Lipcani is located on the banks of the
Prut river, which forms the border with
Romania. The border with
Ukraine (
Criva border crossing point) is also only a few kilometers to the north. Lipcani is located in the
Bessarabia region. The closest large urban centres are
Chernivtsi in Ukraine,
Suceava in Romania, and
Bălți in Moldova. Lipcani is about 40 km (25 mi) from the Ukrainian city of
Khotyn. The town is crossed by a small river called Medvedca.
Because of misspelling or translation difficulties, it is also referred to as: Lipcan, Lipcany, Lipkan, Lipkani, Lipchen, Lipcheny, Lipcheni, Lipcani Targ, Lipceni, Lipchany, Lypchany, Lipchani, Lipkamya, Lepkan, Lepkany, Lepkani, Lepcan, Lepcany, Lepcani, Linkani, Liptchani, Lipkane, Lipkon and Lipcon.
Timeline
June 17, 1429: The first historical mention of Lipcani.
March 2, 1918: The 2nd Cavalry Division of the
Austro-Hungarian Army, who was originally subordinate to the
Kosak Group and then to the 17th Army Corps and to the
Ost-Armee, took Lipcani and
Larga. They later moved to
Odessa.
August 16, 1924: Along the forest of
Zelena [
ro;
uk] (15 mi from
Hotin), a couple of
Romaniangendarmes who were taking two terrorists whom they had just arrested to Lipcani, were attacked by a Russian squad who killed one gendarme and went off with the terrorists.[citation needed]
End of the 1930s: Lipcani was a small provincial town, populated mainly by
Jews, who mostly lived in the central part of the town. There were about ten synagogues in Lipcani. There was a different synagogue for each
guild: tailors, shoemakers, cabmen, etc. "Guild" synagogues were located in neighborhoods in the outskirts of town. Richer Jews had big synagogues in the center of town. There were 4,698 Jews on the eve of World War II.
June–July 1940:
The Red Army entered Lipcani, declaring it part of the Soviet Union. Many
Romanians escaped to Romania and left all their belongings behind. The Soviet authorities arrested all
kulaks, executed some and
sent the rest to Siberia. Since the Communist system promoted atheism, the authorities began to fight religion by closing synagogues, churches and
cheders.
August 2, 1940: The
Moldavian SSR was formed, which included Bessarabia without its
Southern part. Territories given to
Ukraine initially included
Edineț,
Briceni, Lipcani and
Ocnița. When the Soviets came, Lipcani was a town near the border. It belonged to the USSR and the area beyond the town was Romania.
November 4, 1940: The borders were changed by the decree of the SS of USSR.
1940: 1,218 households and 5,726 people.
June 22, 1941: The Germans
invaded the Soviet Union and opened fire on Lipcani. There was a commandant office and a frontier regiment in Lipcani that set up a defensive position.
July 1941: The Germans captured Bessarabia, and the 41,000 km2 (16,000 sq mi) area of
Ukraine named
Transnistria was granted by
Hitler to the Romanian dictator
Ion Antonescu for Romania’s participation in the war against the Soviet Union.
Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina and Moldova were transferred to Transnistria and many thousands were murdered from 1941 to 1944 by the
Romanian Gendarmerie, the
Einsatzgruppe D, Ukrainian police and
Sonderkommando R.
July 8, 1941: Jews from the towns of Lipcani and
Sekiryany were sent to
Briceni.
July 11, 1941: In Lipcani-
Hotin, the Military Police took 12 Jewish hostages and executed them.
July 20, 1941: The
death march of 1,200 Jews from Lipcani began. The Germans took them to
concentration camps where they were never heard of again. The ones that could not make the trip on foot were shot on sight and during the trip.
July 28, 1941: All Jews from
Briceni were dispatched across the
Dniester and several were shot en route. When they arrived in
Mogilev, the Germans "selected" the old people and forced the younger ones to dig graves for them. From Mogilev the rest were turned back to
Ataki and then on to Sekiryany. Hundreds died en route. For a month they stayed in the
ghetto, only to be deported again to
Transnistria. All the young Jews were murdered in the forest near
Soroca.
October 9 and 10 (1941): Jews from
Rădăuți were carried to their death in train wagons meant for transporting animals. These trains passed through Lipcani. There, the Germans sent one group to the Dniester through Ataki, and the other group to
Mărculeşti.
1941–1944: Around 148,000
Bessarabian Jews were killed in
Rîbnița and other ghettos and concentration camps on the East bank of the
Dniester during the
Nazi occupation. During the war, the town, including almost all synagogues, was burnt down by the Germans.
