Young people from both sides of the Dniester River familiarized themselves with the places commemorating the victims of Soviet repression in Chisinau during a walking tour. All the sites were linked to the history and tragedies that followed the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact on August 23, 1939. The commemorative event, organized on August 30, is in its second edition and is part of a series of events held in the context of the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes, IPN reports.
The Memory Peloton initiative belongs to the Sybir Memorial Museum in the Polish city of Białystok. The Baltic states are part of the Peloton, and since last year, the Republic of Moldova has taken up the baton. In Moldova, the Memory Peloton took place for the first time in 2024 at the Open-Air Museum in the village of Mereni, Anenii Noi district, being the final event of last year’s international action, as well as this year’s.
The director of the Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok, Professor Wojciech Śleszyński, emphasized the relevance of this event in the context of the war of aggression against Ukraine. The professor highlighted the need for the inhabitants of this region to speak about its history with one voice. This is, in fact, the goal of the Memory Peloton, which originated in Białystok, Poland, where the Sybir Memorial Museum is located. The idea was later supported by Latvia and Lithuania.
“The history and memory of the victims of communist totalitarian repression in a region marked by the dramatic consequences of the Stalin-Hitler Pact is part of our common past, which we must remember and pass on to the younger generation,” emphasized the director of the Sybir Memorial Museum in Poland.
“It is a pleasure to be here. This is already the second Memory Peloton, and I am very happy that Lithuania can contribute to building a European culture of memory here in the Republic of Moldova. I am glad to see colleagues from Lithuania here, which means that our partnership is growing stronger. I am also extremely happy to see so many young faces here at this interactive event, which I believe will be interesting and, at the same time, very informative for all of us,” said Liudas Gintautas Dabkus, attaché of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Chisinau.
The head of the Museum of Victims of Deportations and Political Repression branch of the National Museum of History of Moldova, Ludmila Cojocaru, said that participants in the event will visit five memorial sites in the historic center of Chisinau, “which were severely affected by the totalitarian phenomenon.” All are linked to the history and tragedies that followed the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact on August 23, 1939.
“The Memory Peloton 2025 in the Republic of Moldova unites generations, strengthens the culture of memory, and helps us all remain vigilant against everything that totalitarianism stands for,” said Ludmila Cojocaru, PhD in history.
The head of the Contemporary History Department at the Institute of History of the State University of Moldova, Virgiliu Birladeanu, said that the Memory Peloton is part of a summer school that started yesterday, with young people from both sides of the Dniester River. “We have strived to organize a platform for dialogue with the aim of strengthening democratic values and European culture of memory,” said Virgiliu Birladeanu, PhD in history.
According to him, young people should accumulate knowledge and cultivate skills for studying the phenomenon of totalitarianism and the resistance shown by the local population in the face of Soviet occupation: “It is important, through such exercises of memory, to maintain the connection between generations and not allow the atrocities to be repeated.”
The president of the Association of Former Deportees and Political Prisoners of Moldova, Alexandru Postica, expressed his support for such activities, especially for today’s younger generation.
Nicoleta Tarlapan from Alecu Russo State University in Balti said that such events “keep alive our memory of the events that took place during the Soviet period and offer us the opportunity to understand the pain of those who went through these atrocities.”
USM student Dorin Hotineanu believes that such awareness-raising and commemorative activities are crucial for national history, but also for strengthening democracy: “It is very important to know our history and not allow this terror to be repeated.”
The walking tour began in front of the Roman She-Wolf Statue at the National Museum of History of Moldova, followed by visits to memorial sites in the historic center of Chisinau: The memorial stone dedicated to the victims of the NKVD mass executions of 1940-1941 on the territory of the former Italian Consulate in Chișinău; The Church of the Transfiguration, converted into a Planetarium and Center of Atheism between 1962 and 1990; the former Military High School in Chisinau, destroyed and rebuilt as the headquarters of the KGB; the commemorative stone in the Great National Assembly Square.
The organizers and partners of the event are: the National Museum of History of Moldova, the Embassy of Lithuania in Moldova, the Hanns Seidel Foundation – Republic of Moldova, the Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok (Poland), the Genocide and Resistance Research Center in Vilnius (Lithuania), the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia (Latvia), the Institute of History of the State University of Moldova, the Pro Memoria Institute public association, and the Association of Former Deportees and Political Prisoners of Moldova.
