History, Culture. Maramures. Jewish history and Romania; from the Khazars?

Moisei, Romania. Memorial, Jews killed here, WWII

Sephardi and Ashkenazi, both, have long histories in Romania. Jewish history in Romania is laid out at this site through its overview of specific place names: See http://www. cja.huji.ac.il/NL14-Romania.htm.  That site is apparently now http://www.oradeajc.com/features_links.htm/?  Also see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/romania.html

Moisei:  the Jewish community was destroyed. Here, we saw it at dusk, up a slope from the main road, easily passed by.  Other settlements were in Brasov, Cluj Napoca.. Little trace of the old Jewish population now, but a ritual bath that had been built at Moisei is still being used, as a public bath. I try not to reuse photos, but for Moisei, here is the memorial for villagers slain in WWII here. The town is in the Maramures area. See the post on Maramures. We were on the way to the larger city, Sighetu Marmetei.

For a report on the holocaust in Romania, see http: //www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/index_whats_new-report.

I do not recall a differentiation or identification of which of the 125 families who fled Moisei into the forest during the incident of the German attack, and whose homes were burned. I believe the whole village was burned, and at the onset of winter. Some 30+/- were caught and killed, but no information on how many were Jewish. The killings were reported as Jewish-focused in sites related to Magyar references for Budapest - and a site started in with settlements from eastern and central Europe. See Budapest Road Ways, Magyar history post.

Origins, Eastern European Jews: This group seems to be descended from European German, Spanish, Czech, Austrian, or Portuguese?

Some say "Russian" Jews are descended from their own lines, Khazars, and are looking for archeological support to the other sources. See khazaria.com/khazar-diaspora. That reviews the book, "Are Russian Jews Descended from the Khazars," by David Alan Brook.