Mărculești

47°52′7″N 28°14′51″E / 47.86861°N 28.24750°E / 47.86861; 28.24750CountryMoldovaDistrictFlorești DistrictGovernment • MayorIon Vîrlan (PCRM^[1])Area • Total5 km² (2 sq mi)Elevation90 m (300 ft)Population • Total1,396Time zoneUTC+2 (EET) • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

Mărculești (Romanian pronunciation: [mərkuˈleʃtʲ]) is a city in Florești District, in northern Moldova, with a population of 2,081 at the 2004 census. The city was once the site of a Jewish agricultural and mercantile colony until its destruction in the Holocaust.^[3]

In film and television

Filmmaker Matthew Mishory's 2015 documentary Absent was filmed in Mărculești, the site of a horrible atrocity in 1941 in which all of the village's Jews were massacred by the Romanian army.^[4] The film introduces the current residents of Mărculești, some of who seem to be unaware (or unwilling to discuss) what happened.^[5] Mishory's own grandparents lived in the village, escaping to Israel just before the start of the Holocaust. In an interview with Tablet, Mishory discussed the complex emotions of filming there: "The history of Mărculești and the Holocaust pose impossible intellectual and theological questions. All I can say is that my feelings about what happened in Mărculești are complicated. I remain a practicing Jew. And I also have serious doubts about human nature. I'm angry that people who live overlooking a killing field lie about their history. But I also have a lot of empathy for the current residents of the village and their difficult circumstances".^[6] The film had its world premiere at the Astra Film Festival in Sibiu, Romania^[7] and led to efforts to preserve Mărculești's abandoned Jewish cemetery.

References

External links

• List of Jewish agricultural colonies of the Soroca District of Bessarabia.
• Absent, 2015 documentary filmed in Mărculești.
• Memorial to a Jewish Colony In Bessarabia