DUBOSSARY

DUBOSSARY, town on the Dniester River, E. Moldova. Founded at the end of the 18th century as a Russian fortress, Dubossary developed as a nearby settlement. The inhabitants were employed in the timber trade and log rafting. Jews traded in grain, wine, and prunes. They also grew tobacco. There were 2,506 Jews living in Dubossary (about 1,000 in the town itself) and its vicinity, including the towns of Grigoriopol and Ananyev, by 1847. In 1897 there were 5,220 Jews in Dubossary (43% of the total population). In April 1882 a pogrom was staged, and two Jews were killed, and much property was looted and destroyed. In the beginning of the 20th century the community operated a talmud torah, nine ḥadarim, and four private schools. An attempt to resuscitate the blood libel was made in 1903. During the civil war of 1918–20 Jewish self-defense was organized and the community remained relatively free from the pogroms that occurred at the time. Thousands of refugees making their way to Romania in 1920–22 passed through the town, and many from Dubossary itself also crossed the border. There were 3,630 Jews in Dubossary in 1926 (81% of the total population), dropping to 2,198 (total population 4,250) in 1939. In the 1930s there were about 400 Jewish artisans organized in nine cooperatives, and 227 farmers raising tobacco, while others worked as laborers and clerks. The Germans occupied Dubossary in mid-July 1941. At the end of August a ghetto was set up, and on September 1 the town was annexed to Romanian Transnistria. On September 11, 1941, the Jews were ordered to assemble. By September 28 about 6,000 Jews had been murdered. In September 1943 thousands of Jews were brought to Dubossary from Bessarabia and Moldavia and "liquidated" there. Some managed to join the partisans in the neighborhood. After the liberation of Dubossary on August 14, 1944, the Soviet Commission for Investigation of Nazi Crimes found that about 18,000 Jewish victims were buried in mass graves near the town. Approximately 100 to 150 survivors returned after the war. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. Rubin (ed.), Dubossary (Heb., and Yid., 1965); Dubnow, Hist Russ, 3 (1920), 70–1. Add. Bibliography: PK. (Yehuda Slutsky / Shmuel Spector (2nd ed.)