Speaker attends National Memory Congress

In every locality in the Republic of Moldova, a museum will be opened to commemorate the horrors committed by the Soviet totalitarian regime, and the authorities will complete the process of declassifying the files. Speaker Igor Grosu made the statements today. He attended the first National Memory Congress.

He opened the National Memory Congress by recalling his faculty professors who used to say: 'Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.'




'History teachers urged us to think: what would have happened if the seizure of Bessarabia hadn't occurred? If there hadn't been the seizure of Bessarabia, there probably wouldn't have been deportations, organized famine, deliberately designed to destroy all that was good on this land: intellectuals, peasants, landowners. Probably, those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it, and we see all these things through the throes of an empire from the east that cannot detach from its ambitions. I am referring to the Russian Federation, which, unfortunately, repeats those atrocities in Ukraine — an unmotivated, unjustified, and heinous war through its scale and cruelty,' declared Igor Grosu.


The official made a connection between the past, present and future, emphasizing that the Republic of Moldova is now at a crossroads, and what the citizens choose will be decisive. Igor Grosu urged all those who know the horrors of the Soviet regime to share them with growing generations so that the tragedies they endured will not recur.


'We are on the eve of historical events that will mark the path our country will take. It is very important for you, those who have suffered, who had parents who suffered, to speak as boldly and as loudly as possible about the atrocities committed and how heinous the totalitarian communist regime is that Putin is trying to extend into Ukraine and the former Soviet republics. How dangerous this regime is! The only direction for Moldova's development is European integration — a space of peace, prosperity, and respect for the memory of those who have fallen or were persecuted throughout history,' emphasized Igor Grosu.


The Speaker emphasized that living memory must be preserved, recalling his grandparents' stories about famine and deportations, told in a whisper.

The first National Memory Congress opened today in Chișinău. The event is organized by the Association of Former Deportees and Political Prisoners from Moldova, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Research.

The Congress aims to become a platform for dialogue between survivors and descendants of the victims of deportations and political repressions, as well as institutional, civic, and academic actors involved in promoting historical memory.