Чернівці Музей історії та культури євреїв Буковини

During the twentieth century, there were several attempts to create a museum on the history of the Bukovinian Jews. The first one dates back to the end of 1920s, when Bukovina was a part of the Kingdom of Romania. Except for one document in the archive of the Chernivtsi oblast, no other signs of the proposed museum were found.

The second effort was made in the end of 1990s by the Jewish Steinbarg Society. This resulted in an exhibition of collected objects, but owing to lack of funding and research staff, the museum was not further developed.

Notwithstanding the fact that a significant part of the Bukovinian Jews emigrated in the 1990s, the idea of a Jewish museum remained alive. As a result of the initiative of the Chernivtsi Jewish Socio-Cultural Fund and its chairman Joseph Zissels, work on the proposed museum was taken up again in 2007. Finally, the museum was opened with a solemn ceremony in 2008, the same year that two significant jubilees that were celebrated in Chernivtsi: the 600th anniversary of the first written record of the city and the centenarary of the historical conference on the Yiddish language held in Chernivtsi.

Regional ethnographer Nataliya Shevchenko, who was the first director of the museum, developed its concept. Artist Roman Batig from Lviv was responsible for the museum’s design.

The museum's collection consists of books and objects that were collected by the museum, gifts from former and present Bukovinians, and new publications and scientific research devoted to the Jewish life of Bukovina from the XVIII century until the Holocaust (including the destruction of Bukovina Jewry).

Museum is a private institution.

The museum's collection consists of books and objects that were collected by the museum, gifts from former and present Bukovinians, and new publications and scientific research devoted to the Jewish life of Bukovina.