The chairman of the Jewish community in Moldova, Alexander Bilinkis, believes that the tragedy of the Chisinau ghetto must be remembered so that young people know about the innocently tortured thousands of Jews.

He said on Friday at a press conference at the Infotag news agency that on July 16, 1941, German-Romanian troops entered the city and on July 22, a ghetto was created in it, where they drove, including from neighboring villages, over 11 thousand Jews.

“These were mainly elderly and sick people, as well as women and children who did not have time to leave for the east. All of them were placed in inhuman conditions, they were deprived of food and medical care. Those who survived until the fall were chased on foot across the Dniester, where they were destroyed. As of August 1942, 143 Jews remained alive in Chisinau (according to the given Romanian military administration). On the day of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the ghetto in Chisinau, I want to remind all those who live in our city today that Jews were killed not only somewhere in Babi Yar or in Auschwitz, but also here, on our streets. We must remember this tragic page in the history of the region and honor the memory of the old people, women and children who have left us,” Bilinkis stressed.

The head of the Jewish community in the Republic of Moldova thanked the parliament for the amendments to the legislation, which provide for criminal punishment for the propaganda of Nazism and the denial of the Holocaust.

He noted that in Chisinau the "Stumbling Blocks" project is being implemented, which was initiated in the European Union countries.

“This is the perpetuation of the memory of specific Jews killed in the Holocaust. Bronze plaques with their names and dates are mounted near the houses where they lived,” the public figure explained.

Paul Shapiro, director of the Holocaust Memorial Museum Research Center in Washington DC, recalled the importance of preserving the memory of the victims of the ghetto and the crimes of the German-Romanian occupiers.

“Jews were killed not only in Chisinau, but in Marculesti, Sacareni and other settlements of Bessarabia. It is our duty to preserve their memory,” he emphasized.

The participants in the press conference invited everyone to come to the flower-laying ceremony at the Memorial on Jerusalem Street on July 25 at 10.00.