Tarutyne Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish cemetery of Tarutyne was established not later than 1875 (date of the oldest found gravestone). The cemetery is marked on the Yizkor book memory map. According to the testimonies of the Holocaust survivors – residents of Tarutyne, published in Yizkor Tarutyne, the cemetery was totally destroyed during WWII and the territory was plowed up by a tractors, some matzevot were found in a courtyards of local houses. However, the ESJF expedition found the cemetery existing and comparatively well-preserved.

The first settlement of the Jews in Tarutyne, the second largest Jewish community in southern Bessarabia, dates back to 1832. Three synagogues existed in the late 19th century. From the founding of the community in 1917, it was endorsing a variety of Zionist views and trends. The community had formed self-defence detachments. Around 60 youth moved to Palestine in the interwar period. The Jewish population numbered 1,546 (27% of the total population) in 1930. German-Romanian troops occupied Tarutyne in July 1941, and in July, about 40 Jews were murdered. On August 7, 1941, a camp imprisoning 1,200 Jews was set up. On October 10, 1941, a ghetto for 2,270 Jews from Izmayil, Bolhrad, Kiliya and Vylkove was created. From October 25 to 27, 1941, they were deported to Transnistria.