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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


Publications Journal „Tyragetia"


Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
ISSN 1857-0240
E-ISSN 2537-6330

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. I [XVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie

Chișinău, 2007

I. Researches


Gheorghe Postică
Orhei fortress in the strategy of Ştefan cel Mare

Ion Tentiuc, Anastasia Hâncu-Tentiuc
Aspects of interrelation of Christian folk beliefs and funeral ritual of in the Early Middle Ages in central and south-eastern Europe

Sergius Ciocanu
Monasteries Vișnevăț and Căpriana – two different ecclesial establishments. „Poiana” and „prisaca”

Valentin Tomuleț
Jewish component in the ethnical structure of the commercial bourgeoisie in Bessarabia (1812-1868)

Maria Danilov
Pedagogical literature of Bessarabia: editions, impressions and imposed models (1814-1918)

II. Papers and surveys


Sergiu Matveev
The reflection of the ethno-cultural processes from the 2nd-14th centuries between Prut and Nistru in the soviet ethno-folck studies

Igor Sava
Le droit de la fondation dans les Pays Roumains à la fin du XIVème – XVIème siècles: traditions byzantines et particularités locales

Лилия Дергачева
Deponierung Alexanders der Guten in Belgorod-Dnestrovsk

Екатерина Абызова, Светлана Рябцева
Buckles from the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova

Lilia Zabolotnaia
The conditions of the marriage concluding in the Middle Ages. Comparative study

Анна Никулицэ
Silverware and coins from the two medieval hoards

Alina Felea
La population de la ville Soroca (XVI-XIX siècles)

Виктор Филатов
Lamellar armour from the reserves of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova

Emanuil Brihuneț
First documentary attestations of Mileștii Mici village, Ialoveni district

Maxim Melinti
Influence of the Holy Mount Athos on the spiritual and cultural life of Moldova

Ирина Гончарова
G. Haupt Medal “Battle of Kalish” (1706) from the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova

Ion Gumenâi
Dynamics of number of the old believers’ population in Bessarabia 1812-1835

Nicolae Fuștei
The Metropolitan Gavriil Bănulescu-Bodoni. Administrative activities at Kiev Bishopric

Valeriu Bubulici, Mihai Onilă
Curchi monastery. Its history and results of the archaeological salvage operations conducted in 2006

Adelaida Chiroșca
Lockets with the image of the Holy Virgin from the collection of the National Museum of Archaeology and History of Moldova

Vlad D. Ghimpu
St. George’s Church in Chișinău (1819)

Andrei Emilciuc
The role of land transport in Bessarabian commerce (1812-1853)

Maria Maftei
A survey of cereal trade in Bessarabia through the ports of Reni and Ismail in 1812-1856

Natalia Timohina
Economical Situation of Bessarabia before the Crimean War

Ludmila Coadă
The Manifestation of the National Factor in the Bessarabian Zemstvo

Lucia Sava
Les modalités d’organiser le loisir à Chișinău au début du XXème siècle

Dinu Poștarencu
Mihail Ozmidov, the first architect and land surveyor of the tsarist Bessarabia

Vasile Dobrescu
„Tovărășia” (1906-1911) – periodical with co-operative profile of Romanians from Transylvania

Lucia Sava
Le milieu de vie des habitants de la ville Chișinău au début du XXème siècle

Marian Petcu
Bribery, cheating and blackmail: Romanian media

Lidia Pădureac
The activity of Romanian diplomacy in the context of the Soviet-British relationship (1924-1926)

Vera Stăvilă
Contribution to the study of the activity of the Chișinău orphanage “Children’s home”

Maria Costea
The Consequences of the Munich pact for Romano-Bulgarian relations

Ana Grițco
Requisition as a way of sovietisation of Bessarabian peasants

Iulia Postică
Museum exhibition – a means to valorize the archaeological heritage

Olga Şcipachin, Dragoș Toma
Museum jubilee exhibition (80th anniversary of Academician S. Rădăuțanu)

Elena Postică
Independent Moldova seen through a museum exhibition

Sergiu Apostol
Reformation of higher education in the Republic of Moldova (1991-2006)

Elena Ploșnița
National Museum of Archaeology and History – from utopia to reality

III. Paper and book review


Ion Eremia
Ioan Horga, Sorin Şipoș, De la „Mica" la „Marea Europă". Mărturii franceze de la sfârșitul secolului al XIX-lea despre frontiera răsăriteană a Europei. Studii și documente. Traducerea textelor Delia-Maria Radu. Oradea, Editura Universității din Oradea, 2006

Ludmila Bacumenco
Michel Mollat du Jourdin, Europa și marea, traducere și note de Gabriela Ciubuc, Iași, Editura Polirom, 2003, 281 p., ISBN 973-681-432-7

Maria Danilov
Axentie Stadnițchi, Mitropolit G. Bănulescu-Bodoni, Chișinău, 2004, 224 p. (Sau cum nu trebuie editate cărțile noastre vechi...)

Valentina Eșanu, Andrei Eșanu
Ana Grițco, Popas în timp. Catalog de carte poștală ilustrată, Casa editorial-poligrafică Bons Offices, Chișinău, 2006, 268 p., ISBN 978-9975-9818-3-5

IV. Homage


Elena Postică
Cu drag despre un Om drag: la aniversarea Doamnei Aurelia Cornețchi

 



 

 

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

menu
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