Hertsa

Hertsa (ukr. Герца), the city, until 2020 district center in Chrnivtsi region. Hertsa first mentioned in the documents of 1408. Since 1437 - the city. The Hertsa region were part of the Moldavia historical region. In 1881-1940 as part of Kingdom of Romania, in 1940-91 - as part of Ukrainian SSR.

In 1859 there were 1,554 Jews (56.4%) lived in Hertsa,
in 1899 - 1939 (66.2%),
in 1940 - 85 Jews.

The first Jews who appeared in Hertsa in the early 15th century were immigrants from Moldova. In the city there was a Hasidic synagogue and a Jewish cemetery.
In the early 20 century in Hertsa were various Zionist organizations.


The mass grave of the victims of the Nazis		Last graves in the cemetery

On July 5, 1941, a ghetto was created in Hertsa. In August 11, 1941, 1200 Jews of Hertsa and neighboring towns were deported to Sekurian's camp.

After 1945, several Jewish families lived in the town. Today (2016) is unlikely to be Jews - in any case, the survey of local residents did not give anything. In the new cemetery, burials of not so old times - 1999 were found.


In the center of Hertz there is a former synagogue building	Symbolic Tablet new owners of the building did not destroy, but, on the contrary, preserved

In Hertsa there are several pretty old buildings. One of them, now this is the House of Culture, on all resources for some reason is considered a former synagogue. But the architecture is absolutely not appropriate, and local experts in the history of the city denied this version.


Street with synagogue	School in an old mansion

House of Culture		The monastery in the distance

Near the center of the park you can still find several matzevot. Here was an old Jewish cemetery. The shape of the tombstone is not the same as the new one. Maybe there were other kinds of matzevot, but we found only 2 horizontal slabs and a few debris.

Chernivtsi district, Chernivtsi region

Sources:
- Jewish encyclopedia of Brockhaus & Efron. St. Petersburg, 1908-1913
- Russian Jewish encyclopedia. Translated from Russian by Eugene Snaider;

Photo:
- Eugene Shnaider

Chernivtsi region - list of settlements and location of objects

Hertsa, 2016