In search of the lost old town of Chisinau. Memories and fragments for future development

The article was written by Bo Larsson and Anatolie Gordeev

Chişinău and Cernăuţi (Czernowitz, Cernivci, a city from Ucraina) are two cities with many parallel historic features. In many ways similar – but yet so different! This is especially palpable in the oldest town districts and in the city centres developed in the late 19^th century and the early 20^th century. The oldest districts – her referred to as the Old Towns – met quite different fates during and after World War II, much due to the special historic situations in the two cities. I have written about this in my contribution to Identităţile Chişinăului, ediţia a doua, 2015, and here we want to deepen the discussion, also concerning the difficulties to obtain information about the lost parts of Old Town of Chişinău.

As a part of the research project „The Memory of Vanished Population Groups in Today 's East- and Central European Urban Environments. Memory Treatment and Urban Planning in L'viv Cernivci, Chişinău and Wroclaw” we have tried to describe as thorough as possible the urban social and built environments before World War II. In all cities studied the war including Holocaust and the changes after the war – expulsions and forced migration, new population groups, new borders and externally imposed communist regimes, putting the old urban society and cultural environment to a sudden and brutal end. In some cities, the old buildings were pretty well preserved. New population groups without roots in the areas and a new type of society took over buildings and built environments representing quite other people and societies. In other cities, large areas were destroyed during the war. In some cases, the new regimes reconstructed parts of the old city environment - but with new contents. In other cases – like in the Old Town of Chişinău, the idea was more or less to erase history and to build something quite new.

In this article we will begin with a discussion of the similarities and differences between Chişinău and Cernăuţi, especially concerning the Old Town areas. Then we will describe the difficulties we met in our work to reconstruct the environment of the Old Town of Chişinău before World War II. We will also describe the result of our efforts and show, where further investigations are needed.

Historical background – development until World War I

Both cities have their origins in medieval rural settlements, successively developed to be small cities. The first villages in the Cernăuţi developed in the 11^th and the 12^th centuries. In the 13^th century, after several wars and destructions, a more urbanlike settlement began to develop, where the Old Town of Cernăuţi is today situated. In this region there was an ethnically mixed population of what today is called Romanians and Ukrainians. When Moldova became an independent principality in 1359, Cernăuţi belonged to this. The first document describing Cernăuţi as a town-like settlement is from 1408. Based on this, the city celebrated its 600 years anniversary in 2008. During the 15^th century and the rulers as the princes Alexandru the Great and Ştefan the Great, the importance of the town grew. From 1538 the town, as the whole principality was under Ottoman sovereignty, but the Moldova maintained certain independence. In the 18^th century a Jewish settlement began.

Chişinău developed somewhat later than Cernăuţi. It was founded as a monastery village in 1436, within the principality of Moldova. It was confirmed in a chronicle in 1466 as a village with a mill and an estate, where the Mazarachi church is today. In 1666 Chişinău is mentioned as a town. As Cernăuţi, Chişinău came under Ottoman rule in the 16^th century. In the 18^th century Jews, Greeks and Armenians began to settle in the town.

As the Russians successively pressed back the Ottomans in the 18^th century, a power vacuum appeared in Bukovina, including Cernăuţi, in northern Moldavia. Russia and Austria both tried to annex this area, but finally it came under Austrian rule in 1774. Very soon the Austrian government established a program for development of Bukovina with Cernăuţi – called Czernowitz – as main centre. Bukovina was first annexed to Austrian Galicia, but was in 1849 defined as a Crown Land under Austrian sovereignty with Cernăuţi as capital city. Germans, Poles, further Jews and others settled in the town during the 19^th century and there was a rapid development. In the years around 1900,

Cernăuţi/Czernowitz was already a kind of “small Vienna”, a cultural melting pot and a contemporary capital city of Central European character. Mainly five languages were spoken; Romanian, Ukrainian, German, Yiddish and Polish, where German developed to be a lingua franca, in daily life most spoken by emancipated Jews.

