Jewish Roots Travel

Odessa, what a great city with a rich Jewish heritage! We will write a lot about it when our new website will be launched. For now, here are a few photos.

The city was founded in 1794 by the Russian empress Catherine the Great.
For much of the late 1800s and until the Shoah, Jews made up more than 30 % of the population. We spent a few days here, walking, visiting, eating, checking hotels and we are so much looking forward to bringing you here!

Vadul-Rascov in Moldova/ Bessarabia was once a flourishing market-town with a majority of Jewish inhabitants at the end of the 19th century and around 50 % Jewish inhabitants around 1930.

The local Jewish cemetery on the banks of the Dniester river is one of the most impressive in Europe. We visited it last week on our research trip. According to Jewishgen, the fate of Jews of Vadul-Rascov during WWII is unknown. The assumption is that most of them escaped to the Russian side of the Dniester. This is intriguing, we will try to dig deep into the archives both in Romania and Moldova to find out more about the fate of Vadul-Rascov Jews.

We are on another research trip in Moldova (Bessarabia), full of new discoveries! When in Chisinau/ Kishinew, make sure to have a meal at the kosher-style Forshmak Gastronomic Restaurant. Great food, good service and nice decoration.