The period between 1812 and 1918 was marked by a terrible process of Russification of the Bessarabian people and by attempts to deny the Romanian character of Bessarabia, historian Igor Sharov, rector of the Moldova State University, said in a public debate organized by IPN News Agency. According to him, after the Great Union of 1918, the high degree of illiteracy one of the major challenges faced by the Romanian administration in Bessarabia.
Igor Sharov noted that until 1918, after a century of tsarist rule, the majority of the population of Bessarabia, especially the rural one, did not have access to basic education. It is estimated that more than 80% of the population was illiterate. The high illiteracy in Bessarabia after the Great Union reflected the legacy of a tsarist administration that was negligent in terms of education, and this aspect became a priority for the Romanian authorities in the interwar period.
"The data show that at the end of the 19th century, Bessarabia occupied the last place among the Russian governorates in terms of literacy. The literate people represented only 10-12%, after 100 years of the so-called liberation. For comparison, we have the 1918 – 1928 period. During 10 years after the Great Union of 1918 and after the application of the education laws that offered fantastic results, the percentage of literate people rose to 30%. The phrase four classes from Romanians speaks of an extraordinary attitude of the political class towards school. Between 1812 and 1918, another subject related to myths crystallized. It goes to the denial of the Romanian character of Bessarabia, along with the promotion of the myth of liberation of the Bessarabian people and the terrible process of Russification of the Bessarabian people," said the doctor of history.
Igor Sharov explained that after 1944, the Soviet authorities carried out a systematic repressive policy in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR), with the aim of suppressing any attempt of national liberation movement or expression of the Romanian national identity.
"Here, until 1991 nothing was studied in school about the National Movement in Bessarabia until 1918, or about the National Movement in the MSSR after 1944. Why? Tsarism after 1812 was the gendarme of Europe. It suppressed any national liberation movement in Europe, not to mention the territory of its own country. They suppressed any information and no information of this kind appeared in the press. After 1944, was there any mention of the National Liberation Movement? But that doesn't mean it didn't exist. There were extraordinary manifestations. Of the 15 Soviet republics that were part of the Soviet Union, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was the only one that was linked to a state with which it had a common history – Romania. For these reasons, the invention of a new Moldovan language was very important for the Soviet authorities," said the historian.
According to him, after 1989, the space between the Prut and the Nistru rivers began a process of distancing itself from Soviet influence by removing monuments, renaming streets and changing the school curriculum.
"They did not allow Romanian language books to reach the MSSR. You couldn't find Romanian literature in Chisinau. I, for example, used to buy Romanian literature from Odessa, St. Petersburg. Here, they were a danger to them. There, you bought them freely. For this reason, after 1989 there were several attempts to get rid of the past. The first – the monuments, two – the change of street names and three – the problems related to the curriculum, the appearance in the curriculum of changes related to the history of Romanians. An important role in the problems related to history was played by the Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova," explained Igor Sharov.
The public debate entitled "Contemporary danger of mythologization of 1812" is part of the series of debates "Impact of the past on trust and peace building processes". IPN News Agency carries out this project with support from the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