1950: Name: Lipkany, Soviet Union.
1944:
Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (August 1944). The Red Army drove the Romanian and German armies out of Bessarabia, which became an integral part of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (as of 2006, most of Bessarabia is part of the independent
Republic of Moldova and has been so since the dissolution of the USSR).
July 6–20, 1996: A water ecological expedition called "Prut 96", organized by the NGO called Association of Ecological Education and Information "Terra Nostra" was held down the Prut river from the village of Lipcani to the village of
Sculeni in the Ungheni region. The goal of the expedition was to examine the Prut river with the participation of students and post-graduates in order to attract attention of the population and state services towards the ecological problems of the river and the whole region.
April 7, 1999: The Lipcani soccer team Venita lost to the
FC Olimpia Bălți in the quarterfinals for the
Moldovan Cup 1998/1999.
2000: The Moldovan Section of the
International Society for Human Rights and the NGO's Datino and Credo were working with the women's prison in
Ruska and the colony for young men in Lipcani.
March 17, 2004: According to Stela Melnic of the Ministry of Economy, the construction of a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) bypass road to the Lipcani-Rădăuți Bridge is going to start next autumn. Sponsored by
TACIS and EU
PHARE the project involves Moldova and Romania. The project will also include the modernization of the Lipcani
customs checkpoint.
June 17, 2007: the candidate of
PCRM Dumenco Evghenii (Eugen Dumenco) is
elected as mayor of Lipcani. Dumenco Evghenii (born 1958) is an auto mechanic and president of SA "CMD-8".
February 15, 2010: Lipcani-Rădăuți Bridge reopened.
Railroad lines in Moldova run north-south from
Cahul and the southern border with Ukraine to Lipcani and the northern border with Ukraine. The main road routes run from Cahul to Chişinău via Comrat and from Chişinău to Lipcani via
Bălți.
Current Institutions in Lipcani: Lipcani Pedagogical College, Lipcani Reformatory for Boys.
1 In
Transnistria. 2 Controlled by the Transnistrian authorities. 3 Also a municipality. 4 The seat of
Dubăsari District is the commune of
Cocieri (not a city).
Lipcani is located on the banks of the
Prut river, which forms the border with
Romania. The border with
Ukraine (
Criva border crossing point) is also only a few kilometers to the north. Lipcani is located in the
Bessarabia region. The closest large urban centres are
Chernivtsi in Ukraine,
Suceava in Romania, and
Bălți in Moldova. Lipcani is about 40 km (25 mi) from the Ukrainian city of
Khotyn. The town is crossed by a small river called Medvedca.
Because of misspelling or translation difficulties, it is also referred to as: Lipcan, Lipcany, Lipkan, Lipkani, Lipchen, Lipcheny, Lipcheni, Lipcani Targ, Lipceni, Lipchany, Lypchany, Lipchani, Lipkamya, Lepkan, Lepkany, Lepkani, Lepcan, Lepcany, Lepcani, Linkani, Liptchani, Lipkane, Lipkon and Lipcon.
Timeline
June 17, 1429: The first historical mention of Lipcani.
March 2, 1918: The 2nd Cavalry Division of the
Austro-Hungarian Army, who was originally subordinate to the
Kosak Group and then to the 17th Army Corps and to the
Ost-Armee, took Lipcani and
Larga. They later moved to
Odessa.
August 16, 1924: Along the forest of
Zelena [
ro;
uk] (15 mi from
Hotin), a couple of
Romaniangendarmes who were taking two terrorists whom they had just arrested to Lipcani, were attacked by a Russian squad who killed one gendarme and went off with the terrorists.[citation needed]
End of the 1930s: Lipcani was a small provincial town, populated mainly by
Jews, who mostly lived in the central part of the town. There were about ten synagogues in Lipcani. There was a different synagogue for each
guild: tailors, shoemakers, cabmen, etc. "Guild" synagogues were located in neighborhoods in the outskirts of town. Richer Jews had big synagogues in the center of town. There were 4,698 Jews on the eve of World War II.
June–July 1940:
The Red Army entered Lipcani, declaring it part of the Soviet Union. Many
Romanians escaped to Romania and left all their belongings behind. The Soviet authorities arrested all
kulaks, executed some and
sent the rest to Siberia. Since the Communist system promoted atheism, the authorities began to fight religion by closing synagogues, churches and
cheders.
