Violențele (anti)evreiești din Basarabia în anii 1881-1882
Anti-Jewish Violence’s in Bessarabia in 1881-1882

Summary/Abstract: The situation of the Jewish population in the Russian Empire in the 19th century was very uncertain. A big wave of pogroms took place in South-Western regions of the Empire in 1881, scientist have found documents that show 300 pogroms occurred in the period of one year. After the pogroms a number of 2 million of Jewish inhabitants emigrated from all over the Russian Empire and settled in United States, France, Brazil, Argentina and Great Britain. The author elaborates on the historiography of the subject, the existing terminology in studies about anti-Jewish pogroms, the role of central and local authorities in these events, particular cases and general one of instigators and their victims. The main purpose of the article is to determine the “price” of described events in Bessarabia, the forms and structure of the anti-Jewish violence’s. The cases of Chișinău, Criuleni (Orhei) in 1881 and Leova, Edineț, Dumbrăveni, Hârtopul-Mic in 1882 do not demonstrate massive pogrom movements, but underline the existing peril of their apparition. In 1881, Bessarabia had a population of 1,365,307, the Jewish inhabitants were 151,971. The author questions if the events from Bessarabia in the mentioned period weren’t as unimportant as western and Russian scientists presented them? The question is raised upon a careful study of unpublished documents from the Central Archive in Jerusalem. This investigation represents an invitation for a start of an academic discussion on this particular question and a completion of the historiography of the Republic of Moldova, in order to propose an alternative perspective on events that were forgotten and unknown in Bessarabia’s history.

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