Maia Sandu, about the wave of deportations from June 12-13, 1941: It is a wound of our nation that is difficult to heal
"It is a wound that is difficult to heal. It still hurts us today", is the message of President Maia Sandu, today, when it turns 82 years since the first wave of deportations from Bessarabia and northern Bucovina.
"On the night between June 12 and 13, 1941, over 6,000 Moldovan families experienced the worst nightmare of their lives. In total, around 20 thousand people - priests, mayors, teachers, entrepreneurs from villages and cities - were picked up at gunpoint and taken in cattle cars to Siberia and Kazakhstan. The most learned people, the intellectuals of our country, our grandfathers full of humanity, courage and patriotism became "enemies of the people" overnight. The Stalinist regime feared the householders who defended their nation's values and trampled on basic human rights and human dignity.
It is a wound of our nation that is difficult to heal. The past in which our grandparents or parents were taken to forced labor or were killed for what they were, and not because they committed anything, still hurts us today. The only way to honor their memory is to strongly oppose such crimes against freedom and the right to life", is Maia Sandu's message.
The head of state noted that, until recently, it was believed that these tragedies belonged to the past, but for more than a year, such crimes have been taking place in Ukraine.
"We all believed that we would not allow history to repeat itself and whole families to be killed or deported from their own homes. But for more than a year, such crimes have been taking place in Ukraine, and the Kremlin regime has attacked a free nation simply because it wants to decide its own destiny. The Republic of Moldova will continue to help our neighbors fleeing the path of war. We will continue to be in solidarity with Ukraine, because we inherited this lesson from our grandparents - faith, humanity and love of freedom are our guiding values, through which we will find ourselves together, in the not too distant future, in the family of the civilized peoples of Europe, in the European Union", added Maia Sandu.
