KILIYA

KILIYA (Rom. Chilia-Nouǎ), city in Izmail district, Bessarabia, today Moldova. Jews are first mentioned there in 1545. In the latter part of the century Jewish merchants from Constantinople used to pass through Kiliya on their way to Lvov. Information on a Jewish community is available only from the early 18th century (1713; 1715). There were 27 Jewish families (out of a total of 478) in 1808, and 249 persons in 1827. The community grew as a result of Jewish immigration into Bessarabia during the 19th century, and numbered 2,153 (18.5% of the total) in 1897. In 1930 there were 1,969 Jews (11.3% of the total). Before World War II the communal institutions included two old-age homes and a tarbut school and kindergarten. In 1940 it was annexed by the Soviet Union and incorporated in the Moldavian SSR. The Jews were transferred to Bolgrad and killed there by the German and Romanian armies when they entered Bessarabia in July 1941. (Eliyahu Feldman)