Zguriţa (Romanian; Yiddish: זגוריצה, Russian: Згурица) is a commune in Drochia district in the north of Moldova composed of a single village, Zguriţa. 2004 population was 2,840. 1930 Jewish population: 2,541.
Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Romania, Volume II [November 2012]
WIKIPEDIA: The village was founded by merging three localities: Zgura in the North, Nicoreşti in North-West, two Romanian villages mentioned before 1812, and Zguriţa (little Zgura), in SW, a Jewish agricultural colony founded in 1853 on an area of over 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) rented by Jewish settlers in Bessarabia. It was the last Jewish agricultural settlement in Bessarabia. Nicoreşti was eventually separated from Zguriţa. In 1878, the new Jewish owner canceled the lease of the estate; and Zguriţa lost its status as a Jewish agricultural colony. From 1890 to 1903 further Jewish settlement in Zguriţa was prohibited by the May Laws issued by the Russian Tsarist authorities on May 3, 1882. In 1897, Zguriţa's Jewish population was 1,802, 85% of the total population of the village. In 1918, Bessarabia united with Romania. The Romanian agrarian reform in 1922 granted plots of land to 150 Jews of Zguriţa. In 1925, the 193 members of the local loan fund included 40 farmers, 25 artisans, and 113 tradesmen. At the 1930 census, Zguriţa had a population of 3,028. It was part of Plasa Bădiceni of Soroca County. The Zionist Tarbut organization supported a kindergarten and an elementary school. In 1940, the Soviet Union with the consent of Nazi Germany, occupied Bessarabia, and created the Moldavian SSR, closing privately-owned businesses, and religious schools. The agricultural community was collectivized. A year later, Romanian Army, now allied with the Nazi Germany, drove the Soviets out and recovered Bessarabia. On July 3, 1941, Jews of Zguriţa who did not flee were rounded up, sent to temporary ghettos in Bessarabia, and soon after were deported to Transnistria, where they were crammed into small area ghettos, subject to malnutrition and disease. The majority of Jews died in Transnistria. In 1944, Soviets recovered Bessarabia, and re-established Moldavian SSR. At the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it became the independent Republic of Moldova. Today, the population of the village is largely Moldovan (Romanian), with some Ukrainians and Russians. Currently, the Jewish cemetery lies in ruins. The former Tarbut school was expanded and now is a public school. [November 2012]
Residents:
- Mordechai Goldenberg, Hebrew writer and Yiddish poet
- Yenta Mash, Yiddish writer
- Pedro and Mauricio Sprinberg, Yiddish journalists
CEMETERY:
- Photos and stories [April 2016]