JEWISH CEMETERY OF BĂLŢI

The old Jewish cemetery is located in the west of the city, between the municipal hospital and the railway line. It bears witness to the presence of the Jewish community in Moldova in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The cemetery contains tombs dating mostly from the 19th century. There are almost 25,000 of them, on 800,000^m2. It is the largest in the country, after that of the capital. This very dilapidated cemetery impresses by its size and thus lets us imagine the important role played by the Jewish community in the cultural, commercial and industrial life of the city. It became one of the centres of Yiddish culture and language in Eastern Europe. Some of the stelae provide information on the life of the members of the local Jewish community, their occupations, their social position, etc. One can see a stele in the form of a tree trunk with cut branches, which would indicate that the deceased had no descendants. In 1958, the cemetery was divided and part of it was used as an agricultural market. Some of the stelae are still well preserved, while others are damaged and illegible. Acts of vandalism damaged this cemetery from 1990 to 2004. A monument to the victims of the Holocaust was erected there.

Jewish personalities from Bălți include the poet Jacob Fichman (1881-1958), the poet and composer Zelik Berdtishever, the boxer Roman Greenberg, the musician Leonid Soybelman, Lia van Leer (founder of the Jerusalem International Film Festival) and the writer Boris Sandler.