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#Exhibit of the Month

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With the establishment of the Soviet regime after the territorial abduction, the Red Terror broke out in Bessarabia. Starting from June 28, 1940, on the territory of Bessarabia, then of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (August 2, 1940), state bodies carried out a series of mass political repressions - under the pretext of political, social, religious and national reasons - in the form of deprivation of freedom, deportation, expulsion and other coercive measures. The first victims of this terror were the national elites: mayors, teachers, judges, lawyers, officials, former members of the Council of the Country, accused of "anti-Sovietism", "counter-revolutionary activity", belonging to political parties in Romania, etc. They were the target of the first arrests and imprisonments of the Soviet repression organs. Later, from 1941, the deportations of the native population to Siberia and to labor correction camps followed, the deportations of the civilian population from July 5-6, 1949, as well as those from April 1, 1951. According to the data of the Commission for the Study and Assessment of the Totalitarian Communist Regime in the Republic Moldova, established on January 14, 2010, the number of victims deported and subjected to repressions in the years 1929-1951 was assessed at over 90 thousand people. In a barbaric way, the repression bodies also attacked the participants and supporters of the resistance movement in the SSR, considering them state criminals, traitors, bandits, robbers. Leaders of resistance organizations were usually sentenced to capital punishment by firing squad, and active members to 25 years in prison, serving their sentences in labor camps and prisons. The territory of the Soviet empire was littered with a hideous network of correctional labor camps and prisons called the GULAG. Millions of people were imprisoned in the GULAG system of the Soviet Union, many of them remained forever in the lands of Siberia, in mass graves and cemeteries without crosses. Most of the camps were correctional labor colonies, where inmates were subjected to labor in mines or in the construction of roads, canals, railways or buildings. Prisoners worked under threat of starvation or execution. Tens of thousands died each year from grueling work, unbearable conditions, summary executions and inadequate food.

A shocking testimony of the Soviet gulag is the exhibit "Political Detainee's Coat", displayed in this showcase. Museum piece - unique, it was purchased from the former political prisoner Vasile Cojocaru, domiciled in the city of Chisinau. It entered the heritage in 1995, during a period of intense activity of the museum's collaborators regarding the collection of pieces with the theme of communist repression.

Vasile Cojocaru was born in 1926, in the village of Chioselia Mică, Baimaclia district (currently, Cantemir district). On June 16, 1951, he was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment by the Military Court of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the SSR, according to article 54-1 (a) of the criminal code of the Ukrainian SSR - "treason", and escorted in a special camp in Kazakhstan, with prohibitions on rights and confiscation of property. Obviously, we ask ourselves the question: What guilt is hidden under this accusation of "traitor to the fatherland", which crippled his whole life?

In July 1941, his father, Cojocaru Petru Grigore, born in 1886, was arrested and qualified as an "enemy of the people" (he was a member of the National Peasant Party), all his wealth being confiscated. On August 15, 1942, as a "dangerous social element", he is imprisoned in the correctional camp in the city of Mariinsk, Kemerovo region, where he dies under unclear circumstances, most likely he was executed. Vasile, 14 years old, and his mother were left on the roads, without means of subsistence. Eventually, the house is returned to them and they start a new household. But in 1944 he was drafted into the Soviet Army and sent to the front line of the 2nd Belorussian Front, where he was wounded twice, becoming a war invalid, 2nd degree. Returning home in 1948, he found his mother on the road and ill. He dares to ask the authorities for part of the confiscated wealth, to which he receives a threat - that he will be sent in the footsteps of his father. For three years he was persecuted for this "daring", as in 1951, although he defended the Bolshevik country at the cost of his health, he was arrested and convicted. Here, in fact, is what is hidden under this accusation of "treason", imputed to this citizen. In 1956, he was released from detention and sent to Armenia, the city of Yerevan, the place of residence indicated by the camp authorities. For many years in a row he was pursued by the security organs, being far from home, as political prisoners were forbidden to return to their place of residence. Come home later. Through the certificate of 28.02.1992, issued by the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Moldova, he is rehabilitated at and restored to rights. On July 25, 1991, his father was also rehabilitated.

The clothes on display - the waistcoat and trousers - are part of the prisoners' summer clothes, which also included a round cap, which the museum does not have. They are made of thick cotton fabric. The vest has long sleeves, collar, closes with four buttons, having two patch pockets on the sides. The pants close with buttons, have two side pockets. On both pieces is applied the number "CEE 893" - the holder code of Vasile Cojocaru. Three capital letters and three numbers are written in black paint on a piece of white cloth. The prisoner's number was applied in four places on the coat. One number was applied to the cap, another - to the back of the waistcoat, the third - near the heart, and the fourth - to the trousers, above the right or left knee. These four places, in fact, were also considered as sighting targets, in case the prisoner escaped. The number also applied to prisoners' winter clothes (down jackets, padded trousers, hats). As for footwear, the prisoners wore - in spring, summer and autumn - a kind of large galoshes made of rubberized fabric, less often, kirza boots, and in winter - felt. Usually, new arrivals were given second-hand clothes - old stuff with a terrible smell.

