The Romanian Embassy today held a ceremony to unveil a restored 1937 monument in Chisinau’s Valea Morilor Park.
The monument is a fountain that pays tribute to Gen.Maj. Pavel Ion Georgescu, a WWI hero. The fountain also marks the 20th anniversary of the crucial WWI battles of Mărăști și Mărășești (1917) and the 80th anniversary of Bessarabia’s liberation by the Romanian Army (1941) in WWII.
Three plaques on the back of the monument list the names of people tortured and killed by the Soviet NKVD following Bessarabia’s annexation in 1940.
“Excessive forgetfulness is a disease. Amnesia disfigures the human personality and identity of a nation. In addition to an Institute of History, we in Chisinau are in dire need of an Institute of Memory. Because history speaks about things in general, while memory speaks about concrete people, concrete places, concrete events, which we have no right to forget. This monument is another step towards restoring our national memory. The picture of our memory can be painted only from many such monuments, places, people, by retelling the fate of the people,” stated Minister of Culture Sergiu Prodan during the re-inauguration ceremony.
Daniel Ioniță, Romania’s Ambassador to Moldova, thanked the clergy from the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia who consecrated the monument. “The Church and the Army have always been deeply devoted to the Romanian people. Without the contribution of the military, Romania today would not have been a respected member of the European Union and NATO, a nation that has always been there for the Republic of Moldova on its European course. This monument is a shield from oblivion. It is important not to forget. And it is important to use various occasions to shed a tear of gratitude in memory of those who may have been wrongfully killed, and whose names could not even be said for a long time”, stated Daniel Ioniță.
As Romania celebrates its Army Day today, the Romanian Embassy also organized a re-inauguration ceremony of a Romanian Heroes’ Cemetery in Sofia village, Hâncești district.
