President Maia Sandu came with a message commemorating the victims of the first wave of Stalinist deportations. The head of state noted that on the night of June 13, 1941, the first wave of Stalinist deportations began in Moldova. The Soviet regime took thousands of families out of their homes, put them on freight trains and sent them away from home.

“Mayors, priests, teachers, agricultural leaders – the best people in our communities – were called 'class enemies'. Many families were separated when boarding, women and children were separated from their husbands and fathers, and some of them never found each other. About 30,000-40,000 people were deported from Bessarabia in June 1941,” said President Sandu.

The head of state also said that after the war, the Soviets continued the deportations and tried to take away our traditions, values and faith. They closed churches and monasteries, turning them into stables, sports clubs or hospitals for the insane, and people’s property was unjustly confiscated.

“The tragedy of deportations is the tragedy of our people - we will never forget it. We have the duty to keep alive the memory of the injustice that our grandparents and great-grandparents went through. Let’s honor their human dignity, which helped them remember who they were and where they came from, even in inhuman conditions, at the end of the world.”

President Sandu urged “to learn the lesson of the past, firmly rejecting any totalitarian impulses on our land, and to educate the young generation in the spirit of freedom and democracy, which will prepare them for a life in peace and prosperity, in European Moldova, part of the free world. Thus, we will respect and honor the sacrifice of our ancestors, and we will also ensure Moldova’s children have a future in which they will not be taken out of their homes, put on cattle trains and deported for the simple fact that they live honestly in their home and country”.