In Chişinău, there was a parallel, but different development. The Ottomans were driven back in 1812 by the Russian army. Half of historic Moldova was included the Russian empire, defined as the Governorate Bessarabia, with Chişinău as capital city. Parallel to Cernăuţi, the Russian government very soon established plans for a rapid development of Chişinău. From the Russian empire an extensive settlement began, mostly of Russian and Russian Jews, but also Ukrainians, Armenians, Greeks, Poles, Germans and others. Like Cernăuţi, Chişinău had around 1900 developed to a “small big city” and contemporary capital city, but with a more East European character. There were many mother tongues in the city, but Russian was not only the lingua franca, but also the only real official language. The emancipated Jews adapted Russian language, parallel to the adaption of German language in Cernăuţi.

The language policies of the two empires were different. The Austro-Hungarian had a more multi­ethnic attitude, accepting different ethnicities, languages and religions, but promoting German as lingua franca in the Austrian parts of the empire. This means that although German was the most important language in Cernăuţi, all five languages were accepted, and many inhabitants spoke several languages. There was a special, tolerant „Spirit of Czernowitz” [Geist von Czernowitz.) There was no real aim to „germanise” the city or the region or make the different ethnicities suppressed by Germans/ Austro-Germans. The Russian growth, on the other hand, also implied a successive Russification, with less regard to other languages and cultures.

When the two towns came under Austrian and Russian rule respectively, they were structured as large villages with small buildings along irregular roads. Under new, imperial rule, new urban centres were developed at hills, adjacent to the old towns. Urban planning and development had parallels but also very important differences, connected with the political aims and conditions. Both cities had an immense growth, especially in the 19^th century, with government buildings, municipal administrative buildings, cathedrals and churches, archiépiscopal palaces, synagogues, schools, theatre and concert buildings and other cultural and public buildings, parks, market squares, commercial streets, hotels and restaurants etc, as well as industry, technical installations and railways, tramways, sewage and water systems. But there was an evident difference: In Cernăuţi, most of the new streets followed the pattern of old roads and paths. In the Old Town, some streets were improved and others left as small paths. In the new town districts there was a successive growth uphill, where old roads were changed to contemporary streets. In some small districts, e. g. around the city theatre, new urban patterns were layout. There was no clear limit between the Old Town and the new town, it was a smooth transition, where the administrative centre successively was moved uphill, and the lower town had a mixture of simple small buildings and somewhat larger buildings. Some old streets, however, remained rather unchanged, inhabited mostly by poor Jews.

In Chişinău, the planning strategy was quite otherwise: A new gridiron urban pattern was separately laid out alongside the Old Town, although connected to it by new streets. The new town had a large extension, on both sides of a broad boulevard. It was a large pattern to be successively filled with buildings. This process took more than 100 years, but the structure was decided from the beginning. On the other hand, the Old Town kept its old, village-like structure, and underwent very few changes, although occasional new and larger buildings came between the old ones. The contrast between the Old and the New Town was significant, as well as the limit between the two parts of he city. People living in the upper, New Town, seldom visited the lower, Old Town. In Cernăuţi, people from the Upper Town now and them came to the Lower Town. An obvious reason was that the main street to the railway station passed through the Old Town and its old central place. In both cities, however, the Old Town continued to be vivid district with markets and an intense daily life, although characterised by poor people. The Old Towns also represented the historical ties with the old Moldovan towns. This was especially evident in Chişinău, with a large number of old churches in the Old Town.

In the years before World War I, the largest ethnic group in both cities were Jews; around 50 % of the population in Chişinău and 40 % in Cernăuţi. There were mainly two groups of Jews, on one hand poor people, mostly Yiddish-speaking and living in the Old Towns. On the other hand, more affluent people, living in the Upper Towns. They spoke German in Cernăuţi and Russian in Chişinău and had a leading role in commercial and cultural life of their cities.

Historical background – interwar years

After 1918 the whole historic Moldova was reunited within the limits of Romania. The two cities were important, as the largest cities in the country after Bucharest. In both cities this was, however, not without complications, since the majority of the inhabitants were not Romanians – although Romanians were in majority in the surrounding rural districts. (Outside Cernăuţi, the majority was Romanian south of the city and Ukrainians north of the city.) The problems grew when the Romanian government grew more nationalistic, and had little understanding and respect concerning the special conditions in Cernăuţi and Chişinău. However, behind the official policy, the multi-ethnic culture could continue, especially in Cernăuţi. In spite of this, the situation for the Jews was drastically changed. In Cernăuţi, the German-speaking Jews used to have very good relations with the emperor and the central authorities in Vienna. Often they had good international contacts both inside and outside the empire, as European citizens. Austria and Europe was their homeland. In nationalist Romania they did not leel at home in the same way. Several Romanian political activists looked upon the Cernăuţi Jews as having a lacking loyalty to Romania, as a possible fifth column. But their favourite country, the multi­ethnic Austrian empire, did not exist any more.

