Jewish Cemetery of Chișinău / Cimitirul Evreiesc din Chișinău

Overview

The Jewish History Museum of the Republic of Moldova

The Chișinău Jewish Cemetery was founded in 1815 and spans 11.5 hectares, preserving more than 20,000 graves that bear witness to over two centuries of Jewish life. It operates as an open-air branch of the Jewish History Museum of the Republic of Moldova (MIERM), safeguarding matzevot, funerary architecture and history.

During the Holocaust, the cemetery became a site of tragedy: in 1941–1942 it served as a place of mass shootings and burials of Jews from the Chișinău Ghetto. This layered history turns the cemetery from a traditional necropolis into a vital memorial landscape, witnessing both centuries of communal life and wartime atrocity.

Today MIERM researches, documents, and conserves the site – recording inscriptions, restoring the funerary synagogue, and building educational programs.