Yehuda Weinraub
Liaison to Foreign Press and Media
Jewish Agency for Israel
Mobile:972-53-927017
Fax: 972-2-6204013