In Chişinău, the conditions were even more problematic. The new Soviet Union did not accept Romanian rule of Bessarabia, but the Russian inhabitants of Chişinău had probably mixed feelings about Russia, because of the October revolution. The Russian-speaking Jewish population had cultural affiliation with Russia but not with the Soviet regime. Their relations with tsarist Russia had also been problematic, due to the terrible pogroms, especially in Chişinău in 1903. Notwithstanding these conditions, many Romanian politicians would regard the Jews as a possible fifth-column, wanting to reunite Chişinău with Russia.

The Old Towns in Cernăuţi and Chişinău represented the old Moldovan heritage and thus also the most genuine Romanian heritage in the two cities. This did not mean, however, that a special interest was devoted onto the Old Towns in Romanian interwar years. The main interest concerning urban development was new housing in the upper parts of the towns – in Chişinău, as urban renewal or on remaining empty lots within the gridiron scheme. In both cities, interesting examples of early modernism and Romanian Brâncoveanu- style were erected. Gradually the Romanian society “took over” the more Austrian and Russian influenced parts of the cities. Chişinău Old Town was dominated by Jews. Address books from 1930 and 1940 show that according to their names, most

families living in the Old Town were Jewish. A map at the site oldchisinau.com/synagogue/Synagogues- Kishinev-map.html shows 68 synagogues in Chişinău before the Soviet take over in 1940. 43 of them were in the Old Town. In the Old Town there were also 8 historic churches.

Chişinău Old Town in World War II and its aftermaths

The Soviet annexation of both cities in 1940 implied the first severe stroke against the traditional urban societies. For Cernăuţi, the new regime was most foreign, since this city had no historic ties to Russia at all. Chişinău, on the other hand, had historic ties to Russia as a kind of colonial power, but longer connexions with the old Moldovan culture. Communist rule was, however a foreign system, forcedly introduced from outside. Important parts of the civil society in both cities, such as shops, other establishments and cultural and political organisations were destroyed during the Soviet rule 1940-41, including much of the daily life in the Old Towns. Thousands of citizens, with an overrepresentation of Jews, were defined as “enemies of the people” and deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and other places,

When the Romanian troops, with German assistance, recaptured both cities in 1941, it could be regarded as going back to a more normal situation, as being part of Romania. But Romania had changed. In the last years of the 1930s, nationalist and intolerant forces had gained more power, and from September 1940, Ion Antonescu was a fascist dictator (conducător) of Romania, allied with Nazi Germany. He strongly supported the Holocaust policy, and immediately after recapturing Bukovina and Bessarabia and occupying Transnistria (the whole area between the rivers Nistrul/Dnister and Bug and the Black Sea), Romanian and German troops began persecuting and murdering Jews. Antonescu and Romanian troops were primarily responsible 280 000-380 000 Holocaust victims in these regions. Almost all victims came from Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transnistria. After the battle of Stalingrad, deportations of Jews from Romania stopped. Very few Jews from “the old kingdom” – Romania before World War II were deported or killed. Beside Hitler and Stalin, no other European lea­der was responsible for as many murders as Antonescu, but after 1942 he prevented deportation of another 200 000-300 000 Jews, demanded by Hitler.

In Cernăuţi, the traditional Geist von Czernowitz partially still existed, and the ethnic Romanian mayor Traian Popovici managed to resist the pressure from Bucharest and save around 20.000 Jews from deportation. In this city, around half of the Jews survived, but few of them returned to Soviet Cernivci after the war. The old Jewish society never revived, but was partly replaced by a temporary new „Soviet” Jewish society without roots in the city and region. The Holocaust ghetto was in the Old Town. Most buildings remained after the war but the old city life had totally vanished.

