Famine of 1946-1947: rare photos, documents exhibited in Moldovan capital

The National Museum of History of Moldova is hosting an exhibition of photographs and documents titled, The Famine of 1946–1947. History and Memory in Gagauzia. The project brings to the forefront one of the darkest periods of the totalitarian-communist regime, marked by suffering and massive human losses in the south of the country.

The exhibition presents to the general public testimonies, photographs and documents, many of them displayed for the first time, selected from the collections of the National Museum of History, the museum in Avdarma and the National Archives.

A scientific researcher at the National Museum of History of Moldova, Ludmila Cojocaru, explains that the goal of this exhibition was to present a representation of the culture of memory and to strengthen a stronger relation between generations.

“We want to bring an exhibition initiative aligned with the new paradigm regarding the culture of memory, which implies a stronger relation between generations through the dimension of testimonies. The exhibition presents propaganda photographs in a way that shows how manipulation worked, accompanied by images from family archives that reflect the suffering and loss of human lives,” Ludmila Cojocaru told MOLDPRES.

At the opening event of the exhibition, historian Anatol Taranu emphasized how late Moldovan society was assuming this painful past. According to him, although historians “rang the alarm bell” immediately after independence, the political establishment ignored the phenomenon for a long time.

“We are practically now witnessing the birth of a society, of a state in which there is historical memory. History is the foundation of a national identity and such a state without historical memory is practically a simulacrum, a body without a soul,” stated Anatol Taranu.

The representative of the Association of Former Deportees and Political Prisoners, Alexandru Postica, drew attention to the fact that, although the figures weree official (over 200,000 deaths nationwide), the traumas persist in the collective mindset, preventing a more assertive organization of the victims’ descendants.

“I was just asking myself: if there were so many victims, why did the descendants of those victims not synchronize to create an association to represent them? Fear has probably still not left us,” believes Alexandru Postica.

He also noted the need for a parliamentary decision that explicitly condemns the famine as a form of repression, in order to ensure the full restoration of the rights of the people affected.

The exhibition was organized at an initiative by the Avdarma Village History Museum, in cooperation with the National Museum of History of Moldova, and was made possible thanks to the National Programme, Access to Culture 2025, with the support of Moldova’s Culture Ministry, representatives of the National Museum of History of Moldova told MOLDPRES.

The exhibition will be open to the public till April 30, 2026. The exhibits can be viewed in the lobby of the National Museum of History of Moldova.

Author: Veronica Doni