Moldovan parliament speaker conveys message on Day of Commemoration of Famine Victims

The organized famine of 1946-1947 is the most horrifying phenomenon that engulfed the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic (RSSM), the current territory of the Republic of Moldova, claims Parliamentary President Igor Grosu. According to him, these painful life lessons should unite the Moldovans, make them stronger, and inspire them to work for a peaceful and European country.

Igor Grosu has conveyed a message to this effect, in the context of marking, on the third Saturday of April, the Day of Commemoration of the Victims of the Organized Famine of 1946-1947. The speaker emphasized that the famine of those years had been a deliberate policy of the Kremlin for the forced Sovietization of the population.

“The famine of that time is the most horrifying phenomenon that engulfed the RSSM, the current territory of the Republic of Moldova. During nine months, at least 120,000 people died of starvation. I don't think there is a village in Moldova that did not go through this dark chapter of history. We, from Cahul, have heard over the years harrowing stories of how entire families were left to starve. And this was because the regime of the time in Moscow decided on the forced confiscation of grain, regardless of whether peasants had anything left for their own consumption,” said Igor Grosu.

The parliamentary speaker also said that, in the name of those who had gone through those terrible sufferings, we have the moral duty not to forget this dark period of the country’s past.

“We must talk about the horrors and sufferings our families went through and not allow any regime to trigger crimes against the people. These painful life lessons must unite us, make us stronger and inspire us to work for a peaceful and European Moldova,” Igor Grosu added.

According to the National Archive Agency, the famine of 1946-1947 was one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes that hit the current territory of the Republic of Moldova in the 20th century. It was not an unavoidable natural disaster, but a tragedy exacerbated by the authoritarian and repressive policies of the Soviet regime. According to data provided by the National Archive Agency, during just a few months, more than 123,000 people died of starvation, accounting for about 5 per cent of the RSSM’s population. Proportionally, Soviet Moldova was the worst  hit region in the entire Soviet Union, with a death rate ten times higher than in Russia and five times higher than in Ukraine.

On the occasion of the Day of Commemoration of the Victims of the Famine of 1946-1947, an exhibition was opened outside the government building, which shows the causes, scale and consequences of the famine triggered by the Soviet regime.