A museum complex for the victims of political repression is being constructed in Mereni village of Anenii Noi district. The complex is managed by SRL “Delia Star” within a public-private partnership established with the Mereni mayor’s office. The project was initiated by Alexandru Postica, who is the grandchild of deportees. On December 23, there were unveiled the first three sculptures of this complex, IPN reports.
The three sculptures represent the ‘family’, ‘prayer’ and ‘separation’. The museum complex is over 3 hectares in area and has several zones. There will be erected a number of auxiliary buildings, including a typical peasants’ house whose construction already started. There will be also exhibited units of transport by which victims of political repression were conveyed, cellars and other buildings where deportees were held in Siberia and other settlements.
According to Irina Postica, administrator of SRL “Delia Star”, the complex will offer a clear picture of the ordeal trough which the deportees went. It will be a place of pilgrimage both for those who were subject to political repression and for foreign visitors. The museum complex will have a private archive, conference halls, museum in the open air and other auxiliary constructions. In 2014, there will be inaugurated the museum house “Sava Postica”, in memory of one of the deportees. Other zones of the museum will be laid out afterward.
Natalia Procopii-Scobioala, director of the Home of Culture of Mereni and coordinator of the project, said the settlement was seriously affected as it was a village of peasants. More than 600 villagers were deported. The local public administration hopes the complex, which is only several kilometers from the airport, will attract foreign and national tourists.
According to Valentina Sturza, head of the Association of Former Deportees and Political Detainees, more than 94,000 people were deported in 1941-1949. About 8,500 victims of political repression are alive. Valentina Sturza welcomed this initiative, saying it does not allow forgetting the painful history of the country.
The initiative is supported financially by Soros Foundation Moldova and the European Cultural Foundation, which offered a grant of €6,000. The local-public administration provided €4,000. The museum complex is situated in the center of Mereni.
