Nimereuca is a commune in

Soroca District Soroca is a district in north-east Moldova. Its administrative center is the town of Soroca. In 2018, the population of the region was 100,078. History Ancient beginnings Archeological evidence of prehistoric occupation dating to 35,000 to ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. It is composed of two villages, Cerlina and Nimereuca.

Nimereuca village

Nimereuca (, , ) lies on the northeastern periphery of Moldova, close to its

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

with

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and the breakaway region of

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

. Located on a slope along the

Dniester River The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

, the village has over 200 wells. The Jewish agricultural colony of

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

was founded in what is now Nimereuca in 1842.

History

The first mention of Nimereuca in historical documents dates to March 24, 1624, when

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

Miron Barnovschi-Movilă Miron Barnovschi Movilă (1590 – 2 July 1633) was the prince of Moldavia from 1626 to 1629 and again in 1633. Life Family background Miron Barnovschi comes from a family of Moldovan boyars of Polish origin (Barnowski). His father Dimitrie ...

(Miron Barnowski-Mohyła) was elevated to the rank of

hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

during the reign of

Radu Mihnea Radu Mihnea (1586 – 13 January 1626) was the voivode (prince) of Wallachia between September 1601 and March 1602, and again between March and May 1611, September 1611 and August 1616, and August 1620 and August 1623. He was also the voivode ...

. Nimereuca is mentioned as one of the villages that was part of Barnovschi's estate. The name Nemireuca is ascribed to a local pan (noble) named Nemirca who ruled over the area during the reign of

Alexander the Good Alexander I, commonly known as Alexander the Good (; – 1 January 1432) was Voivode of Moldavia between 1400 and 1432. He was the son of Roman I and succeeded Iuga to the throne. As ruler he initiated a series of reforms while consolidating ...

during the 15th century. The surname Nemirca ''(Niemirka in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

)'' ultimately derives from the

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

Niemir Niemir, Niemirz, Niemierz – is a male Slavic given name of Old Slavic origin, present in other Slavic nations (in different forms and spellings). The name is composed of ''nie-'' (a negation) as well as ''-mir'' ("peace", "good", "great", " ...

. The census from 1772-1773 alludes to a church in the village, which records dating to 1781 list as being dedicated to the

Dormition of the Mother of God The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the '' Theotokos'' ("Mother ...

. Similarly to other churches in the area, this structure was likely built of twigs, smeared with clay, and covered with reeds. A church school was established in 1862. That sacred space has been modified but still occupies the same site on the bank of the Dniester. Construction on a new stone church began in 1913. That church was closed in 1948 and transformed into a seed depot which functioned until 1985. After a major overhaul, the church has been restored to its original function. The entire region of

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

was annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in 1812 after the end

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

, and with it, Nimereuca came under Russian rule. Romania regained the province a century later when the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

allowed Romania to annex Bessarabia in exchange for free passage of German troops toward Ukraine during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Along with the county councils of

Bălți Bălți () is a city in Moldova. It is the second-largest city in terms of population, area and economic importance, after Chișinău. The city holds the status of municipiu. Sometimes called "the northern capital", it is a major industrial, cu ...

and

Orhei Orhei (), also formerly known as Orgeev (), is a city, municipality and the administrative centre of Orhei District in the Moldova, Republic of Moldova, with a population of 21,065. Orhei is approximately north of the capital, Chișinău. Hist ...

Soroca Soroca is a city and municipality in northern Moldova, situated on the Dniester River about north of Chișinău. It is the administrative center of the Soroca District. History It is known for its well-preserved stronghold, established by t ...

was among the first to ask for the newly proclaimed Moldavian Democratic Republic to unify with the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

. Although a

Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic The Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic or Bessarabian SSR (; , ) was a revolutionary committee created under the patronage of Soviet Russia to establish a Soviet republic within Bessarabia. The only Bessarabian territory under the committe ...

was proclaimed by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

as an autonomous part of

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

in 1919, it was abolished by the military forces of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in September of that year during the

Polish–Soviet War The Polish–Soviet War (14 February 1919 – 18 March 1921) was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution. After the collapse ...

Jewish agricultural colony of Lublin

= Background

= The 1818 Statutory Law (''Așezământul'') of the Russian Governorate of Bessarabia mentions

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

as a separate state (social class), which was further divided into merchants, tradesmen, and land-workers. Unlike the other states in Russia, Jews were not allowed to own agricultural land, with the exception of "empty lots only from the property of the state, for cultivation and for building factories".

= Settlement

= To encourage settlement in the newly annexed area,

Tsar Nicholas I Nicholas I, group=pron (Russian language, Russian: Николай I Павлович; – ) was Emperor of Russia, List of rulers of Partitioned Poland#Kings of the Kingdom of Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 18 ...

issued an

ukaz In Imperial Russia, a ukase () or ukaz ( ) was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leadership (e.g., Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' or the Most Holy Synod) that had the force of law. " Edict" and "decree" are adequate transla ...

(decree) which allowed Jews to settle in Bessarabia "in a higher number", exempting Jews who moved here from taxation for 2 years. At the same time, Jews from

Podolia Podolia or Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and Boh River. It features ...

and

Kherson Governorate Kherson Governorate, known until 1803 as Nikolayev Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kherson. It encompassed in area and had a population of 2,733,612 inhabitants. At t ...

were exempted from taxation for 5 years if they crossed the Dniester and relocated to Bessarabia.Ion Nistor, pp. 208–10 The size of this migration became so large that merchant activity was not enough to sustain the Jewish population of Bessarabia, which led the Tsarist authorities to create 17 Jewish agricultural colonies. Of these, 9 were located in Soroca County where Nimereuca is located. These were Dumbrăveni, (now part of Vădeni commune), Brăciova (Bricevo, now Briceva, part of Târnova commune in Dondușeni district,

Mărculești Mărculești () is a city in Florești District, in northern Moldova, with a population of 2,081 at the 2004 census. The city was once the site of a Jewish agricultural and mercantile colony until its destruction in the Holocaust. In film and ...

