The citizens who are nostalgic for the Soviet period should realize that the perspective of the Republic of Moldova can be no other than European and only alongside Romania, historian Octavian Țîcu stated in a debate hosted by IPN. According to him, the people will detach themselves from the Soviet past when they enjoy higher living standards and high-quality education, medicine and social services and these changes can be brought about only by the accession to the EU, IPN reports.
The historian said the nostalgia for the Soviet period is justified in a society that had been suppressed for tens of years, with a population that was subject to repression, famine and terror. The Soviet period left an imprint on the native population and it is very hard to exclude Sovietization from collective mentality.
“Our society has been formed during 50 years of four categories of people who are yet alive and who form the perception of the Soviet period. The first are the executors. They or their children are yet among us. There are the traitors. For example, the file of a deported person includes statements of people who testified against their parents, grandparents. There were executors who killed and traitors who played the role of satraps of the regime. We have the category of victims, a lot of people who lived in families of victims. We also have impassible people who, after the wave of pressure passed, were taught a public lesson what they should not do if they want to survive. These people assumed their identity out of prudence, opportunism, convenience,” stated Octavian Țîcu.
He noted there are two swift ways for overcoming Soviet nostalgia – Moldova’s union with Romania and the European integration. The citizens’ level of wellbeing is directly proportional to the level of nostalgia for the Soviet period.
“It goes to reunion or reintegration into the European space, the pro-European family, which would shift emphasis from daily problems, poverty, low salaries, social assistance, medical assistance, access to education. All these things matter in overcoming nostalgia. When they are anchored in another dimension, the people think differently. Surely, there are anomalies. There are people with Romanian nationality who live in Spain or Italy and watch Russian TV channels.”
The historian said the blurring of nostalgia does not mean annulment of Soviet culture, music or cinema, but represents the change of the perception of thinking about the future, which can be only European.
“Our citizens must dissociate themselves. Nostalgia for previous times, for music and films is one thing, while political motivation and the future perspective that can be no other than European and only alongside Romania is another thing. In the context of the war in Ukraine and probably after it is over, we will need a broad process of de-communization, de-Sovietization and de-Putinization. These are three components of the same doctrine that metamorphosed because it wasn’t condemned on time,” concluded Octavian Țîcu.
The public debate entitled “Why and how did the USSR disappear? Why does it cause nostalgia yet?” was the eleventh installment of IPN’s project “100 years of USSR and 31 years without USSR: Nostalgia for Chimeras”, which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
