Ruse

Alternate names:�Ruse and ???? [Bulg], Rus�uk [Turk], Rusciuc [Rom], Russe [Ger], Rouss� [Fr], Rousse, Rustchuk, Rustschuk, Rushtuk, Rushchuk, Ru�?uk, Rusciuk, Rustciuk, Ruschuq, Ruschuk, Roustchouk, Rouschouk., and Rustchuk. 43�50' N, 25�57' E. Ruse is located in the NE Bulgaria on the right bank of the Danube, opposite the Romanian city of Giurgiu, approximately 47�mi S of Bucharest, 124�mi from the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, and 186�mi from the capital Sofia most significant Bulgarian river port, Ruse serves as an important part of Bulgaria's international trade. In the late 19th century, cosmopolitan Ruse's multiethnic population that was seven percent Jews. �1920 Jewish population: 3,854. Often called the�Little Vienna, Ruse is known for its exquisite and well-maintained 19th- and 20th-century�Neo-Baroque and�Neo-Rococo architecture.

• Wikipedia. Jewish population: 1,943 out of 26,156. [Sep 2014]
• City of�Ruse�- The Small Vienna -�Bulgaria�Travel
• Jewish Virtual Library [Sep 2014]
• Residential district Charodeika: Jews first settled in Ruse at the end of the 18th century. Ruse had a Jewish population of�150 people about 2010. Important Jewish residents of Russe

• Synagogue: Ivan Vazov Sq. 4,�Russe, Bulgaria�Tel : 082-270-540

• The Jewish community dates from 1792 when some Jews fled�Belgrade when it was captured by Emperor Joseph II of Austria in 1788. It was retaken by the Turks in1789. The Continental blockade and sieges of 1807 and 1811 destroyed the prosperity of the community. The Russians converted the synagogue into a stable for their horses, and finally destroyed it by fire. Almost the entire Jewish community escaped to Bucharest. Ten families of refugees returned with several families from Nicopolis. When the1828�War of Greek Independence drove several thousand Moslem emigrants from Rumania to Rustchuk;, a Jewish resident named Perez Alkalai generously provided them with all necessary supplies.�Vali Pasha�rewarded him with �a "berat" which exempted him permanently from all taxation. Thirty-two Jewish families settled in Ruse until 1842. According to the�Jewish community�register Jewish households numbered 214 in 1852. The first official census in Tuna Vilayet shows that the number of 956 Jews. In 1837 and 1845 the Jewish congregation was the part the imperial bounty. Ruse is the most prosperous city in Bulgaria for Sephardic Jews, most in commerce and banking. Chief Rabbi Shabbethai Behar Abraham gave the community a superb library. Two synagogues: one large and a smaller one called "?ahallah ?adosh Shalom." �Two schools, supported by the Alliance Isra�lite Universelle, had a 1905 attendance of 272 boys and 204 girls, as well as a Zionist society, a chevra ?addisha, a chief rabbi, and a rabbinical tribunal. A small Ashkenazic community has its own services. A Jewish press �was established in1894; and two Jud�o-Spanish papers, "La Alborada" and "El Amigo,"were published . 1904 Jewish population was 4,030 out of 48 000. The Jewish population peaked in 1910 with 3,854 Jews. Of �theJewish factories and firms, most �engaged in the manufacture of clothes, hats, explosives, cellulose, paper, polish, dyes and glues. Jews also did metalworking, woodworking, cabinet making, and the production of sugar and sugar products. A Jewish Popular Bank exsted. Jewish merchants traded beyond the limits of the Balkan market. 1913 Jewish population: @4 000 out of 33 632. Jewish Encyclopedia and other sources.�
  • THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN ROUSSE
  • Russe Weddings, from sephardicgen.com.
  • Teodora Bakardjieva. "The Jewish community in Ruse" . Retrieved 7 Sep 2014.

  • Samuel Gruber's�Jewish�Art & Monuments:�Bulgaria: Survey

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Old Cemetery:

• The old cemetery used until 1965 is called the Park of the National Revival.�The remains of some of the deceased buried there were moved to the new cemetery. �No information whether all remains�were moved. [Sep 2014]

NEW CEMETERY:

• A plot in the municipal cemetery for a Jewish cemetery began in1965. Although not marked or fenced, Its boundaries are clearly recognizable. Inside the main cemetery, a cobblestone path leads to the still active, 0.02 hectares�Jewish section with approximately 50 graves. The granite, marble and limestone�gravestones have�Bulgarian and�Hebrew inscriptions. The size of the Jewish portion shrunk due to a surrounding housing development. �A stone wall surrounds the site on two sides. On the other two sides, it borders the Turkish and Armenian sections. The front�gate does not lockThe Shalom organization in Ruse takes good�care of the cemetery. Grass is cut several times a year. Concrete paths between the graves are in good condition.�After the cemetery was vandalized, in 1999 more than twenty graves had to be restored. Guards are responsible for the security of the entire cemetery. [Sep 2014]
• Vandalism [Sep 2014]

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