Dorohoi

Dorohoi is a city in the Botoşani County, Romania, on the right bank of the Jijia River, which broadens into a lake on the north.

Dorohoi used to be a market for the timber and farm produce of the north Moldavian highlands; merchants from the neighboring states flocked to its great fair, held on the June 12. The settlement is first mentioned in documents from 1408, where a treaty was signed between Moldavian voievode, Alexandru cel Bun, and the King of Poland and Hungary. This suggests that the role of Dorohoi as a commercial center existed long before the founding of the Moldavian state.

Dorohoi used to be the capital of the Dorohoi county, but was degraded to a municipality when Romania lost Northern Bucovina to the Soviet Union.

On July 1, 1940, units of the Romanian Army took their anger on the local Jews in a pogrom. Despite the antisemitic atmosphere of those times, which included antisemitic laws and seizure of Jewish property, these military actions against the Jews were not endorsed by the Romanian Government. When the conspiracy against the Jews was discovered by the military command, troops were sent to end the abuse.

In the city there is a church built by Ştefan cel Mare.

Jews first settled in Dorohoi in the 17th Century. It was set up as a Jewish Guild under Moldavia. Jews suffered here during World War I.

The Jewish population actually increased after the Holocaust as a result of refugees settling there. In 1947, there were 7,600 Jews living in Dorohoi. Following the establishment of Israel, the Jewish population of the Dorohoi steadily decreased. In 1956, there were 2,753 Jews. In 1966, there were 1,013. By 2000, there were only 49 Jews left in Dorohoi.