History
[edit]
See also: Timeline of Iași
Coat of arms of the Principality of Moldavia at Cetățuia Monastery
Historical affiliations
Moldavia 1408–1859
United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia 1859–1862
Romania 1862–present
Ancient times[edit]
Archaeological investigations attest to the presence of human communities on the present territory of the city and around it as far back as the prehistoric age. Later settlements included those of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, a late Neolithic archaeological culture.
There is archaeological evidence of human settlements in the area of Iași dating from the 6th to 7th centuries (Curtea Domnească) and 7th to 10th centuries; these settlements contained rectangular houses with semicircular ovens. Also, many of the vessels (9th–11th centuries) found in Iași had a cross, potentially indicating that the inhabitants were Christians.
Early development[edit]
In 1396, Iași is mentioned by the German crusader Johann Schiltberger (a participant in the Battle of Nicopolis). The name of the city is first found in an official document in 1408. This is a grant of certain commercial privileges by the Moldavian Prince Alexander to the Polish merchants of Lvov. However, as buildings older than 1408 still exist, e.g. the Armenian Church believed to be originally built in 1395, it is certain that the city existed before its first surviving written mention.
Capital of Moldavia[edit]
Around 1564, Prince Alexandru Lăpușneanu moved the Moldavian capital from Suceava to Iași. Between 1561 and 1563, a school and a Lutheran church were founded by the Greek adventurer prince, Ioan Iacob Heraclid.
Iași in the 1700s
In 1640, Vasile Lupu established the first school in which the Romanian replaced Greek, and set up a printing press in the Byzantine Trei Ierarhi Monastery (Monastery of the Three Hierarchs; built 1635–39). Between 15 September – 27 October 1642, the city hosted the Synod of Iași (also referred to as the Synod of Jassy). In 1643, the first volume ever printed in Moldavia was published in Iași.
The city was often burned down and looted by the Tatars (in 1513, 1574, 1577, 1593), by the Ottomans in 1538, the Cossacks and Tartars (1650), or the Poles (1620, 1686). In 1734, it was hit by the plague. The city was also affected by famine (1575, 1724, 1739–1740), or large local fires (1725, 1735, 1753, 1766, 1785), propagated by many buildings that were built on wooden structures.
It was through the Treaty of Jassy that the sixth Russo-Turkish War was brought to a close in 1792. A Greek revolutionary manoeuvre and occupation under Alexander Ypsilanti (Αλέξανδρος Υψηλάντης) and the Filiki Eteria (Φιλική Εταιρία) (1821, at the beginning of the Greek War of Independence) led to the storming of the city by the Turks in 1822. In 1844 a severe fire affected much of the city.
Mid–19th century to 20th century[edit]
Union Square
Between 1564 and 1859, the city was the capital of Moldavia; then, between 1859 and 1862, both Iași and Bucharest were de facto capitals of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1862, when the union of the two principalities was recognised under the name of Romania, the national capital was established in Bucharest. For the loss caused to the city in 1861 by the removal of the seat of government to Bucharest the constituent assembly voted 148,150 lei to be paid in ten annual instalments, but no payment was ever made.
During World War I, Iași was the capital of a much reduced Romania for two years, following the Central Powers' occupation of Bucharest on 6 December 1916. The capital was returned to Bucharest after the defeat of Imperial Germany and its allies in November 1918. In November–December 1918 Iași hosted the Jassy Conference.
Jewish community[edit]
See also: History of the Jews in Romania
Iași also figures prominently in Jewish history, with the first documented presence of Sephardi Jews from the late 16th century. The oldest tomb inscription in the local cemetery probably dates to 1610. By the mid-19th century, owing to widespread Russian Jewish and Galician Jewish immigration into Moldavia, the city was at least one-third Jewish, growing to 50% Jewish by 1899 according to the Great Geographic Dictionary of Romania cited by JewishGen. The Podu Roș Synagogue was built in Iași, circa 1810, by Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta, but the synagogue became mostly Misnagdic not long thereafter.
Great Synagogue (1671)
In 1855, Iași was the home of the first-ever Yiddish-language newspaper, Korot Haitim, and, in 1876, the site of what was arguably the first-ever professional Yiddish theatre performance, established by Avraham Goldfaden. The words of HaTikvah, the national anthem of Israel, were written in Iași by Naftali Herz Imber. Jewish musicians in Iași played an important role as preservers of Yiddish folklore, as performers and composers.
The first Zionist Hebrew-language newspaper in Romania, Emek Israel, was published in Iași in 1882. Zionist sports clubs, student associations and discussion groups were established in the city, most of which later merged into the Organizația Sionistă. The Hachshara Farms in Iași were a type of training farms to prepare young people for resettlement in the Palestine region.
