Officials, former deportees and their relatives laid flowers and took part in a meeting held in Chisinau to commemorate 64 years of the second wave of deportations to the Stalinist gulags. President Nicolae Timofti and Prime Minister Iurie Leanca laid flowers and attended the meeting, but left without giving speeches, IPN reports.

Deputy Head of Parliament Adrian Candu said that July 6 represents the start of the sufferings of thousands of people. This event must be a lesson and should never repeat. “Depending on the possibilities we have, we must see what we can do to support those who had been deported. Such bills are discussed in Parliament,” he stated.

Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca assured the former deportees that the promised monument will be unveiled soon. He said the initials of those who contributed to bringing the commemoration stone will be imprinted on the monument.

According to the head of the Association of Former Deportees and Political Prisoners Valentina Sturza, the Communist genocide still exists. “It is a sad day. We still don’t know where our parents had been buried. They entered our homes like barbarians. We lived in cellars. Many were tried and shot,” she stated.

Ex-deportee Vasile Busuioc said he was forced to work in the Stalinist gulags when he was a kid and still feels the effects of those events. Former deportee Iurie Gacina said he was only one when the Communist officers killed his grandmother and farther. His sister went missing and he knows nothing about her.

The second wave of deportations of July 6, 1949 is considered the greatest operation for deporting Bessarabians, known as the IUG operation.