Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Harlau
Jews in Moldavian Harlau - synagogues - Exchange of
Jews 1899-1900 by persecutions - deportations during World
War II
from: Botosani; In:
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971), vol. 4
presented by Michael Palomino (2008)
<HARLAU (Rum.
Hârlau), town in Moldavia, N.E. Rumania.
A Jewish physician served the prince of Moldavia, Stephen the
Great, in Harlau at the end of the 15th century. In the early
18th century some Jewish craftsmen, immigrants from Poland,
were exempted from taxes.
In 1768 a Jew was authorized to establish a factory for window
glass and a paper mill in Harlau. From 1751 the documents
mention the "Jews' Guild", which in 1834 became the local
community organization.
The oldest of the five synagogues in Harlau was built at the
end of the 17th century. The community had a primary school
(founded c. 1900), which was erected with the assistance of
the *Jewish Colonization Association. There were also a
talmud torah [[school]],
a
mikveh [[ritual
bath]], and two Jewish cemeteries.
[1899-1900: Exchange of Jews
in Harlau by emigration to the "USA" and coming to Harlau
from the countryside]
Anti-Semitic persecutions led half of the Jewish population of
Harlau to emigrate to the United States during 1899-1900.
However, at the same time Jews expelled from the villages
settled in Harlau, and so the Jewish population did not
decrease.
The community numbered 784 in 1803, 2,254 (56.6% of the total)
in 1886, 2,718 (59%) in 1899, and 2,032 (22.3%) in 1930.
The majority of both craftsmen and merchants enumerated in
Harlau in 1913 were Jews. Following emancipation in 1919 the
Jews took an active part in the municipal council. A small
cooperative credit bank was founded in Harlau with the aid of
the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Rabbis of Harlau included Israel Isaacson (b. 1895), a deputy
in the Rumanian parliament, who settled in Israel.
[Deportations 1941-1943 -
Jews after 1944]
During World War II some of the Jews in Harlau were deported
to Botosani, and others to Jassy.
[[It can be admitted that a big part came back in 1943 as it
was in other Romanian towns]].
There were 1,936 Jews living in Harlau in 1947.
[[Emigration movement to Palestine can be admitted as it was
in other Romanian towns]].
In 1969 approximately 60 Jewish families were living there and
they maintained a synagogue.
Bibliography
-- M. Schwarzfeld: Ochire asupra evreilor din România..
(1887), 38
-- E. SChwarzfeld: Impopularea, reîmpopularea si întemeierea
tîrgurilor si tîrgusoarelor in Modova (1914), 21, 22
-- S. Savin, in: Revista cultului mozaic, 19 (1965), no. 119
-- M. Carp: Cartea Neagra, 1 (1946), 66, 158, 200, 202
-- PK Romanyah, 1 (1970), 112-4> (col. 1344)
Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Jews in Harlau,
vol. 7, col. 1344
|
