Pinkas Hakehillot Romania: Zguritza (Zguriţa, Moldova)

“Zguritza”
Encyclopedia of Jewish
Communities in Romania, Volume 2
(Zguriţa, Moldova)
48°07' / 28°01'

Translation of “Zguritza” chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Romania

Published in Jerusalem, 1980

Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Romania, Volume II,
pages 352-353, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1980

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[Page 352]

Zguritza

Translated by Ala Gamulka

In Romanian it is called Zguritza. This was a Jewish settlement in northern Bessarabia, located 20 km from the capital Soroka. It was established in 1853 on leased agricultural land.

In 1930 there were 2541 Jews in Zguritza. On July 3, 1941, after the beginning of the war, the village was bombed and its buildings burned down. The Jews ran away and hid in the fields. A few days later, they were all collected by Romanian soldiers and brought to a central location. The soldiers began to abuse them, especially the women. They amused themselves by shooting at them. It was not even possible to bury the dead, even though it was summertime.

The German Hans Gottlieb, a well-known anti-Semite and owner of the local flour mill, excelled in abusing the Jews. He gathered the Jewish young women and forced them to “serve” the German soldiers. He even dressed the Rabbi in women's clothing and coerced him to dance in front of the soldiers in order to entertain them. He also stole the belongings of his victims.

A few days later the hardships of the Jews began. At first they were banished to Transnistria and from there they were returned to Bessarabia. On the way, the elderly, the sick and the children died. Their travels continued from the forest near Rublenitza in Soroka to Vertujeni, to Edinetz, etc. In the forest near Cosautz the younger people were removed from the line and ordered to dig their own graves. Then they were all shot. On a daily basis, many died from sickness, hunger and thirst. In the fall the rest were brought back to Transnistria. Before they crossed the Dniester, 200 men were taken to “work”. All were shot. The others were brought to Tiraspol and to Balti. Very few survived the war.

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