Moldova commemorates victims of Soviet repression
Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu stated that the deportations were a crime against innocent people and an attempt to destroy communities, identities, and destinies. The memory of those who were deported obliges society to build a future in which such tragedies can never happen again.
The message was delivered on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the first mass Stalinist deportations from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, CE Report quotes MOLDPRES.
“Today marks 85 years since the first mass Stalinist deportation operation from Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. More than 22,000 people were torn from their homes and sent to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Families were separated, lives were shattered, and innocent people lost their lives,” Munteanu wrote.
The prime minister emphasized the importance of knowing and passing on history to future generations, noting that discussing these tragedies helps people better understand the value of freedom, dignity, and every individual’s right to live in safety.
“Today we commemorate all those who suffered under Stalinist repression. We keep their memory alive. The deportations were a crime against innocent people, an attempt to destroy communities, identities, and destinies. We must know our history and pass it on to our children. By speaking about these tragedies, we better understand how precious freedom, dignity, and the right of every person to live safely truly are. The memory of the deported compels us to build a society in which such tragedies can never occur again.”
Munteanu also noted that, for many citizens, the tragedy remains a deeply personal part of family history.
“My grandfather, my father's father, was deported. I never had the chance to know him. He returned home gravely ill after years of suffering and forced labor and died far too young. As in my family, thousands of families across the Republic of Moldova have similar stories passed down from generation to generation,” he said.
The mass deportation operation carried out in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic on the night of June 12–13, 1941, affected 18,392 people and formed part of a broader Soviet campaign to “cleanse” territories occupied by the USSR in 1939–1940 following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
Another mass deportation, carried out between July 6 and 9, 1949, was the largest on the territory of present-day Moldova. The operation affected more than 11,000 families and forcibly deported 35,796 people, including 11,889 children, 14,033 women, and 9,864 men.
As part of the commemorative events marking the 85th anniversary of the first Stalinist deportations, the fourth edition of the exhibition State Terror in Soviet Moldova: Scale, Victims and Perpetrators was inaugurated in Great National Assembly Square. The exhibition uses documents, photographs, historical objects, and testimonies to reconstruct the suffering of deported families and preserve the memory of those who endured Soviet state terror.
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