Moldovan president says tragedy of deportations tragedy of Moldova's people

Chisinau, 12 June /MOLDPRES/ - President Maia Sandu has come up with a message on the commemoration of the victims of the first wave of Stalinist deportations. The head of state said that, on the night of 12 to 13 June 1941, the first wave of Stalinist deportations had started in Moldova. The Soviet regime drew out thousands of families from their homes, made them get into freight trains and sent them far away from home.    

„Mayors, priests, teachers, agricultural leaders – the best people from our communities – were called ‘’class enemies.’’ Many families were separated at the embarkation, the women and children were separated from husbands and fathers and some of them never found each other. About 30,000-40,000 people were deported from Bessarabia in June 1941,’’ President Maia Sandu said.    

The head of state also said that, after the war, the Soviet leaders continued the deportations and attempted to take our traditions, values and faith. They closed churches and monasteries, turning them into stables, sports clubs or hospitals for mentally sick and the people’s assets were confiscated unjustly.     

„The tragedy of deportations is the tragedy of our people – we will never forget it. We have the duty to preserve alive the memory of injustice through which our grandparents and great-grandparents went. We should honour their human dignity, which helped them remember who are they and where they come from, even in the inhuman conditions at the end of the earth. We should remember the lesson of the past, firmly rejecting any totalitarian impetuses in our country and we should educate the young generation in the spirit of freedom and democracy, which will prepare them for a life in peace and prosperity, in the European Moldova, part of the free world. Thus, we will respect and will honour the sacrifice of our great-grandparents, as well as will provide to Moldova’s children a future in which they will not be pulled out of homes, got into trains for cattle and deported for the mere fact that they lead their lives decently in their homes and country,’’ President Maia Sandu added.