Press Release
on the organization of a live-streamed interview with the the president of the Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova Anatol Petrencu. The interview “Mass deportations as state policy and antidote to nostalgia. Previous and current effects of deportations” was conducted as part of IPN Agency’s project “100 years of USSR and 31 years without USSR: Nostalgia for Chimeras” that is supported by the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
Where does the political nostalgia for the former USSR that marks a significant part of Moldovan society even after three decades of its dissolution come from?; What are the eventual benefits and risks of this nostalgia; What shall we all do to diminish what can represent a risk to our society today and tomorrow. Answers to these and other questions can be found below in an interview conducted by Valeriu Vasilică with Anatol Petrencu, president of the Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova, on 10.08.22.
The horror of the first wave of deportations from Bessarabia and northern Bucovina, of the night of June 13, was organized by the Soviet regime for the new leaders who came to the occupied territories to impose their authority on the native population. The deportations were aimed at destroying the intellectuality and opinion leaders from villages.
“The population between the Prut and the Nistru suffered a lot, especially after June 28, 1940, when the Soviet Union, using the defeat of France, the successes of Germany in Western Europe, gained control over Bessarabia, north Bucovina, Hertsa region. The Penal Code of Ukraine was extended to cover the Moldovan SSR. The NKVD troops came here and started a real hunt for people. The Soviets came with the idea of class enemy and Bessarabians who were decent citizens of Romania were called bourgeoisie leaders and were arrested,” said Anatol Petrencu, noting the goal of the first wave of deportations was to homogenize the occupied territory with what was there in the USSR.
In two years of the famine of 1946-1947, another drama of the peasants started in Bessarabia. The largest wave of deportations was staged on July 6, 1949 under an operation coded “Iug” (“South”). Over 11,000 families, 40,000 persons were deported to south Kazakhstan and to the regions of Altai, Kurgan, Tyumen, Tomsk
“The second wave of deportations took place in 1949, when the people already overcame famine. The political and ideological factor related to the collectivization of agriculture was again imposed here. In Bessarabia, in the interwar period the peasants were given by up to 6 ha of land. When the Soviet power came in 1940s, the land was nationalized, but was left to peasants for being cultivated. In 1949, the second wave of deportations was staged for the reason that the people were considered ‘exploiters or kulaks’. It was invoked the exploitation of the person by person. For fear of deportations, the people wrote thousands of applications to enter kolkhozes. The Soviet Union was a state based on fear and blackmail,” stated Anatol Petrencu.
The president of the Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova said history reveals the horrors of the Soviet regime that were hidden by the then propaganda. Russia’s expansionist ambitions and aggressive character became evident especially after February 24, 2022.
“What was presented to us in the Soviet period was something false. In reality, things were very bad. Gulags, political repressions, use of psychiatry for political purposes. The then propaganda presented only the good sides to the public. The Russia propaganda insists on the fact that the other ex-Soviet states are failed states. The Russians continue insisting that Ukraine is an artificially created state. Now those who are nostalgic for the Soviet times are involved in politics by the promotion of the Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan Customs Union,” said the historian.
According to him, the idea of Russia’s grandeur was imbedded in people’s minds through the agency of propaganda, while the reality revealed by the war in Ukraine shows the opposite.
“Russia today, even with its ambition to restore the former Soviet space, is not the Soviet Russia. Capitalism dominates in Russia now. That capitalism is even more inequitable than that under tsarism as all the clans that gained control over Gazprom, forests, gold mines do not share what they have with the poor people. We see expanding poverty among the population of Russia. After February 24, 2022, things changed radically. The war in Ukraine showed that Russia’s grandeur to which some aspired no longer exists. The so-called second greatest army of Russia, as they called it, cannot succeed in this war with Ukraine,” stated Anatol Petrencu.
The following deliverables were produced:
- Record of live-streamed video (52:31 min.) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYj83_LUpA4;
- News item #1 from the interview „Historian Anatol Petrencu: Those who are nostalgic for USSR idealize a criminal past” - https://www.ipn.md/en/historian-anatol-petrencu-those-who-are-nostalgic-for-ussr-idealize-a-criminal-p-8004_1091609.html;
- News item #2 from the interview „Anatol Petrencu: Soviet Union was a state based on fear and blackmail” - https://www.ipn.md/en/anatol-petrencu-soviet-union-was-a-state-based-on-fear-and-blackmail-8004_1091611.html;
- News item #3 from the interview „Anatol Petrencu: We cannot accept aggressive policy of Russia” - https://www.ipn.md/en/anatol-petrencu-we-cannot-accept-aggressive-policy-of-russia-8004_1091616.html;
- Interview transcript „Anatol Petrecu: Nostalgic people should also accept hidden part about life in USSR. IPN interview” - https://www.ipn.md/en/anatol-petrecu-nostalgic-people-should-also-accept-hidden-part-about-life-in-uss-8004_1091623.html.
Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN
