History[edit]

The city of Leova is attested as far back as the 15th century. The Leova market is attested on
August 26, 1806 in a document from Constantin Moruzzi, the Moldovan prince. After 1812, Leova
became a customs post and border checkpoint. In 1819 the old church was replaced by a new one,
also wooden, dedicated to Saint Paraschiva. Between 1856 and 1878, Leova reentered the borders
of the Principality of Moldavia and Romania. At the 1860 census, the fair was officially the 32nd
urban location of Romanian Moldavia, by population (1,845 inhabitants). On October 7, 1878, after
reannexation by Russia, Leova had 350 households, 5,682 desyatinas of arable land, 60 large
orchards, a steam mill, and six windmills. The first school was opened in 1885, and in four years it
had two classes in which 53 boys and 43 girls were taught. In 1904 the city had a town hall, police
headquarters, a post office, a telegraph, a mixed school, a Jewish high school, three primary
schools, an Orthodox church, and five synagogues. At the turn of the century over a thousand
foreign merchants were active, and a German colony numbered 115. There were 1,073 houses and
307 monument buildings. In 1923 the city had 1,075 houses and 3,422 inhabitants, and in 1933
7,000. In the 1930s it was already a city.
In 1930 the Leova city census counted 2,326 Jewish inhabitants, about a third of the entire town
population. In June 1940 the region was transferred from Romania to Soviet control as part of the
secret Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. The
Soviets quickly started deporting citizens of their newly annexed territories to Siberia, including
Zionist leaders and wealthy Jews. In June 1941 some Jews sensed war was coming and fled east to
central Asia. Other able bodied men joined the fight against the Germans by enlisting in the Soviet
Army. When the Germans occupied the city in June–July 1941, most captured Jewish men were
immediately executed, while women and children were interned in Cahul Camp, a transit camp from
which detainees were subject to a forced migration or "death march". The death march began in
Leova in September 1941 and ending in Berezovka, Ukraine in early January 1942. Of the 525
people (389 from Leova) interned in Cahul Camp, most died of exposure and hunger along the way,
or were executed when they were too weak to continue the journey or couldn't keep up. Only two
young girls are known to have survived the Journey from Leova to Berezovka. [2]

Population[edit]
Ethnic structure[edit]
The ethnic structure of the city according to the 2014 census:[3]

Ethnic group Population %

Moldovans 6,125 82.3%
Romanians 457 6.1%
Russians 334 4.5%
Bulgarians 224 3%
Ukrainians 189 2.5%
Gagauzians 70 0.9%
Gypsies <3
Others 38 0.5%
Total 7,443 100%

Media[edit]
Cuvântul Liber

Notable people[edit]
Rabbi Dov Ber Friedman (1822–1876)
 Idel Ianchelevici (1909–1994)
Ion Aldea Teodorovici (1954–1992)
Victor Toma (1922–2008)

International relations[edit]
Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Moldova

Twin towns — Sister cities[edit]

Leova is twinned with:

  Vetrișoaia, Romania

References[edit]
1. ^ Results of Population and Housing Census in the Republic of Moldova in 2014: "Characteristics - Population
(population by communes, religion, citizenship)" (XLS). National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova.
2017. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
3. ^ Republic of Moldova 2014 Population Census

External links