Romanian ex-diplomat launches book 'Romanians, Bessarabia and Transnistria'

The book “Romanians, Bessarabia and Transnistria” written by the sociologist and journalist Ioan Popa and coauthored by his daughter, Luiza Popa, was launched in Chisinau on Monday, following its Bucharest launch in November, Info-Prim Neo reports. The authors describe the book as a synthesis of the most important events that marked the history of Bessarabia and Transnistria. The work is based on Romanian, Russian and Soviet archives and is intended to demonstrate the presence of Romanians on the eastern bank on the Nistru from ancient times. The chronological line of the book starts with ancient evidence for Romanians inhabiting areas east of the Nistru, and continues with the foundation of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1940); then the authors describe Transnistria under Romanian administration during Word War II, with special attention being paid to the Holocaust that was organized there. The final chapters describe the developments of the Romanian-Soviet relationship in the period from 1945 to 1989, continuing with the Transnistrian dispute of 1992 and its present-day reverberations. “This book is honest in the narration of the events. (...) It is a book where every reader will find opinions that will resonate with his own. The book opens ways for the solving of these problems that have been haunting us for years”, said Teodor Magder, a retired leader of the Jewish community in Moldova. Iurie Colesnic, historian and a member of parliament, says that the book is also a launchpad for a novel subject: the Bessarabians that influenced Romania. Deputy Prime Minister Ion Negrei, also a historian by profession, said that the current situation of Bessarabia and Transnistria has been shaped by the consequences of the past regimes. “The visions haven't converged yet. It is not yet clear what the Romanian space, the Romanian identity are, because in Romania the Bessarabians are still perceived as Russians. Only the integration of the Republic of Moldova into a European democratic regime will clarify the situation”, says Ion Negrei. According to the journalist and writer Nicolae Dabija, the subtext of Ioan Popa's book suggests that Bessarabia is “a Transnistria in the making”. “This is a book about us and for us. It contains arguments that we can use to defend us, because we've been older in Transnistria than the Russians or the Ukrainians. If we don't arm ourselves with the arguments of this book, we might disappear”, stated Dabija. However the author says he wrote the book for the Romanians living in Romania, to make them “think of the Bessarabians”. “I intended to write an open book, without offering solutions. This book was written from an inner need”. Ioan Popa worked in Chisinau from 2000 to 2004 as press attache at the Romanian Embassy. The launching of the book “Romanians, Bessarabia and Transnistria” in Chisinau was organized by the Association of Moldovan Historians.