The events of the Jewish pogrom that took place in Chisinau in 1903 were displayed at a commemorative exhibition mounted at the Chisinau City History Museum. The exhibits are based on a book that is the only memoir published by a direct martyr of the tragedy.
The Museum’s director Valeria Suruceanu has told IPN that this is the book titled “Days of Affliction. The Kishinev Pogrom of 1903” that was written by Moisei Slutskii, chief doctor of the Chisinau Jewish Hospital. The book was offered to the National Library of the Republic of Moldova for the exhibition. There is one more important source owing to which this painful page in history could be elucidated. This is a book that contains notes of the governor of Bessarabia in 1903-1904 Sergey Urusov and forms part of the Museum’s archive. The Museum was also donated one of the three monographs centering on the pogrom of 1903, which was published by doctor habilitate Josefina Cushnir.
“We tried to design a conceptual project based both on documentary sources and on epoch household items from the archive of the Chisinau City Museum. The exhibition was organized with the assistance of museographers and painter Igor Sherbina. This exhibition is not typical for our museum as emphasis was placed on the visual side and on objects from the Museum’s archive. Twenty-four objects from our archive and items from the National Archive were presented at the exhibition,” stated Valeria Suruceanu.
Exhibition curator and painter Igor Sherbina said that this project is a special one and he learned many new things while preparing the exhibition. “That conflict between individual and general should be realized today. That’s why this project was important for me not only from emotional viewpoint. It also helped me to better realize the current situation,” said the plastic artist.
The Kishinev pogrom or Kishinev massacre was an anti-Jewish riot that took place in Chisinau, then the capital of the Bessarabia Governorate in the Russian Empire, on April 19–21, 1903 (April 6-7, 1903 according to the Julian calendar). About 110,000 people lived in Chisinau then and approximately 50,000 of them were Jews. The pogrom was a turning point for many Jews from the Russian Empire, who perceived the happenings as profound humiliation. Many left the country, while others remained in the country and supported the Jewish activists who set up self-defense units.
The exhibition at the Chisinau City History Museum can be visited until May 10.
