Three documentary films about Soviet political repression to be screened outside Moldova's government

Three documentary films today will be screened outside the government building between 20:30 and 22:00, as part of the exhibition, State Terror in Soviet Moldova: Victims, Perpetrators, Scale.

The first film is titled, Greetings from the Years 1937 and 1949, directed by Nicolae Ghibu, shot in 1988, focusing on the deportations of 1949 and the executions during the Great Terror in the Moldovan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) The second film is titled, The Delirium of the Patient, directed by Mircea Chistruga, with a screenplay by Andrei Dumbraveanu from 1989, dedicated to the post-war famine of 1946-1947. The third film is titled, The Alliance Between the Sickle and the Hammer, directed by Andrei Buruiana, with a screenplay by Ion Turcanu from 1990, about agricultural collectivization and the deportation of 1949.

All films were produced at the Moldova-Film Studio. These films are practically unknown to both specialists and the general public. The screenings contain testimonies from people who are no longer with us, ordinary individuals or notable figures of national culture, including deportation testimonies from Mihai Dolgan, the legendary founder of Noroc (1967) and Contemporanul (1974), deported with his family in 1949 at the age of seven to Onohoi village, Buryat ASSR, Russia.

At the same time, the films include testimonies from the renowned light music singer Nina Crulicovschi, born in 1951 in the Kurgan region, her parents being deported to Siberia. The screenings also include testimonies from translator Elena Vatamanu, whose father, writer Mihail Curicheru, was deported to Siberia in 1941, and she was deported along with her mother Sofia and sister Valentina in 1949.

The event is organized by Moldova-Film, the National Archives Agency, and OWH Studio, with support from the government and the Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition, State Terror in Soviet Moldova: Victims, Perpetrators, Scale, was inaugurated on July 5 on the Great National Assembly Square from the capital. It is hosted in two train cars presenting the story of Stalinist deportations and the memory of Soviet terror victims. The first car contains documents, photographs, personal items and books showing the deportees' experience, while the second car is dedicated to multimedia content paying tribute to the victims. The exhibition, now at its third edition, will be open to the public till July 27.

On the night of July 5 to 6, 1949, the Soviet regime orchestrated one of the largest deportation operations in the history of Moldova and the entire Eastern European region. About 40,000 people, including women, children and the elderly, were forced to leave their homes and sent in inhumane conditions to concentration camps in Siberia.

This action is part of the Stalinist repressive policy of "cleansing" the population, particularly targeting wealthy peasants (called "kulaks") and other social categories considered "enemies of the people" or potential opponents of the Soviet regime. The deportations aimed to eliminate any resistance to collectivization and impose total control over the territory and population.