ZASTAVNA

ZASTAVNA, town in Chernovtsy district, Ukraine, in N. bukovina ; until World War I in Austria and between the two world wars in Romania. Jews probably settled in Zastavna toward the end of Moldavian rule in the area; at the beginning of the Austrian conquest there were already Jews in the town. According to the Austrian census, they numbered 17 in 1774 and 33 in 1776. An organized community was established in the early 19th century, though tombstones in the cemetery attest to a regular community life before that period. A Jewish elementary school was established in 1919, and a synagogue built in 1926. In Zastavna, as in other communities of Bukovina. Ḥasidism had a considerable influence. A Zionist organization was established in Zastavna in 1905. Jews took part in the municipal elections and for some time a Jew was mayor. The Jews in Zastavna were mainly engaged in commerce and crafts, but toward the end of Austrian rule also included wealthy landowners and industrialists (in sugar and alcohol manufacture). The community of Zastavna had jurisdiction over 29 nearby villages, where Jewish landowners were also living. At the beginning of World War I, in 1914, many of the Jews living in Zastavna escaped to Vienna, and most did not return. -Holocaust and Contemporary Periods In World War II, during the Holocaust period (1941–44) the 635 Jews in Zastavna, like other Jews in Bukovina, were deported to transnistria . After the war about 120 survivors returned, but their number gradually diminished through emigration to Israel and elsewhere. By 1971 no Jews remained in Zastavna. (Yehouda Marton)