Calarasi

Spellings: Calarasi, Kalarash, Călăraşi, Tuzora, Tuzara, Selishte

Coordinates: 47° 15' N 28° 18' E

Kalarash is located in Bessarabia, the geopolitical area between the Dniester and Prut Rivers. Bessarabia was part of the czarist empire until 1918, when it declared its independence from Russia and united with Romania. In 1944, Bessarabia was annexed by the Soviet Union and most of its territory became part of the Soviet republic of Moldova. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova became an independent country known as the Republic of Moldova.

In Romanian and Moldovan, the town is known as Călăraşi and should not be confused with the town in Romania of the same name. In Russian, the town was called Kalarash.

Source: Kalarash Site en JewishGen ShtetLinks

Communal History

(Rum. Calarasi, formerly also Tuzora) Town in Bessarabia, Moldavian SSR Jews began to settle there in the first half of the 19th century. They numbered 4,593 in 1897, forming 890f the population.

The Pogrom Era

The wave of pogroms in Russia in October 1905 also hit Kalarash, where 60 Jews were killed, 400 were injured, and over 200 houses were burned down. After Bessarabia passed to Romania in 1918, communal life flourished in Kalarash. The community had welfare organizations and educational institutions, including a hospital (founded in 1890) a talmud torah, a library, and a loan and savings fund. In 1930 the Jewish population numbered 3,631 (760f the total population).

The Holocaust Period and After

When World War II broke out, some of the community managed to escape from Kalarash, apparently to the Soviet Union. Those caught on the way were either killed on the spot or deported to Transnistria.
In July 1941 Rumanian troops assembled all the remaining Jews in Kalarash and took them to a forest not far from the city, where a deep ditch had been prepared. Some 250 Jews were thrown into the ditch and killed. This action had been ordered by the commander of the gendarmerie legion in the Lapusna district, Lieut. Col. Nicolai Caracas. The local Kalarash gendarmerie commander also took part in the slaughter and looted Jewish property.

Source:
"Encyclopedia Judaica"
©1972, Keter Publishing House Jerusalem Ltd
Jerusalem, Israel
The Simon Wiesenthal Center

Pictures / Documents:
Building of the Former Synagogue of Calarasi
Calarasi jewish cemetery
1924 - Leibe Dubin's store at Calarasi 2
1924 - Leibel Dubin's store at Calarasi 1
Mapa of Bessarabia region (today)