Unionist movement celebrates 67 years since Basarabia liberation

“On the occasion of the 67th anniversary of liberation of Basarabia, the North of Bukovina and the Herta County from the USSR’s occupation,” the Unionist Movement from Moldova staged a meeting on Saturday on the Classical Writers Alley in Chisinau. The movement’s members wanted to remind the importance of this short liberation, from 1941 to 1944, when, according to them, Romanian marshal Ion Antonescu managed to restore Basarabia’s economy after it was destroyed in 1940 in the area between the Prut and Nistru rivers by the USSR. The movement’s secretary genera, Iacob Golovca, a history doctor and the president of the Association for the liquidation of the consequences of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, has told Info-Prim Neo that July 26 is especially important because on this day, in 1941, the Romanian Army freed Basarabia, and namely the last town of Cetatea Alba (Belgorod-Dnestrovski) from the Russian regime. “This is the day when the Romanians returned to life, when the resurrected after 1940 when they were subjected to silence by the occupation Soviet Army and the KGB,” Iacob Golovca underlined. According to him, in 1940, after the USSR had occupied Basarabia, a good part from the Basarabian intelligentsia left beyond the Prut or to other countries. In 1941, after the liberation, most of them returned to Bessarabia. The actual liberation started on 22 June 1941, as fights were waged to conquer the bridgeheads by the Romanian Army. The offensive of the Romanian and German Armies started on July 2, 1941, and lasted till July 26. “Soldiers, I order you to cross the Prut!” came Marshal Antonescu’s order. In less than a month the army liberated the whole territory, says the historian. Chisinau was freed on July 16. Basarabia stood within the Romanian kingdom three years. On August 23, 1944, it was taken again by the USSR.