Spokesman for government describes concert held nearby exhibition dedicated to deportation victims as insult to Moldova's collective memory

The government describes the organization of a concert nearby the exhibition titled, State Terror in Soviet Moldova: Scale, Facts, Victims, and Perpetrators, as ‘’an insult to our collective memory.’’ The spokesman for the government, Daniel Voda, has expressed a position to this effect.

‘’The central authorities consider the organization of this concert near the Train of Pain exhibition as an insult to our collective memory,’’ said Daniel Voda, following a today’s cabinet meeting.

The government’s spokesperson noted that the Chisinau City Hall, as a local authority, needed to explain why it had allowed this concert to take place nearby  another event organized by the government, namely the Train of Pain exhibition.

‘’The government condemns this mockery and considers it irresponsible,’’ the official stressed.

Referring to entry bans in Moldova, Daniel Voda said that ‘’those who undertake actions contrary to our country’s interests will not be able to enter Moldova.’’

‘’The government bans access to the country only based on the law. So, we're talking about the access to the country of people entering on different purposes, not just for artistic reasons. The fact that an artist is not on a sanctions list does not mean the state encourages such presence on its territory. On the contrary, we have condemned the use of art as a propaganda tool, a trend we have observed in recent times, especially in the case of artists coming from the Russian Federation, an aggressor state continuing the brutal war against Ukraine, which Chisinau has vehemently condemned,’’ said the government’s spokesperson.

Daniel Voda also said that ‘’even in the case of artists who make statements that contradict our country’s interests, there will be prompt decisions on behalf of the authorities.’’

‘’Other artists did not even manage to arrive because, from the outset, the authorities said that they would not allow their access on the territory of Moldova, because we do not support people who acted in the spirit of war and the promotion of military aggression against the neighboring country, Ukraine,’’ he noted.

At the same time, Daniel Voda encouraged citizens to visit the open-air exhibition, State Terror in Soviet Moldova: Scale, Facts, Victims, and Perpetrators, organized on the National Great Assembly Square.

‘’An exhibition dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of Moldovans who suffered as a result of deportations and Soviet terror deserves to be on the National Great Assembly Square, and the government will continue this effort of broad popularization and information, and on this occasion, we invite the entire society, all good-faith people to come visit the exhibition, to post information on social networks, to consult the national archives and to remember what happened in the history of our country. When everyone sees, no one will forget. This is the cabinet’s message on this subject,’’ Daniel Voda also said.

The exhibition, now at its third edition, includes two railway carriages similar to those in which people were deported to Siberia and will run until July 27. In one of the carriages, documents, photographs, books and diverse objects showing the experience of all those repressed by the Soviet regime are presented; in the second railway carriage, visitors can watch an exhibition dedicated to the 1946-1947 famine and more multimedia content. Additionally, visitors can view a virtual exhibition via VR technology.

During 1940-1953, the Soviet regime initiated a policy of terror against the population of Bessarabia. In just 13 years, about 80,000 people were forced to leave their homes, this being a well-organized operation, planned at the central level, with the aim of eliminating cultural elites, intimidating the population and destroying national identity.

The mass deportation from July 6-9, 1949, was the largest on the current territory of Moldova. The operation involved 11,281 families, with the forcibly displaced contingent in cattle wagons comprising 35,796 people, including 11,889 children, 14,033 women and 9,864 men.