In Chişinău, there in the 1930s around 50 000 Jews in the beginning of 1940 (45 % of the population), and 40 000 in the end of the first Soviet occupation. Many of them fled with the retreating Soviet troops in 1941. When Romanian and German soldiers captured the city in July 1941, around 10 000 Jews were shot, and in the next few weeks another 10 000. On 25^th July 1941, the remaining 11 000 Jews were locked into the ghetto, established within the Old Town and later deported to Transnistria. Some Jews could rescue themselves by going to the „Old Kingdom” of Romania, where deportations had not begun – and would not be done later either. The fate of the other Jews of Chişinău is rather unknown, but in 1944 there was almost no Jews left. According to the website www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, totally 53 000 Jewish inhabitants of Chişinău were murdered by the Nazis, which must include the Romanian troops. After the war, around 5 000 Jews returned from eastern areas of the Soviet Union, and other Soviet Jews, without roots in the city came. In 1970 there were once more around 50 000 Jews in Chişinău, but most of them later emigrated to Israel and other countries.

The preserved and the vanished parts of the Old Town.

It is evident that almost the whole pre-war urban life of the Old Town vanished during World War II, but so did also, unlike as in Cernăuţi, a large part of the buildings. This process had several steps.

-           First, there was a severe earthquake on 10^th November 1940, where the death of 78 persons was reported, as well as 2 795 affected buildings, of which 172 totally destroyed (according to Wikipedia). An estimation is that some more important buildings and around 500 smaller houses were either totally destroyed or rather serious damaged. It is difficult to find out, which buildings were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, but probably several of them were in the Old Town including at the old market, Piaza Veche,. When the Soviet troops captured Chişinău in summer 1940, there were no notable destrictions.

-                      Secondly, the retreating Soviet army in June - July 1941 set fire to a large number of impor­tant buildings, such as the City Hall, the power station, the water station, the railway station and the radio station, and generally the bui- lkdngs along the central part of present Bule­vard Stefan cel Mare si Sfânt.

-                      Already on 25^th July, 1941, the ghetto in the Old Town was delimited. Its fences followed present Strada Alexandru cel Bun, Strada Pe­tru Rareş, Strada Romana, Strada Sf. Gheorghe and some other streets. The old market, Piaza Veche, as well as the Armenian Church, Soborul Veche, the Ină/tărzV Church and the Sf. Haralambie Church were inside the ghetto. Buildin­gs visible at a few remaining photos from the ghetto were not damaged or destroyed. Some interviewed persons, who survived the ghetto do not either remember any severe destructi­ons. But when the ghetto was closed after all Jews had been deported in the end of 1941, many buildings were looted and some on them set on fire to cover traces of crime. This was the third destruction, but we do not exactly know the number of buildings.

From the beginning of 1942 to spring 1944 Romanian authorities used materials (stone, wood, tiles etc.) from destroyed buildings for reparation needs. On 31^st october, King Mihai and his mother Helena visited Chişinău. To this event, all the ruins and traces of the ear­th quake, and maybe also several other ruins were removed. We do not know very much about the fate of the Old Town with the ghe­tto area, but much information can be found on a German aerial photo from 3^rd May, 1944. A close look at the aerial photo shows that the buildings at the Piaza Veche and north of it and around Soborul Veche had disappeared, as well as buildings at the south end of Piaza Sf. Ilie. They were levelled to the earth, nothing was left and it is difficult to see any traces of the buildings. This means that those buildings - all inside the former ghetto limits – had probably been destroyed to the ground when the ghetto was liquidated, and replaced by empty areas. Other buildings – both in the Old Town and in he gridiron town – remained without roofs, merely as walls. The original building structure can clearly be distinguished. Later, some of these ruins were restored, while others were torn down. When the Soviet troops recaptured the city on 24th August, 1944, there was no severe firther destruction.

-                      On an aerial photo from 1947 can be seen that a larger area around Soborul Veche and along Strada Trascanu to Plata Veche had been cleared. This could either be due to destructions in the light in summer 1944, or due to Soviet demolitions shortly after the war. We know that the whole area around Plata Veche and in the central part of the Old Town was to be demolished to give space for the new urban development, designed by the architects Alexei Shchusev, Robert Kurtz and others.

