• Memorial to the Victims of the Rybnitsa Ghetto
The industrial city of Rybnitsa (Romanian: Rîbnița) has since 1992 been part of the predominantly Russian-speaking breakaway region of »Transnistria«. Several monuments in Rybnitsa honour the city's Jews who perished during the Holocaust between 1941 and 1944.
Rybnitsa lies on the east bank of the river Dniester in the north of what is today the Republic of Moldova, directly neighbouring the historical region of Bessarabia. Between the world wars, the city was part of the Soviet Union. In 1930, there were about 3,600 Jews living in Rybnitsa, representing over a third of the overall population. On August 5, 1941, German and Romanian troops occupied the city following their attack on the Soviet Union. Many Jews had previously fled to the east together with the retreating Soviet Army. 1,500 Jews probably remained in Rybnitsa, which was now part of Romanian-occupied »Transnistria«. A further 1,500 Jews from other regions were brought to Rybnitsa, prior to being deported to the east of Transnistria by the Romanian authorities. All of the Jews were concentrated in a ghetto, yet their later fate remains unclear: many were murdered or died of hunger and illnesses.
It is not exactly known how many Jews perished in Rybnitsa. Up to 3,000 Jews, half of them from other regions of Romania, were forced to live in a ghetto. Rybnitsa was moreover a transit point for Jews who were deported from other parts of Romania and Bessarabia across the river Dniester to »Transnistria«: over 24,000 Jews were deported via Rybnitsa to ghettos and forced labour camps in »Transnistria«.
Image: Rybnitsa, 2005, Memorial located on the former ghetto premises, Stiftung Denkmal
Rybnitsa, 2005, Memorial located on the former ghetto premises, Stiftung Denkmal

Image: Rybnitsa, 2005, Inscription on the memorial located on the former ghetto premises, Stiftung Denkmal
Rybnitsa, 2005, Inscription on the memorial located on the former ghetto premises, Stiftung Denkmal
A memorial on the former ghetto area honours the »Martyrs and Victims of the Rybnitsa Ghetto«. The memorial was dedicated on the 60th anniversary of its liberation, on March 30, 2004.
Image: Rybnitsa, 2005, Memorial located on the former ghetto premises, Stiftung Denkmal
Rybnitsa, 2005, Memorial located on the former ghetto premises, Stiftung Denkmal

Name
Monumentul Victimelor din Ghetoul Evreiesc Rîbniţa