School history programs are based on Communist ideology, Historians’ Association

The Association of Historians of Moldova recommends the teachers not to use the new school programs as they are a deviation from the historical truth and represent “a refection of the Communist ideologue”, Info-Prim Neo reports. At a news conference on Tuesday, Igor Casu, a member of the executive committee of the Association of Historians, said that such subjects as the Union of 1859 and of 1918 and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact whereby the Stalinist government annexed Romanian territories were excluded from the new programs. There were also avoided topics about the terrors of the Communist regime, such as deportations, hunger, forced Rusification. Instead, there are propagated such Socialist myths as the friendship between peoples, Igor Casu said. The bibliography recommended to students includes works by Victor Stepaniuc and Vasile Stati, but excludes such historians as Nicolae Iorga. According to the president of the Association of Historians Sergiu Musteata, the school programs contain grammatical mistakes, lack coherence and logical and chronological succession. The historians said that these programs are a copy of the textbooks used in Transnistria. “We witness the Transnistrization of history whereby they impose a certain ideology, the pro-Communist one,” said Igor Casu. Members of the Association said that though these programs are only recommendations, their content is used in exams and Olympiads, being thus imposed indirectly. “However, every school and every teacher works according to their own program and use the Integrated History books only when they are inspected,” said teacher Daniela Buga, a member of the Association. Sergiu Musteata said that from September 1 they will work on a new yearly school program that will be submitted to the Ministry of Education and Youth for examination. The historians recommend the Ministry to hold open contests to select those that will formulate the programs and textbooks. The Association of Historians of Moldova was founded in 1989 and has a membership of over 500.