ALTERNATE NAMES: IŢCANI [ROM], ITZKANY [GER], ITZKAN and איצקאַן [YID], IŢCANI NOUI, IŢCANI NOI, IŢCANII-NOUI, IŢCANII-NOI, NEU ITZKANY, IŢCANI GARA/ 47°41' N, 26°15' E, 3 miles N/NW of Suceava, on the former Austrian-Romanian border.
- Der Geshichte der Juden in der Bukowina, vol. II
(Tel Aviv, 1962)
The settlement was founded in the fifteenth century as a the Monastery Iţcani's village with people from the country or from Poland exempted from taxes. 1775-1918, following the annexation of Bukovina by the Habsburg Empire, the village served as the railway and road Austro-Hungarian border point.1870s when the Austrian Empire decided to build a major railway station (picture above) in the sleepy hamlet, nestled along the valley of the Suceava River, rather than in the town of Suceava, located upon a hill. After WWII, the village became part of the Suceava district. The current district Iţcani on the left bank of the Suceava River is called Iţcanii to distinguish from Old Iţcanii on the other side of the river to the center of Suceava. The synagogue was located directly behind the Catholic church but was torn down about 2001. The empty plot of land where the foundations are still visible.
CEMETERY:
The Jewish cemetery is located down a dirt road and up a small hill in the backyard of a typical village house. Al the inscriptions are in German and Hebrew. Persons buried there include a parliament member (Austrian empire), several mayors, pharmacists, technical directors of the sugar factory, doctors, and lawyers. The birth, death, and marriage records for the Itzkany Jewish community were recorded in the Suceava community record books where many children from the town attended school. In 1916 the population of Itzkany was 1,674, about 40% of the population: Source: I.E. Torouţiu. Poporaţia şi clasele sociale din Bucovina. Bucureşti, 1916.
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [June 2016]