Cupcini Holocaust Memorial

In memory of 326 Jewish lives from the Bratuseni district executed by the Nazis, Romanians troops, and local collaborators in July 1941, and to the thousands of Jews deported from northern Moldova and Bukovina murdered by hands of brutal executioners along the roads to the camps in Transnistria.  We will never forget you! 

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“The Holocaust should be remembered as a lesson that should never be forgotten. This is what makes it relevant not only to Jews but to the entire world and its leaders. This pledge ‘to remember and never forget’ – should be global and not Jewish. This pledge to fight antisemitism and to ensure “Never Again” – should be an international pledge and not a Jewish one.” 

Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, at the 5th World Holocaust Forum during a press conference in Jerusalem. November 20, 2019. 

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The census of 1930 shows that the town of Cupcini was in the Bratuseni area, in Judetul Balti, and within the borders of the Kingdom of Romania. Today, the town of Cupcini belongs to the Edinets district in the Republic of Moldova.  

To have an idea about the Jewish population living in villages in the Bratuseni district, we can see that according to The Jewish Population in Bessarabia and Transnistria - Geographical Dictionary [1], in 1924 Stolniceni had two Jewish businesses and 881 people, Bratuseni had five Jewish businesses and a population of roughly 2,291 people, there were in Pociumbeni three Jewish businesses and 928 people and in Parcova seven Jewish businesses and a population of 1706. The Jews were merchants, shop owners, and craftsmen. In the 1930s, the Jews of Bessarabia suffered greatly at the hands of members of the Iron Guard during the anti-Semitic reign of Goga-Kuza.  

The Holocaust of the Bessarabian Jewry began when the German armies and their allies entered the territory. The moment the Romanian army came into towns, some inhabitants stepped up to show the houses of Jewish locals to execute them. Some people were even business partners. Archival data reveals that between July 3 and July 27, 1941, 326 Jews from the villages of Old Bratusenii, Zaicani, Stolniceni, Pociumbeni, Pociumbauti, Fintina Alba, Parcova, Terebna, Cupcini, and others, were murdered. Eyewitnesses said this figure is much higher. 

The perpetrators took the Jews from their homes, confiscated their belongings, and forced them to dig a large hole outside the villages. The streets echoed with the sounds of screams and gunfire as they carried out violent pogroms, raping, stabbing, and hunting down women, girls, adults, elderly, and children. Only a handful of locals showed true selflessness by hiding and protecting the Jews at the risk of their own lives. Afterward, the country's territory was dotted with camps and ghettos filled with the remaining survivors forcibly placed under the threat of death.  

Counting the Jews who died in Edinets camp, along the Road of Death to Transnistria, and in the camps in Transnistria camps, the total number of people rose to approximately 380,000. Out of the hundreds of thousands of victims only a small percentage, around 10-11%, survived the war and lived to share or not to tell their story.  

Today, years after this horrific event happened, there is still silence. It remains a "black spot" in Moldova’s history. We embrace the opportunity to learn and discuss it openly, with no fear.  

  [1]https://www.jewishgen.org/bessarabia/files/misc/GeographicalDictionary_JewishPopulationinBessarabia082013.pdf 

“We mourn for young people who never had even the chance to grow up, fall in love, and get married, for children who never had the opportunity to play in freedom or go to school, and for mothers who lost husbands and their children in front of their eyes and couldn’t do a thing to prevent it from happening. We mourn for families completely erased from the face of the earth, our relatives, for vanished Jewish communities that were located here, in today’s Moldova, and of course, much more.  

With humility and respect, we gather here today to reflect upon, remember, and honor them all.  

The events that bring us together today, and upon which we reflect, have everything to do with the future and the people we try to be. What is most important is to be clear about who we are, how we think, what we believe, and the truths by which we live. We create our lives with the choices we make.” 

 Yvette Merzbacher, founder of LivingStones Association, at the opening ceremony of this memorial on January 26, 2020. 

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If you have additional information regarding a village that you would like to share with us that would be great. Please write us at info@livingstones-association.org