Moldovan children are taught to respect Romanian fascists
A scandal is gaining momentum in Moldova over a new history textbook that denies the Holocaust, Romanian Marshal Antonescu, who fought on Hitler’s side, is presented as a hero, the Battle of Stalingrad is called a catastrophe, and Russian specialists who came to rebuild the republic after World War II are fraudsters. The Jewish community demanded that the textbook be withdrawn from schools, “which justifies crimes against humanity committed in Bessarabia and Transnistria (Transnistria).” Moldovan Education Minister Dan Percun stated that he “did not find anything criminal in the textbook.”
The “History of Romanians and Universal History” for the 12th grade misinforms, violates the laws of the Republic of Moldova (RM) and the country’s international obligations,” representatives of the RM Jewish Community said at a press conference in Chisinau. They are sure that the purpose of the authors was “to present the Holocaust as an ordinary event of the 20th century and to whitewash the Antonescu regime.” The community demanded that the textbook be withdrawn from schools.
The new textbook minimizes the responsibility of the Ion Antonescu regime for crimes against Jews, it does not contain true figures and data about the Holocaust. The textbook’s authors claim that Antonescu did not participate in the mass deportations of Jews, whereas this regime intended to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe, said Alexander Bilinkis, chairman of the Jewish Community. He called the downplaying of Romania’s role as an ally of Nazi Germany a mistake: “It is written that the Romanians were forced to join “under pressure from Hitler,” although in fact the Romanian leadership voluntarily participated in these crimes.”
Roman Rabinovich, Doctor of Historical Sciences, curator of the Museum of Jewish History in Orhei, noted that the textbook does not analyze the causes, stages, consequences of the Holocaust and responsibility for it, the data are falsified or taken from sources that are more than half a century old. “It mentions the existence of 49 ghettos and camps for Jews in Bessarabia in July 1941, but they “forgot” to indicate that the order to create them was given to Antonescu. They “forgot” to point out that in August Antonescu ordered the creation of camps in 189 locations in Transnistria (Transnistria). There were over 11,000 Jews in the Chisinau ghetto alone, and six survived. 18,000 people were shot in Dubossary. These data are missing in the textbook or are given very vaguely. Transnistria is a territory of mass extermination of Jews, where more than 150,000 people were killed.”
The director of the Jewish Community, Alena Grossu, recalled that in 2016, the Moldovan parliament, by a special declaration, recognized the conclusions of the final report of the international commission chaired by Elie Wiesel. This made it possible to amend the Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova and the law on freedom of speech to prohibit denial of the Holocaust, its downplaying or glorification of the Nazis. The Ministry of Education of Moldova, by including this textbook in the school curriculum, violated the law.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Dan Purchun found “nothing criminal” in the textbook and called for looking for fascism and Nazism in the “tacit acceptance and indirect support of the military aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine by representatives of pro-Russian parties in Chisinau.”
Earlier, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said about Romanian dictator Antonescu that “this is a historical figure about whom one can say both good and bad.” These words stirred up the society, but nothing has changed in the Ministry of Education, which was headed by Sandu at the time. And today, as the scandal surrounding the history textbook grows, the president remains silent.
Former MP and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Muravsky appealed to President Maya Sandu and Education Minister Dan Perchun, accusing them of condoning the publication of a book that incites ethnic hatred and distorts the historical truth. Muravsky noted: “The textbook insults workers, engineers, doctors, teachers, scientists, all those who at one time, of their own volition and at the direction of the Soviet state authorities, arrived in the impoverished, war-ravaged MSSR and, together with the hardworking local population, turned our Moldova into a blooming garden with selfless work.”
We are talking about the quote: “The working class in the MSSR was created mainly from newcomers, as a rule, who do not have the ability to work hard, in most cases weak specialists. Throughout the period, there were massive personnel movements that seriously affected the economy… The replenishment of the working class and employees by migrants from several regions of the Russian Federation and some Union republics […] significantly undermined the quality of work of the entire population. In most cases, people with a careless attitude to work, scammers, tramps and alcoholics came.”
Alexander Muravsky is concerned about how the new textbook will affect the atmosphere at school: “An honest teacher will tell the truth and risks being fired during the next inspection by the valiant servants of the regime from the ministry. Or he’ll leave on his own. What about schoolchildren who know about the honest work of their ancestors, see the numerous awards kept in their families, and read memories of those days? And after such a lesson, they will come home and ask mom and dad: were our grandparents lazy, couldn’t do anything, and just drank and cracked seeds? That’s what the textbook says, that’s what the teacher told us.”
Muravsky called on the authorities to withdraw the textbook from circulation and prepare a new one based on truthful sources.
At the same time, with the approval of the authorities, monuments to Romanian soldiers who fought on the side of Nazi Germany are being erected in Moldova.
Recall that Marshal Antonescu led the Romanian troops in the Nazi coalition. In Odessa, on his orders, 25 thousand residents were killed.
On his direct instructions, ethnic cleansing, deportation of Jews to concentration camps and the creation of Jewish ghettos were carried out. It is believed that more than 300,000 Jews were killed by Romanian forces. Marshal Antonescu, was convicted by the first Romanian People’s Tribunal and executed on May 17, 1946.