(formerly Starăuca/Starovka), Vârtojani (Vertiujeni, formerly Șteap), Căprești, (now part of

Florești Florești may refer to several places: Moldova *Florești, Moldova, a city in Moldova *Florești District, in Moldova *Florești, a village in Cobusca Veche Commune, Anenii Noi District *Florești, a village in Buciumeni, Ungheni, Buciumeni Commu ...

commune) Zguriţa,

Maramonovca Maramonovca is a village in Drochia District, Moldova.Constantinovca and Lublin in what is now Nimereuca. The Jewish agricultural colony of Lublin was officially founded in 1842 on 528 dessiatines of land. By 1856, it was home to 45 Jewish families, and a decade later, that number grew to 75. The settlement owed its name to the city of

, one of

's most important Jewish communities and who were a vital part of that city's life until the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, during which they were relocated by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

to the infamous

Lublin Ghetto The Lublin Ghetto was a World War II ghetto created by Nazi Germany in the city of Lublin on the territory of General Government in occupied Poland. The ghetto inmates were mostly Polish Jews, although a number of Roma were also brought in.Dor ...

where they were ultimately murdered. Lublin in Poland was at one time referred to as "the Jewish

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

," and the ''

rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

'' (headmaster) received the title of rector from the

Polish King Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

in 1567, with rights and privileges equal to those of the heads of Polish universities. A wave of

pogroms in the Russian Empire Pogroms in the Russian Empire () were large-scale, targeted, and repeated Antisemitism, anti-Jewish riots that began in the 19th century. Pogroms began to occur after Russian Empire, Imperial Russia, which previously had very few Jews, acquired te ...

in 1881–1882 and in Kishinev in 1903 seem to have had little effect on these villages. Jews had become a significant part of Bessarabia’s agricultural life on the eve of the First World War, with major roles in its tobacco, wine, fruit, and dairy sectors. The Jewish Colonization Association (known as the ICA from its name in Yiddish) began to support the Bessarabian colonies in the 1890's. By 1914, 42,000 people lived in the Jewish agricultural colonies of the south of the Russian Empire. As a result, in a short period of time a new stratum of Jewish farmers appeared in the Russian Empire, which by the middle of the nineteenth century accounted for 3% of the country's Jewish population, and in Bessarabia this figure reached 16%.

= Holocaust

= Lublin's subsequent history follows that of the rest of Bessarabia, where it was under Romanian rule from 1919 until August 1940 when the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

takes over the area. On June 22, 1941 the

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

invasion of the Soviet Union commenced with

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

. Between June 22 and July 26, 1941, Romanian troops with the help of

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

recovered Bessarabia as well as northern Bukovina. The Soviets employed

scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...

tactics during their forced retreat from Bessarabia, destroying the infrastructure and transporting movable goods to Russia by railway. At the end of July, after a year of Soviet rule, the region was once again under Romanian control. There were cases of Romanian troops "taking revenge" on Jews in Bessarabia during this military operation, in the form of

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s on civilians as well as the murder of Jewish

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

, resulting in several thousand dead. These forces justified the murder of local Jews by claiming that in 1940 some Jews welcomed the Soviet takeover as liberation. At the same time the notorious SS

Einsatzgruppe D (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the impl ...

, operating in the area of the German 11th Army, committed

summary execution In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...

s of Jews under the pretext that they were spies,

saboteurs Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization, destabilization, division, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''sab ...

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

, or under no pretext whatsoever. Some claim that Romanian

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

Marshal

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...

preferred expulsion rather than extermination as the political solution to the "

Jewish Question The Jewish question was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century Europe that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other " national questions", dealt with the civil, legal, national, ...

" in Romania. However, that portion of the Jewish population of Bessarabia and Bukovina which did not flee before the retreat of Soviet troops (147,000) was initially gathered into

ghettos A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

, and then deported during 1941–1942 in

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war, other captives, or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinct from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Convention requires tha ...

es into Romanian-occupied Transnistria, where they perished as part of the "

Final Solution The Final Solution or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question was a plan orchestrated by Nazi Germany during World War II for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews. The "Final Solution to the Jewish question" was the official ...

". After the USSR reoccupied the area in 1944, most of the Jewish community which survived emigrated to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Cerlina

Cerlina (, , ), the commune’s other village, is located about 7 kilometers southwest of Nimereuca following the course of the Dniester. An

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

dating from the Upper

Proterozoic The Proterozoic ( ) is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozo ...

is visible at a bend in the

in Cerlina.

Notable people

Iurie Țap Iurie Țap (born 3 October 1955) is a Moldovan politician. He has been a member of the Parliament of Moldova The parliament of the Republic of Moldova () is the supreme representative body of the Republic of Moldova, the only state legisl ...

References

External links

Lyublin Jewish settlement in Bessarabia Oblast on Shtetlinks
{{Soroca District, Moldova Communes of Soroca District Former Jewish agricultural colonies of Bessarabia Moldova–Ukraine border Populated places on the Dniester