#Exhibit of the Month

We find ourselves in the month of April, as we prepare to celebrate Easter-a moveable religious holiday rich in festive rituals and ceremonial activities that place this event at the very heart of Christian spiritual life. The spirit of the Resurrection is beautifully complemented by ten Easter-themed postcards from the heritage of the National Museum of History of Moldova, printed a century ago. These pieces were added to the museum's postcard collection over a decade ago following a successful acquisition; as the fund for Easter-themed illustrations is modest, we are in a constant search for new additions.

These postcards are "extraordinary" in terms of their postal, typographical, and chromatic effects-the primary reason for revisiting this genre of greetings. Unlike "classic" postcards, these are smaller in size (6.5 cm x 11 cm), made of cardboard (with the exception of one piece made of photographic paper in black and white), and feature "vivid" colors. Printed in Romania and Germany, they bear the marks of having been sent and circulated through the post.

The name of the holiday originates from the verb persach, meaning "to pass," a term adopted by the Jews from the Egyptians. It entered the Romanian language through the Byzantine-Latin form Paschae, signifying the "passage through death to life, the victory of life, and liberation from the bondage of sin." Easter is a holiday of tolerance and forgiveness, representing a bridge between the present and the past. The significance of this celebration is conveyed through its symbols, which are also featured on these postcards: Hand-painted eggs, the Easter Bunny and the Lamb, traditional sweet breads (cozonac and pască), biblical scenes related to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Easter table also features pască-a ritual food reminiscent of ancient, bloodless "reconciliation" sacrifices. Its preparation is the exclusive task of women, the givers of life, as the leavened dough is considered "alive."

The most significant component of the Easter holiday, however, is the Light. The Ceremony of the Holy Light is associated with the miracle of the light appearing on Easter Sunday at Christ's Tomb in Jerusalem. The candle, often depicted in these images, carries a powerful message; it is with the Resurrection candle that we return home after the midnight religious service. Furthermore, the Easter Bunny represents the rebirth of nature, so eagerly awaited after a harsh winter.

Unlike Christmas, when the announcement and ritual integration of the community into sacred time was the duty of caroling groups, at Easter, "one does not go from house to house." Instead, the ritual meal is organized within each family, symbolizing a direct communion with God.

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Exhibitions

“THE MEMORY OF DEPORTATIONS”

Exhibition dedicated to the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Stalinist deportations of July 5-6, 1949

July 3 – August 3, 2024

The National Museum of History of Moldova is organizing the opening of the exhibition "The Memory of Deportations" on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, at 13:15, in the upper floor hallway, dedicated to commemorating the 75th anniversary of the second wave of mass deportations in the Moldavian SSR.

The exhibition reveals aspects of the history and memory of the victims of Operation "South" from the night of July 5-6, 1949, bringing to the visitors' attention documentary materials, testimonies, personal belongings, artworks, and thematic video materials. The exhibited relics elucidate the context in which the organization of the second wave of deportations took place, the transportation and relocation of Bessarabians to special settlements in the eastern regions of the USSR, as well as recent practices of honoring the memory of the victims of the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR.

The imposed residency regime, harsh cold, limited bread rations, exhausting labor, and schooling of children in Russian were dictated by the state-party ideology concerning the liquidation of "enemies of the people" and political myths about educating the "Soviet Man" or the "happy childhood in the USSR." The memory and oral narratives of the survivors among the Bessarabians deported on the night of July 5-6, 1949, along with the relics presented in the exhibition documenting their history, highlight the suffering caused by separation from their own homes and confiscation of property earned through hard work, alienation from their native places and forced Russification, the sudden death of those who couldn't survive the horrors of the Soviet occupation, and the decades-long imposed silence by the totalitarian-communist regime in the Moldavian SSR.

The individuals deported as a result of Operation "South" had to adapt to extreme conditions, developing new roles and social networks: through interaction with the locals and local authorities; through integration, as much as possible, into the foreign cultural environment; through learning Russian, which was declared the official language of communication in the USSR; through performing political loyalty and practicing self-censorship, which facilitated reintegration into society and substituting the status of "enemy of the people" with that of "Soviet citizen."

Today, more than three decades after the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1991), the complex and systematic valorization of the memory of the victims of the totalitarian past in the Republic of Moldova remains a desideratum of decommunization and democratization. The local memory communities in the villages and cities of the Republic of Moldova offer examples and models worthy of being followed in the direction of knowing history and memory. The symbolic dimension of commemorative actions aims to constitute one of the main forms of (re)cognition and intelligent assumption of the traumatic past for the memory of the victims of the communist regime.

The exhibition presents an appeal to history and memory as an act of symbolic justice brought to all the victims of Operation "South" from July 5-6, 1949, in the Moldavian SSR, thus contributing to the building of a European culture of memory in the society of the Republic of Moldova.

The exhibition "The Memory of Deportations" will be open for visits from July 3 to August 3, 2024, in the upper floor hallway of the National Museum of History of Moldova (Chișinău, 121A, 31 August 1989 St.).