On July 6th, starting from the year 1990, the Republic of Moldova commemorates the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism. This year marks the 74th anniversary of the second and largest wave of Stalinist deportations from Basarabia and Northern Bukovina. While the wounds of famine had not yet healed, another great tragedy of the Basarabian peasantry began – the mass deportations of prominent village farmers.
In this context, the National Library of the Republic of Moldova organizes the exhibition “Longing for Basarabia,” which aims to shed light on the historical truth about the phenomenon of deportations through the testimonies of those who unjustly suffered, survivors of the Gulag or their descendants. Approximately 100 documents are on display.
Additionally, Margareta Cemârtan-Spânu shares memories of her childhood in Siberia, alone, without parents or relatives, in her book “Siberia from Home”; writer Alexei Marinat is present in the exhibition with the book “Me and the World,” Nicolai Costenco with “From the Darkness of the Prison…Letters from the Gulag,” and Serafim Saka is present with “Basarabia in the Gulag.”
A special place in the exhibition is occupied by the deportation file no. 9939 of the Melentii family (a copy), who were in the Tyumen region from July 6, 1949, until December 24, 1955. The mother, Melentii Sofia Stepan, born in 1923, was rehabilitated based on the Law of the Republic of Moldova no. 1225-XII of December 8, 1992, “on the rehabilitation of victims of political repression.” It was there, in the Tobolsk region, that our colleague Nadejda Melentii (Metaxa) was born.
The exhibition will be open for visitation from July 3rd to August 23rd, 2023, at the exhibition space, 2nd floor, central block (31 August 1989 Street, 78).
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