Moldovan president says country's duty is to preserve memory alive, convey it to next generations

Chisinau, 13 June /MOLDPRES/ - President Maia Sandu today participated in an event on the commemoration of the first wave of deportations, since when 80 years have passed. The head of state laid flowers at the Monument to the Deportees and Political Prisoners on the Square of the Railway Station, the presidential press service has reported.  

„Eighty years have passed since tens of thousands of people at dead of night were taken out of their homes, dispossessed from the wealth honestly earned, were bemocked and without any trial, without right to defence, they were carried, in inhuman conditions, far from their homes. We feel the consequences of this political and social purge at present too. The survivors and the members of the deportees’ families feel them every day. The entire society feels them. As the Soviet power uprooted from us the communities’ leaders, the intelligent people who had spirit of entrepreneur – those who posed danger for the totalitarian regime,’’ President Maia Sandu said.     

In her speech, the head of state noted that the work of historians, competent associations, of the relatives and descendants of those who went through the ordeal of deportations, and who give a helping hand for the discovery, description and promotion of information and evidence about those dark days from our history, is quite important.  

„Our duty is preserve alive the memory and convey this memory to the next generations. Our duty is to educate the young people in the spirit of the democratic values, of mutual respect and courage to defend their rights before any totalitarian impulses. It is important that we remember that the freedom which we enjoy presently cost us tens and hundreds of thousands of broken lives and destinies. The freedom is a gift which we paid expensively; therefore, we must preserve it piously. Only by valuing the freedom we can cure the wounds of the past and move stronger towards a peaceful, prosperous and European future,’’ Maia Sandu added.     

The first wave of deportations took place on the night of 12 to 13 June 1941.

photo: Presidency