The exhibit has an indisputable museographic value. It gives the public the opportunity to see and understand the consequences of the establishment of the communist totalitarian regime in the SSR. By exhibiting it, we pay tribute to all the victims of the Red Terror in Bessarabia, on the eve of June 13 and July 5-6 - days when the two waves of deportations of our natives took place.

Virtual Tour



Exhibitions




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“REMEMBERING CHILDHOOD, TESTIMONIES OF BESSARABIAN DEPORTEES”  

Arbor Association for Culture and Arts, Bucharest

August 31 – September 25, 2022
On August 31, 2022, the Arbor Association for Culture and Arts and the Museum of Victims of Deportations and Political Repressions, a branch of the National Museum of History of Moldova, organized the opening of the exhibition "Remembering childhood, testimonies of Bessarabian deportees", which restores the spirit of tragic destinies, the testimonies of deportees and victims of the totalitarian regime from the left bank of the Prut in the Soviet period...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
“Promoters of National Identity and Values” 

August 27 - September 30, 2022
On August 27, 1991, history gave us a chance - the chance to become free. And the Bessarabian Romanians proved by deed that they want to be masters of their own destiny. For them, independence in those days was identified with the exit from the darkness of the Soviet empire and the hope for a prosperous future...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
"Lem's Bestiary illustrated by Mróz" 

August 22 - September 26, 2022
The exhibition "Lem's Bestiary illustrated by Mróz", created by Prof. Janusz Górski from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk, connects illustrations signed by Daniel Mróz with fragments of Stanisław Lem's prose, presenting them to the general public through images placed on the fence of the National History Museum of Moldova...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
“In reward for the merits... State awards of the Republic of Moldova to the 30th anniversary” 

July 28 – August 25, 2022
On July 30, 1992, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova adopted Law no. 1123-XII On the state insignia of the Republic of Moldova, through which the first own awards of the young state involved in an unjust war for the defense of its political independence and territorial integrity were introduced...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
“30 years of diplomatic relations between Germany and Moldova”  

July 21 - August 21, 2022
The diplomatic relations between Germany and Moldova began 30 years ago with the signing of the protocol about the inception of the diplomatic relations on 30 April 1992. This was followed by the opening of the German Embassy in Chisinau on 31 October 1992 and of the Moldovan Embassy in Germany on 28 March 1995...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
“Testimonies from the Gulag: Memory of the victims of the totalitarian communist regime” 

July 6 - 25, 2022
The establishment of the Soviet occupation regime on the territories of the left bank of the Prut had dramatic consequences, which are still felt in the society of the Republic of Moldova. The repressive policies and violent Sovietization began with the adoption of three decisions, between August 26 and November 4, 1940, on the recruitment of 59,500 people, mostly from rural areas, as a workforce for the coal and metallurgical industries of the USSR...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
“FACES Of MEPA” 

July 1-31, 2022
From July 1-31, 2022, the National Museum of History of Moldova will host a photographic exhibition organized by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), dedicated to the completion of the project "Advising the Government of the Republic of Moldova on Economic Policies" (MEPA), which lasted for 8 years...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
“Alexei Shchusev Square: Project Competition” 

June 2-30, 2022
The National Museum of the History of Moldova will host the exhibition "Alexei Shchusev Square: Project Competition". The exhibition brings together 35 design sketches developed by students of the Department of Architecture of the Technical University of Moldova as part of the Architectural and Urban Project "Reconstruction of the interior of the courtyard of the Chișinău House-Museum of Alexei Shchusev", a branch of the National Museum of the History of Moldova...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
„Polish illustrations for children in Chisinau” 

June 1-30, 2022
Their works win awards around the world. The images they create take readers into a fairytale world, opening an extraordinary portal to the realm of fantasy. The titles signed with their names are used fervently not only by the youngest, because the illustrations they create are true works of art...


National Museum of History of Moldova, 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

 



Independent Moldova
Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic
Bessarabia and MASSR between the Two World Wars
Bessarabia and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Period between the Two World Wars
Revival of National Movement
Time of Reforms and their Consequences
Abolition of Autonomy. Bessarabia – a New Tsarist Colony
Period of Relative Autonomy of Bessarabia within the Russian Empire
Phanariot Regime
Golden Age of the Romanian Culture
Struggle for Maintaining of Independence of Moldova
Formation of Independent Medieval State of Moldova
Era of the
Great Nomad Migrations
Early Middle Ages
Iron Age and Antiquity
Bronze Age
Aeneolithic Age
Neolithic Age
Palaeolithic Age
  
  

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#Exhibit of the Month

With the establishment of the Soviet regime after the territorial abduction, the Red Terror broke out in Bessarabia. Starting from June 28, 1940, on the territory of Bessarabia, then of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (August 2, 1940), state bodies carried out a series of mass political repressions - under the pretext of political, social, religious and national reasons - in the form of deprivation of freedom, deportation, expulsion and other coercive measures...

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2023 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

 



The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2023 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC

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The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
©2006-2023 National Museum of History of Moldova
Visit museum 31 August 1989 St., 121 A, MD 2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phones:
Secretariat: +373 (22) 24-43-25
Department of Public Relations and Museum Education: +373 (22) 24-04-26
Fax: +373 (22) 24-43-69
E-mail: office@nationalmuseum.md
Technical Support: info@nationalmuseum.md
Web site administration and maintenance: Andrei EMILCIUC