In the past 30 years, historians managed to get rid of political involvement and thanks to the support offered by the Romanian side, historiography in the Republic of Moldova has made great progress, scientific secretary of the Institute of History of the Moldova State University Silvia Corlăteanu-Granciuc stated in a debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to her, Romania helped the Republic of Moldova a lot in the creation of history textbooks and the first volumes of the “History of Bessarabia”.
The representative of the Institute of History of the USM said that in recent years, historiography in Romania and the Republic of Moldova has developed considerably and the political component is completely excluded from historical science.
“We must admit that in the last 30 years, there has been a huge leap in the field of historiographical research, both in Romania, after 1989, when many subjects were reinterpreted, and in the Republic of Moldova. For historians from the space on the left side of the Prut, it was necessary to make a big leap to prove that this land is Romanian and to research controversial topics. At the Congress, there is a section titled “controversial problems in the history of Romanians on both banks of the Prut”. In the past 30 years, historians have gotten rid of the involvement of politics and this is extremely important. Both in Romania and in the Republic of Moldova, historians had the opportunity to research the problems without having an indication how to interpret this problem,” said the scientific secretary of the Institute of History of the Moldova State University.
According to her, Romania has greatly assisted the Republic of Moldova in editing history textbooks and launching numerous bilateral projects in the field of historical research.
“The books that came from across the Prut were more than important because they did not exist either in Chisinau or in the entire republic. They had to be written. Joint teams of historians were formed for the first volumes of the History of Bessarabia. Later, textbook competitions were announced and we had a period when there were more textbooks and a selection was made. It is important that textbooks created jointly by historians from Romania and the Republic of Moldova appeared. Later, joint research projects were launched because financial support is important when you want to achieve concrete results. And then, with the help of the Romanian Academy, a number of bilateral projects were announced and teams of researchers were created and these managed to propel historical science,” stated Silvia Corlăteanu-Granciuc said.
On August 28, Chisinau will host the fourth edition of the National Congress of Romanian Historians. According to Silvia Corlăteanu-Granciuc, renowned historians from both banks of the Prut are expected to attend the event. Between August 29 and 31, the Congress will take place in Suceava.
“Nowadays, when we have many history lovers who try to interpret particular topics, it is important to focus on the works of those who deal with documents and state their opinion only when the arguments are firm. Romania’s historiography completes the historical science of the Republic of Moldova with those documents that are in the Romanian archives. The National Congress of Romanian Historians will involve Romanian historians who settled abroad and who have the opportunity to work for a longer time in the archives abroad, like those in Vienna, Budapest, Rome, Paris. It’s like a puzzle that completes an overall picture and that no longer gives the possibility for the subjects to be reinterpreted,” explained the representative of the Institute of History.
The public debate entitled “National Congress of Romanian Historians, fourth edition, Chisinau-Suceava” was the 19th installment of the project “Double integration through cooperation and information. Continuity”, funded by the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova of the Government of Romania.
