On 1 July 1940, in the town of Dorohoi in Romania, Romanian military units carried out a pogrom against the local Jews, during which, according to an official Romanian report, 53 Jews were murdered, and dozens injured. According to the town's Jews, the number of fatalities was between 165 and 200. These acts were committed before Romania entered World War II, before it became Germany's ally, and before the German military entered the country.

Although the Romanian government had taken steps against Jews, including antisemitic laws, and seizure of Jewish property, these military actions against the Jews were not endorsed by the government; when the conspiracy against the Jews was discovered by the military command, troops were sent to put an end to the abuse. The perpetrators, however, were not punished.

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (August 1939) gave the Soviet Union a green light to take back Bessarabia in June 1940 (see June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum, and Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina).

Dorohoi (Romanian pronunciation: [doroˈhoj]) is a city in the Botoşani County, Romania, on the right bank of the Jijia River, which broadens into a lake on the north.

Dorohoi used to be a market for the timber and farm produce of the north Moldavian highlands; merchants from the neighboring states flocked to its great fair, held on the June 12. The settlement is first mentioned in documents from 1408, where a treaty was signed between Moldavian voievode, Alexandru cel Bun, and the King of Poland and Hungary. This suggests that the role of Dorohoi as a commercial center existed long before the founding of the Moldavian state.

Dorohoi used to be the capital of Dorohoi County, but was degraded to a municipality when Romania lost Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. On July 1, 1940, units of the Romanian Army took their anger on the local Jews in a pogrom. Despite the antisemitic atmosphere of those times, which included antisemitic laws and seizure of Jewish property, these military actions against the Jews were not endorsed by the Romanian Government. When the conspiracy against the Jews was discovered by the military command, troops were sent to end the abuse.