We know, what was destroyed before 3 ^rd May 1944, and what was destroyed or demolished after that day, but we do not know exactly when the different building vanished, and why and how. On the aerial photos from 1944 and 1947, large  parts of the Old Town renaimed, e.g. at Piața Sf. Ilie and in the north-eastern part of the Old Town, which vanished in connection with implementing the new urban scheme. It is also remarkable, that the new urban design was in fact an extension of the Russian gridion plan from the 19 ^th centry The Russian plan replaced the heart of the old Moldovan town – this could be understood as an intentional Russification of Moldovan/Romanian Chișinău. Today, only minor parts of the Old Town of Chișinău remain with old street patterns and buildings. There is a smaller  area near the Pushkin museum in the north part, and a somewhat larger area around the street Alexandru Vlăhuță, the street Octavian Goga and the street Cojocarilor in the South. It is of very high importance to preserv these areas from the future and to let them develop according to their own premises. In the gridiron city, some old building, such as the City Hall, were repaired, and others replaced by new building, adapted to Soviet aims and ideals.

In search of the lost parts of the Old town

Not only are we interested in finding out when and how  large parts of the Old Town vanished, but also of how it looked like and how the daily life was. Unfortunately, there are no available maps, exactly showing the building before World War II. There are several old maps showing streets and street names but not the built structure. In Cernăuţi there are very detailed map from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20 ^th century showing every single house, including small backyard sheds. In Chişinău, we have found nothing like this. We had to search for puzzle pieces in order to reconstruct the vanished parts of the Old Town step by step. The first piece we found in Lică Sainciuc’s book Colina antenelor de bruiaj which contains a map, showing the central part of the new post-war street pattern laid upon a detailed map of the Old Town around Piaţa Veche. This map is a part of the Soviet urban planning in the late 1940s. The new plans were drawn upon maps showing the built structure at the end of the war. These maps, however, do not show the buildings that already had vanished when the new urban plans were designed, and the plan in the book does not cover all demolished areas.

The next step was to search for old archive maps at the National Archive and the National Library. We found the plans made by the urban planning institute “Moldavstroyproekt” in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They were drawn at the same ground map as shown in the book by Lică Sainciuc. Old buildings, properties and streets can be distinguished the other half was until further notice marked as hatched areas.

The next step was possible when we found the aerial photo from 1944. Based on this photo, we made a new map, showing all buildings existing unscathed or as ruins in 1944, and also vanished buildings, which could be fairly identified by weaker traces. But still there were white spots, among other sites at Plata Veche.

The third step was to examine closer old photos. There was a photo from the ghetto years with a crowd of people outside some kind of a shop at a street crossing. By comparing with the aerial photo, we tried to find out the location. We found several sites rather similar to the photo, but everywhere there were details that did not fit. Then we found a photo from around 1900 towards Plata Veche. By closer examination we could see that it was taken from the tower of the Armenian church. This gave us information about some buildings at Piaţa Veche, but most important, we could identify one of the buildings on the market place as the same as on the ghetto photo. Now we compared this with a map from 1940, showing simplified some buildings at the square. We had thought that those buildings were simple market sheds, but in fact they were more solid buildings ol the same kind that along the streets. So, it was not a street corner, showed at the photo, but a passage between the buildings at Piaţa Veche. In his mentioned book, Lică Sainciuc also brings a drawing by Petre Chicicu from 1938 towards Soborul Veche. A closer view indicates that the picture shows the short street coming from south to Piaţa Veche. The buildings in front of the church are situated on the market place, and one of them is in fact the back side of a building visible at the ghetto photo and also at the photo from around 1900. This way, we could reconstruct more at Piaţa Veche.

The aerial photo from 1944, together with a panorama photo from around 1900 in the important book Centrul istoric al Chişinăului la începtul secolului al XXI-lea gives interesting information about vanished buildings in the north eastern part of the Old Town. North-east of the Armenian church, near the crossing between present Bulevard Grigore Vieru and Strada Albi^oara was the small Strada Decebal, also called Synagogue Street with as many as 6 synagogues. The largest of them can clearly be seen at both photos. In archives we found a drawing of it, called “the Three Synagogues”, also Sinagoga Mare. It was outside the 1941-42 ghetto and still unscathed in May 1944, but demolished to give space for the new Soviet urban scheme. A photo of the ghetto entrance could also be identified to be at the later vanished Strada Fantana Blanduzia, not far from the Armenian church and Sinagoga Mare. Another photo of the ghetto fence is from Strada Arhanghelui Mihai, where the old buildings still remain. It is behind the vanished Soborul Veche.

