(,
Suceava County in southern
Bukovina . Until
1918 it was in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire , and formed a
Shtetl . It has a population of 15,837.
According to the 1775 Austrian Bukovina census, its population comprised only about 60,000 spread over 10,422 square kilometers. In order to encourage the development of this sparsely-settled land, the authorities subsidized the immigration of colonists to Bukovina. With the end of the first wave of settlement, colonists were to continue arriving at their own expense. As a result of these policies, the census of 1910 showed that the population had risen to over 800,000. People of many different ethnic groups took part in this immigration, including
Germans ,
Armenians ,
Hungarians ,
Ukrainians ,
Poles ,
Romanians , and
Jews .
No Jews lived in Gura Humorului before was established.
An turning point in the town's history was the disastrous fire of May 11, 1899 which destroyed most of the town - more than 400 houses, including many Jewish businesses and homes. It was rebuilt with donations from the
United States Jewish communities.
During
World War I , Bukovina became a battlefield between Austrian and
Imperial Russia n troops. Although the Russians were finally driven out in
1917 , defeated Austria would cede Bukovina the province to Romania through the
Treaty Of Saint-Germain (
1919 ). The Jewish community in Gura Humorului continued to grow, reaching 1,951 members in 1927.
Jewish cultural life reached its peak in the inter-war period. The languages of choice in city life were Yiddish, German and
Romanian . Most of the Jewish community adhered to
Orthodox Judaism , and Jewish youngsters studied the
Torah along with secular subjects such as geography, history, and mathematics. The community had established Jewish social and political institutions that contributed to all fields of public life.
While persecutions began to increase under the threats posed by Romanian
1941 .
The vast majority of survivors made
Aliya in 1947-1951. Statistics show that they numbered below 500 people in all at the time of their departure.
