Tag #149013 - Interview #78036 (Mendel Kreimer)

Kishinev was a small town, the majority of its population, which was 50,000 or 60,000, if my memory doesn't fail me, was Jewish [According to the all- Russian census of 1897, in Kishinev there were 108,483 residents, 50,237 Jews among them.] Jews resided in various districts of the town wherever they could afford, but tried to have Jewish neighbors around to feel safer. The locals respected Jews who believed in God and respected other religions. There were Russians and Bulgarians in Kishinev. Romanians believed all Bessarabians to be too Russified and had little trust in us. Bessarabia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for 300 years and then there were 108 years of the Russian tsarist rule. Of course, we were more attached to the Russian culture, though the Romanian culture also had its positive sides, but still they are so different, these two cultures.