77 Years Since the Largest Wave of Stalinist Deportations in Bessarabiatranslated

On the night of July 5–6, 1949, a second wave of deportations of Bessarabians took place, following the 1941 deportation.

Nearly 36,000 people, two-thirds of whom were women and children, were loaded onto cattle trains without minimal sanitary conditions or luggage, bound for Siberia or Kazakhstan.

The purpose of the deportations was to enforce collectivization and eliminate the resistance of peasants who refused to join kolkhozes.

According to former Romanian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Vasile Soare, Romanians were the third-largest ethnic group in Soviet labor camps, after Germans and Japanese.

A third wave of deportations occurred on April 1, 1951, targeting 5,917 members of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Bessarabia.

Commemorative Events To honor the memory of the victims of Stalinist deportations, authorities in the Republic of Moldova will hold a commemorative ceremony on Monday at the Monument to the Victims of the Communist Regime’s Deportations in Chisinau, located on Railway Avenue, during a rally dedicated to the Day of the Victims of Stalinist Deportations.

President Maia Sandu of the Republic of Moldova and Parliament President Igor Grosu are expected to attend the event.