Still, there were some empty spots at our map. Considering the surroundings, the traditional way of urban design and some signs in the terrain, we could make a qualified guess of the vanished buildings. Street numbers at some maps could help to decide the number of houses along certain street sections. So finally we could make a map, where preserved buildings were shown in black colour, identified vanished buildings in red colour and “guessed” buildings in orange colour.

At the archives we also found the documents concerning inhabitants along several streets in the Old Town in 1930 or 1940 (before the Soviet army arrived). Here, owners or family heads were listed by street numbers. It was possible to make detailed maps of these streets before the war, with information on street numbers and inhabitants or owners. There were some uncertainties in these maps, but they gave a fairly good information about these streets in interwar years. Many, but not all questions were answered.

Need for deepened studies – perspective for the future

It is evident, that somewhere should exist documents missing in our studies. First of all, a ground map, showing all buildings before World War II, and used as a basis for the Soviet ground map, made in the late 1940s. Secondly, the Soviet ground map as a whole. Probably, there are also additional archive documents about inhabitants and property owners in interwar years and before the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia in 1940. In Cernăuţi, we found detailed information about properties, nationalised in autumn 1940, with names, professions and ethnicities of the former proprietors. Such documents could also exist for especially the Old Town. It should be kept in mind that the aim of Soviet planning - and Romanian planning from 1941 as well - was to erase the Old Town totally, only 4-5 buildings declared as architectural monuments, were to be saved as small solitaires in a modernist city. The Old Town did not exist at all at tourist maps from the 1970s, and remaining parts are today generally threatened by the proposed extended Bulevard Dimitrie Cantemir and adjacent new buildings. It is of utmost importance, not only to preserve what remains of the Old Town, but also to make thorough reconstructions for museums and books of the vanished urban environment.

Several of the remaining buildings in the Old Town are worthy of further detail studies. Such, limited investigations could give much interesting information of Old Chisinau. As an example could be mentioned the preserved buildings at the south side of Strada Alexandru Vlâhuta, nr. 2-18, with characteristic malls and between side buildings. In 1930, here were registered the inhabitants or owners Gherasim Perelmuter, Ghers and Feiga Perlmuter, Elea Cogan, Mnita Ruvinstein, Sura Fişier, Mordco Dvantman, Dumitru Marcov, Sura Zainblat, Isac Goldenberg and Sonia Brahman. At nr. 18 was also the synagogue Scvirer Beis Amedriţ. Deeper archive studies of these buildings and properties could be most fruitful.

Another interesting property is Street Alexandru Hâjdeu (former Street Gheorghe Lazar) nr. 71, with a characteristic court mall, accessible through a central gate. We have not yet any archive material about it. A third example is Strada Octavian Goga (former Strada Vineri) nr. 14, which earlier had three sections, each of them probably with a dwelling and a small shop. In 1930, the property was owned by Perlea Surbinschi. At the corner between Strada Alexandru Hâjdeu and Strada Gheorghe Coşbuc there is a small triangular green space edged by some well-preserved buildings. We have not yet any archive material on these buildings, but according to testimonies by the ghetto survivor Sam Aroni, this may have been the site, where 450 youths were gathered on 1st August 1941 for work, promised to have food afterwards. But instead, all of them were shot outside the city. This ought to be commemorated with a monument at this site.

There are also several vanished environments that require deeper studies. Especially could be mentioned Piaţa Veche including the buildings on the market place, the long Piaţa Sf. Ilie and Strada Decebal (Synagogue Street) with all its synagogues. Very little is also known about the long street Strada Căpriana, traversing a broad section of the Old Town. From the parallel Strada Cahul there is archive material about the inhabitants in 1930. Parts of the old buildings are preserved and there were several synagogues.

It is desirable that studies like the proposed will be done in the future and represented at museums and in books. There is a large field of research to be done. We hope that our efforts are only a beginning.