The Stalinist deportations aimed not only at the elimination of local elites, but also at the destruction of faith. The statement belongs to the president of the Association of Former Deported and Political Prisoners from Moldova, Alexandru Postica, and was made during the public debate “The Cross of Martyrdom and the Unfulfilled Memory of Stalinist Deportations”, organized by the IPN Press Agency. According to Alexandru Postica, the Soviet repression aimed at the total subordination of the population by liquidating community leaders, persecuting the clergy, and replacing identity landmarks with communist ideology.
Alexandru Postica explained that one of the targets of the Soviet regime was religion, as it represented a pillar of the local communities’ identity. According to him, in addition to the deportation and execution of clerics, the authorities carried out a broad campaign to destroy religion.
“The purpose of the deportations was also the destruction of religion. Less is spoken about the campaign to attempt to atheize society, in a context where society was deeply religious. In addition to the execution of priests or their exile to Siberia, places of worship were also destroyed, which were most often transformed into warehouses. The aim was to make the population believe in nothing else but the existence of a single party,” explained the president of the Association of Former Deportees and Political Prisoners from Moldova.
According to him, the deportations were complemented by other repressive policies, including the organized famine of 1946-1947, which, in his opinion, was used to force the population to accept collectivization and to weaken people’s resistance to the regime.
“The organized famine in 1946-1947 was a decision to compel the entire population that had certain goods to join the so-called collective farms. The drought, as well as the taxes imposed by the authorities, led to the dehumanization of society. The Soviets needed this dehumanization to better manage the masses according to their own principles,” mentioned Alexandru Postica.
The President of the Association of Former Deportees and Political Detainees from Moldova emphasized that Soviet repressions aimed to replace the fundamental values of society with totalitarian ideology.
“The values of society up until the occupation were the nation, the country, the faith. After the occupation of 1940, it is clear that such values were no longer suitable for a totalitarian regime. It was for these values that the deportees were martyred. For the nation, for the country, and for the faith,” Alexandru Postica further stated.
The public debate “The Martyr’s Cross and the unfulfilled memory of Stalinist deportations” is the 63rd edition of the debate cycle “The impact of the past on the processes of building trust and peace”. The IPN Agency carries out this cycle with the support of the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
