More than 200 former deportees came together in the square of the Chisinau Railway Terminal on the morning of June 13 to lay flowers at the pedestal where there will be located a monument to the victims of the Soviet repression, Info-Prim Neo reports. The former deportees spoke about the horrors they went through and about the parents who did not return. “We were told to get into railcars used to transport cows and taken to Siberia. They separated us from our parents. A part of the children were conveyed to the Siberian forests, while the others to the deserts of Kazakhstan, where they had to beg in order to survive. We were named people’s enemies. Some managed to evade and went to work in kolkhozes in the former Soviet Union. We commemorate this day in silence and with tears,” said Valentina Sturza, chairwoman of the Association of Deportees of Moldova. Ex-deportee Ion Luca said that those who were taken to Siberia by force do not enjoy now concessions or benefits. “I was taken from home when I was 9. They stole our childhood. They give us an allowance of 500 lei, but did not return the property earned by our parents. We continue to be victims,” he stated. Mayor General of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said that he also comes from a family of deportees. His grandparents were deported to Siberia in 1949. According to the mayor, a large monument will be soon placed in the square of the Railway Terminal. “The coming days we will present the monument that will be put here. The works to cover the monument in bronze will start this year. This process can last for six months, but it is important that things go on,” he said. The costs of making the monument amount to several million lei. Former deportees contributed money, but asked preserving anonymity. The monument is about 3 meters in height and 10 meters in length.