• Memorial to the murdered Jews of Otaci
In the Moldavian smalltown of Otaci (Russian formerly: Ataki) several gravestones on the Jewish cemetery remember the murdered and deported Jews of the town, Bessarabia and Bukovina.
Image: Otaci, 2006, City view from the Dniester, Zserghei
Otaci, 2006, City view from the Dniester, Zserghei

Image: Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Otaci, situated on the banks of the Dniester opposite the Ukrainian city of Mohyliv-Podilskyj (Russian: Mogilyov-Podolskiy), lies in the historical region of Bessarabia. The place was first mentioned in writing in 1419. After Bessarabia became part of the Russian Tsarist Empire in 1812, many Jews from present-day Poland and Ukraine moved to the area which was part of the »Pale of Settlement« where Jews were allowed to settle. Already in 1817 half of the population was Jewish. After the First World War, Bessarabia belonged to Romania. In the 1930s almost 80 percent of the inhabitants of Otaci were Jews.
On June 28, 1940 the Red Army marched into Bessarabia. The province was then assigned to the then small Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR). In June 1941 the German Wehrmacht and Romania attacked the Soviet Union. Only a few Jews from Otaci were able to save themselves from the approaching troops. After the Romanian army marched in, anti-Jewish violence was the order of the day. Jews were generally accused of having cooperated with the Soviet regime. Between Otaci and Mohyliv-Podilskyj was one of five crossings of the Dniester.
In autumn 1941 the Romanians set up a temporary camp in the city, through which Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina were to be sent further into the Romanian occupied Ukrainian territory called Transnistria. The conditions in the camp were catastrophic. Due to lack of space many Jews had to sleep in the open and on the roofs. Thousands died of hunger and diseases. The bodies were lined up in the streets and houses. Resistance was punished with death. The Jews from Otaci tried to save their lives by making payments to the Romanian border guards, but by the end of 1941 they were also deported to Transnistria. Many of the Jews deported to Transnistria died in Romanian camps and ghettos, others were shot by German units.
Image: Otaci, 2006, City view from the Dniester, Zserghei
Otaci, 2006, City view from the Dniester, Zserghei

Image: Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Titus Popescu, captain of the regiment of border guards in Otaci and responsible for the deportations over the Dniester, said that no records had been kept of the number of victims. The number of victims of the transit camp in Otaci is therefore unknown. According to contemporary witnesses, individual shootings were also carried out in Otaci. Most of the Jews from the transit camp were deported via the Dniester to Transnistria.
Image: Otaci, 2016, Building of the former synagogue, Christian Herrmann
Otaci, 2016, Building of the former synagogue, Christian Herrmann

Image: Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
After the war Otaci stayed with the Soviet Union. Only a few Jews returned to the city. In 2004, only 9 of Otaci's more than 8,000 inhabitants stated to be Jewish, the majority of the population today being Ukrainians and Roma.
At the Jewish cemetery south of the village Vălcineţ 3,500 gravestones have been preserved to date. Most of the stones date back to the late 19th century, while a small part dates back to the 18th century. Beside the cemetery there are memorials dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. The cemetery is decaying and is partly already overgrown, although some people take care of its preservation.
Otaci’s former synagogue is located in Druzhba Street. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century and was transformed into a cultural centre after the Second World War. The building has not been used since the 1990s and is partly dilapidated, yet it is regularly visited by travellers.
Image: Vălcineţ, 2017, Memorial in memory of the murdered Jews 1941-1944, Maren Röger
Vălcineţ, 2017, Memorial in memory of the murdered Jews 1941-1944, Maren Röger

Image: Vălcineţ, 2017, Jewish cemetery, Maren Röger
Vălcineţ, 2017, Jewish cemetery, Maren Röger
Image: Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Image: Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Vălcineţ, 2018, Jewish cemetery, Christian Herrmann
Name
Memoria evreilor uciși din Otaci
Address
At the road from Valcinet in the direction of Codreni
FP2P+66 Otaci