Soroca

Soroca is a city and municipality in Moldova, situated on the Dniester River about 160 km north of Chișinău. It is the administrative center of the Soroca District. Before the Holocaust, most of the population was Jewish.

History
It is known for its well-preserved stronghold, established by the Moldavian prince Stephen the Great (Ștefan cel Mare in Romanian) in 1499. The origins of the name Soroca are not fully known. Soroca (сорока) is the East Slavic word for magpie. Its location is only a few kilometers from the Moldova–Ukrainian border.

The original wooden fort, which defended a ford over the Dniester, was an important link in the chain of fortifications which comprised four forts (e.g., Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, then known as Akkerman, and Khotyn) on the Dniester, two forts on the Danube, and three forts on the north borders of medieval Moldavia. Between 1543 and 1546, under the rule of Peter IV Rareș, the fort was rebuilt in stone as a perfect circle with five bastions situated at equal distances.

During the Great Turkish War, John III Sobieski's forces successfully defended the fort against the Ottomans. It was of vital military importance during the Pruth River Campaign of Peter the Great in 1711. The stronghold was sacked by the Russians in the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–39). The Soroca Fort is an important attraction in Soroca, having preserved cultures and kept the old Soroca to the present day.

The locality was greatly extended in the 19th century, during a period of relative prosperity. Soroca became a regional center featuring large squares, modernized streets, hospitals, grammar schools and conventionalized churches. During the Soviet period, the city became an important industrial center for northern Moldova.

Soroca was known for producing grapes, wheat, maize, and tobacco in 1919.

Demographics
According to the 2014 census, the population of Soroca amounted to 22,196 inhabitants (making it the eight largest city in Moldova), a decrease compared to the previous census in 2004, when 28,362 inhabitants were registered. Of these, 10,575 were men and 11,621 were women.

Footnotes:

* There is an ongoing controversy regarding the ethnic identification of Moldovans and Romanians.

* ''Moldovan language is one of the two local names for the Romanian language in Moldova. In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova interpreted that Article 13 of the constitution is superseded by the Declaration of Independence, thus giving official status to the name Romanian. ''

The population was estimated at 35,000 in 1919. It consisted mainly of Jews. Romanians, Germans, and Russians also lived in the city. Before the Holocaust, the city had a Jewish population of around 18,000, but there are only 100 today and 20 of them are considered Jewish according to the halakha.

The city has a sizable Romani minority and is popularly known as the "Romani capital of Moldova".

Mayor
The Mayor of Soroca is head of the executive branch of Soroca City Council.

Climate
The climate in Soroca is a warm-summer subtype (Köppen: Dfb) of the humid continental climate.

Media

 * Observatorul de Nord, a newspaper from Soroca, founded in 1998
 * Vocea Basarabiei, 67,69 and 103.1

Natives

 * Samuel Bronfman (1889–1971), a Jewish-Canadian entrepreneur, former owner of Seagram
 * Alexandru Cimbriciuc
 * Arkady Gendler (1921–2017), Jewish-Ukrainian Yiddish Singer
 * Sofia Imber, a Venezuelan journalist, founder of the Contemporary Art Museum of Caracas
 * Isaac Kitrosser, French Jewish photojournalist
 * Anna Mincovschi, mother of Robert Hossein
 * Kira Muratova, a Soviet and Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and actress
 * David Seltzer (1904–1994), New York Yiddish language Jewish writer, journalist and poet
 * Marina Shafir, a Moldovan mixed martial arts and professional wrestler currently works for All Elite Wrestling.
 * Nicolae Șoltuz, a member of Sfatul Țării
 * Robert Steinberg, a Jewish-Canadian mathematician
 * Leonte Tismăneanu, a Romanian communist activist
 * Eugen Ţapu (1983–2009), a protester in the post-election riots in Chișinău who died while in police custody
 * Gheorghe Ursu (1926–1985), a Romanian construction engineer and dissident
 * Mark Tkaciuk, historian, politician

Twin towns – Sister cities
Soroca is twinned with:
 * 🇷🇺 Bryansk, Russia
 * 🇷🇴 Flămânzi, Romania
 * 🇷🇴 Suceava, Romania