According to the 1930 census, with a population of 34,662 (some 34% of the city's population), Jews were the second largest ethnic group in Iași. There were over 127 synagogues. During WWII Romanian government forces under Marshall Ion Antonescu launched the Iași pogrom against the city's Jewish community, which lasted from 28 June to 30 June 1941. According to Romanian authorities, over 13,266 people, or one third of the Jewish population, were massacred and many were deported. It was one of the worst pogroms during World War II. After World War II, in 1947, there were about 38,000 Jews living in Iași. Because of massive emigration to Israel, in 1975 there were about 3,000 Jews living in Iași and four synagogues were active.
Podu Roș Synagogue (photo circa 1910)
Currently, Iași has a dwindling Jewish population of ca. 300 to 600 members and two working synagogues, one of which, the 1671 Great Synagogue, is the oldest surviving synagogue in Romania and among the oldest synagogues still active in Europe. A 10-year restoration project funded by UNESCO, the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the local authorities of Iași restored it to its former glory, opening in time for Hanukkah on 4 December 2018.
Greek community[edit]
The history of the city and its development is marked by the thriving commercial community of Greeks, as well as their occupation of public positions. The Greek-born monarchs of Moldavia, politicians, teachers, clergy, doctors, philosophers, and writers contributed decisively to the emergence of Iași as an intellectual center.
Memorial inscription placed on the facade of the house of Greek scholar Daniel Philippidis in Iași (address: Strada Cuza Vodă 3)
The Greek Hegemonic School (Ελληνική Ηγεμονική Σχολή) was founded in 1709 in Iași and organized in 1710 by prince Nicholas Mavrocordatos. The city already had a Greek printing shop next to the Trei Ierarhi Monastery, since the time of the ruler Vasile Lupu. From 1774 the school was transformed into an academy with a philological, theological, mathematical and physical department, an academy that became known for its great Greek professors. A Greek Mechanical School also operated in Iași at the same time. From 1728, the Greek language began to be taught as a subject in the existing school, and from 1776 it was established as the language for all subjects at the school.
Iași was an important center of the revolutionary organization Filiki Eteria and was chosen as the core of the formation of the Greek forces. Here Georgios Lassanis from Kozani gathered and recruited warriors on the orders of Alexander Ypsilantis. On 24 February 1821, Alexander Ypsilantis issued a proclamation at Trei Ierarhi Monastery and at the head of approximately 200 infantry and cavalry, declared the Greek Revolution. The struggle for the liberation of Greece began in Iași.
The modern "Greek Community of Iași" was founded in 1990. The community has approximately 400 official members but the Greeks in Iași are much more numerous according to its president Marika Pieptou. At the end of May 2008, the 7th Greek Language "Olympiad" was organized in the city of Iași, in the halls of the “Ion Simionescu” General School. 66 students of Greek origin and philhellenes, of all ages and language levels, took part in the competition. The organizers were honored with the presence of the Minister of Education of Romania, Anghel Stanciu, the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Romanian Parliament, as well as representatives of the local authorities and the presidency of the Hellenic Union of Romania. Also, at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University there is a department (lectorate) of Greek language.
World War II[edit]
Main article: Iași pogrom
During the war, while the full scale of the Holocaust remained generally unknown to the Allied Powers, the Iași pogrom, launched by the Romanian dictator, Ion Antonescu, stood as one of the well-known examples of brutality toward the Jews. The pogrom lasted from 29 June to 6 July 1941, and over 13,266 people, or one third of the Jewish population, were massacred in the pogrom itself or in its aftermath, and many were deported. Particularly brutal was the massacre of Jews who were forced on sealed trains in the brutal summer heat. Over half of the occupants perished in these trains, which were aimlessly driven throughout the countryside with no particular destination.
Main articles: First Jassy–Kishinev Offensive and Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive
In May 1944, the Iași area became the scene of ferocious fighting between Romanian-German forces and the advancing Soviet Red Army and the city was partially destroyed. The German Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland won a defensive victory at the Battle of Târgu Frumos, near Iași, which was the object of several NATO studies during the Cold War. By 20 August, Iași had been taken by Soviet forces.
Iași suffered heavy damage due to Soviet (June–July 1941, June 1944) and American (June 1944) airstrikes, respectively. The bombing of Soviet aviation and artillery on 20 August 1944, resulted in more than 5,000 civilian deaths and the destruction of two-thirds of the city.
Post-World War II era[edit]
Iași experienced a major wave of industrialisation, in 1955–1989. During this period of time, it received numerous migrants from rural regions, and the urban area expanded. In the Communist era, Iași saw a growth of 235% in population and 69% in area. The local systematisation plans of the old city started in 1960 and continued in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the larger national systematisation programme; however, the urban planning was sometimes arbitrary and followed by dysfunctions. By 1989, Iași had become highly industrialised, with 108,000 employees (representing 47% of the total workforce) active in 46 large state-owned enterprises, in various industries: machine building and heavy equipment, chemical, textile, pharmaceutical, metallurgical, electronics, food, energy, building materials, furniture.
After the end of the Communist regime and the transition to a free market economy, the private sector has grown steadily, while much of the old industry (such as the industrial sector) gradually decayed.
Păcurari Cemetery Gate (the old Jewish cemetery)