August 2, 1940: The
Moldavian SSR was formed, which included Bessarabia without its
Southern part. Territories given to
Ukraine initially included
Edineț,
Briceni, Lipcani and
Ocnița. When the Soviets came, Lipcani was a town near the border. It belonged to the USSR and the area beyond the town was Romania.
November 4, 1940: The borders were changed by the decree of the SS of USSR.
1940: 1,218 households and 5,726 people.
June 22, 1941: The Germans
invaded the Soviet Union and opened fire on Lipcani. There was a commandant office and a frontier regiment in Lipcani that set up a defensive position.
July 1941: The Germans captured Bessarabia, and the 41,000 km2 (16,000 sq mi) area of
Ukraine named
Transnistria was granted by
Hitler to the Romanian dictator
Ion Antonescu for Romania’s participation in the war against the Soviet Union.
Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina and Moldova were transferred to Transnistria and many thousands were murdered from 1941 to 1944 by the
Romanian Gendarmerie, the
Einsatzgruppe D, Ukrainian police and
Sonderkommando R.
July 8, 1941: Jews from the towns of Lipcani and
Sekiryany were sent to
Briceni.
July 11, 1941: In Lipcani-
Hotin, the Military Police took 12 Jewish hostages and executed them.
July 20, 1941: The
death march of 1,200 Jews from Lipcani began. The Germans took them to
concentration camps where they were never heard of again. The ones that could not make the trip on foot were shot on sight and during the trip.
July 28, 1941: All Jews from
Briceni were dispatched across the
Dniester and several were shot en route. When they arrived in
Mogilev, the Germans "selected" the old people and forced the younger ones to dig graves for them. From Mogilev the rest were turned back to
Ataki and then on to Sekiryany. Hundreds died en route. For a month they stayed in the
ghetto, only to be deported again to
Transnistria. All the young Jews were murdered in the forest near
Soroca.
October 9 and 10 (1941): Jews from
Rădăuți were carried to their death in train wagons meant for transporting animals. These trains passed through Lipcani. There, the Germans sent one group to the Dniester through Ataki, and the other group to
Mărculeşti.
1941–1944: Around 148,000
Bessarabian Jews were killed in
Rîbnița and other ghettos and concentration camps on the East bank of the
Dniester during the
Nazi occupation. During the war, the town, including almost all synagogues, was burnt down by the Germans.
1950: Name: Lipkany, Soviet Union.
1944:
Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (August 1944). The Red Army drove the Romanian and German armies out of Bessarabia, which became an integral part of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (as of 2006, most of Bessarabia is part of the independent
Republic of Moldova and has been so since the dissolution of the USSR).
July 6–20, 1996: A water ecological expedition called "Prut 96", organized by the NGO called Association of Ecological Education and Information "Terra Nostra" was held down the Prut river from the village of Lipcani to the village of
Sculeni in the Ungheni region. The goal of the expedition was to examine the Prut river with the participation of students and post-graduates in order to attract attention of the population and state services towards the ecological problems of the river and the whole region.
April 7, 1999: The Lipcani soccer team Venita lost to the
FC Olimpia Bălți in the quarterfinals for the
Moldovan Cup 1998/1999.
2000: The Moldovan Section of the
International Society for Human Rights and the NGO's Datino and Credo were working with the women's prison in
Ruska and the colony for young men in Lipcani.
March 17, 2004: According to Stela Melnic of the Ministry of Economy, the construction of a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) bypass road to the Lipcani-Rădăuți Bridge is going to start next autumn. Sponsored by
TACIS and EU
PHARE the project involves Moldova and Romania. The project will also include the modernization of the Lipcani
customs checkpoint.
June 17, 2007: the candidate of
PCRM Dumenco Evghenii (Eugen Dumenco) is
elected as mayor of Lipcani. Dumenco Evghenii (born 1958) is an auto mechanic and president of SA "CMD-8".
February 15, 2010: Lipcani-Rădăuți Bridge reopened.
Railroad lines in Moldova run north-south from
Cahul and the southern border with Ukraine to Lipcani and the northern border with Ukraine. The main road routes run from Cahul to Chişinău via Comrat and from Chişinău to Lipcani via
Bălți.
Current Institutions in Lipcani: Lipcani Pedagogical College, Lipcani Reformatory for Boys.
1 In
Transnistria. 2 Controlled by the Transnistrian authorities. 3 Also a municipality. 4 The seat of
Dubăsari District is the commune of
Cocieri (not a city).