Former deportees and their relatives on July 6 came to the Pain Train monument in the square of the Railway Terminal in Chisinau to commemorate the second wave of deportations, of 1949. Today, all the national flags in Moldova are flown at half-mast, IPN reports.
“We were labeled people’s enemy where we lived. The property earned by our parents and grandparents by hard work cannot be returned to us as this was ultimately destroyed and robbed,” said the head of the Association of Former Deportees and Political Detainees of Moldova Valentina Sturza. According to her, the deportees went through a communist genocide, suffering famine and humiliation, but these learned to live further. “The deportees include teaches, persons with high-ranking posts, MPs and academicians and our people respect us for our work,” she stated.
State Achieve Service director general Ion Varta said the innocent victims of the criminal policies pursued by the Soviet occupation regime on the Romanian territory eastward the Prut are commemorated on this day. The deportations were classed as crimes not only by historians, but also by jurists. These are crimes against humanity. “We, the historians, and not only, speak about three large deportation waves, of June 1941, July 1949 and April 1951. But there were smaller waves between these three waves that involved by 350, 400, 600, 900 persons,” stated Ion Varta.
Head of the public association “Historical association “Stephan the Great and Holy” of Cimislia Anastasia Balmus said the deported Bessarabians endured a lot, being dispossessed of property, homes, name and freedom. Her grandparent aged 73, who was confined to bed then, was taken by four soldiers, put on a carpet and thrown into a car. “He was humiliated before the whole village. Of 23 members of the grandfather’s family, 18 were taken to Siberia. We do not take revenge, but do not forget what happened. It was genocide against the own people,” stated Anastasia Balmus.
Elena Gidilica-Vladei from Chirileni village of Ungheni district said her mother was the victim of Stalinist repressions. Being an orphan, she was brought to that wagon when she was 11 and was taken to Kurgan region. All the deportees who were the select people of the nation experienced terrible moments.
According to the Association of Former Deportees and Political Detainees of Moldova, more than 94,700 persons were deported. Of these, 7,680 former detainees are yet alive in Moldova, by 450 fewer than last year. There were three large deportations waves - in June 1941, in July 1949 and in April 1951.
