Republic of Moldova 2005

 

A few cases of antisemitic violence were recorded in Moldova in 2005. Anti-Jewish prejudices in Moldova are expressed mainly through Holocaust revisionism and Holocaust denial; in particular, the facts of the genocide against Jews (and other groups) during the fascist Romanian occupation of Moldova (1941−44) are questioned or distorted.

 

background

Moldova is a multiethnic and multicultural country with a large number of minorities that have lived there for centuries. According to the last official census from 2004, 22 percent of Moldova’s inhabitants belong to ethnic minorities.

Although Moldova, officially declared a multiethnic state in 2003, is known for its multiethnic tolerance, antisemitism and xenophobia exist. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, antisemitic incitement became an important tool of nationalist elites promoting unification with Romania. Their identity discourse rejects the presence of minorities in the country, including Jews.

 

The Jewish Community

Moldova has a sizeable Jewish community (officially estimated at about 30,000) with strong links to the Moldovan Jewish Diaspora in Israel and the US. Community organizations are united under the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Moldova and the Jewish Congress of Moldova. The Union of Jewish Organizations of Chisinau (established in 1999) embraces Jewish groups in the capital Chisinau. There is also a charity foundation, Dor le-Dor, founded in 2003; a. Society of War Veterans; and a women’s organization Khava, the Association of Jews – Prisoners of Ghetto and Concentration Camps, as well as branches of the international student organization Hillel and the Maccabi movement. In 2004, the Hope of Jewish Family organization was established in order to help with professional training of unemployed Jews.

There are a dozen Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch communities in Moldova, headed by the chief rabbi of the country. An Agudat Israel Yeshiva was opened in Chisinau in the early 1990s. A Chabad-Lubavitch kindergarten, two Jewish schools and a Jewish pedagogical women’s college also operate in Chisinau, as well as the Enlightenment University of Jewish Culture in Moldova and the Open University of Israel. Weekend schools were established in every city with a Jewish community. Moldova has a theater of Jewish song and a Yiddish center was opened in Chisinau in 1993. Two Jewish newspapers are published: Evreiiskoe Mestechko (Jewish Shtetl) and Istoky (Roots).

 

Antisemitic Incidents

A few cases of antisemitic violence were recorded in Moldova in 2005. In early April five tombstones in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Sorok1 were desecrated, including one that was completely shattered. The perpetrators who desecrated this cemetery in 2003 were never caught. In March the Jewish cemetery in Tiraspol (Transnistria) was vandalized and in May unknown persons attempted to set fire to the Tiraspol synagogue.

 

Holocaust Revisionism

Anti-Jewish prejudices in Moldova are expressed mainly through Holocaust revisionism and Holocaust denial; in particular, the facts of the genocide against Jews (and other groups) during the fascist Romanian occupation of Moldova (1941−44) are questioned or distorted. Unlike in many other countries, Holocaust denial is deeply rooted and strongly connected to the issue of collective identity. Collective identity in the ethnic and political contexts is closely related to collective memory, which is often highly selective. The construction of memory in this case includes the goal of building a strong sense of ‘national’ pride, excluding inconvenient facts and minority narratives.

Holocaust denial in Moldova serves as a tool in the political concept of reunification with Romania on the basis of ethnic and linguistic ties. Thus, revisionists try to whitewash the history of the period when Moldova was controlled by the Romanian government during World War II. Today, both extreme nationalists in Romania and so-called unionists (pro-Romania nationalists) in Moldova promote historical revisionism.

The main arguments of Holocaust revisionists are the following: only German Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust; all Jews were Communists; the Romanian army fought against Jews as Communists, Ion Antonescu was the savior of the nation; his goal was to unite the Romanian lands; Antonescu is a national hero; and the figures of exterminated Jews are exaggerated.

Holocaust denial occupies an influential place, too, in the academic discourse in Moldova. To some extent, it replaces the former Soviet paradigm of national history. Lack of knowledge about the Holocaust makes the task of the revisionists easier. In 1992 Moldovan schools and universities began teaching the history of the Romanians on the basis of a book written by Petre Panaitescu in 1942, which reflected the fascist/nationalist tendencies of the time. Although there have been some governmental and non-governmental initiatives to change the situation, history teaching in general, and teaching of the Holocaust in particular, remains a major problem in Moldova. The governmental initiative to introduce a new history course at schools which will include a chapter about the Holocaust is frequently attacked by nationalistic groups such as Oleg Brega’s NGO Hyde Park (see ASW 2004), the Union of Writers of Moldova and the Union of Historians of Moldova.

Holocaust denial is not an original phenomenon in Moldova, but is imported from Romania. For example, revisionist books published in Romania, such as Holocaust in Romania? edited by Ion Coja (with contributions of Anatol Petrencu and Paul Goma – see below), and Did the Holocaust Take Place in Romania? by Radu Theodoru (founding member of the Greater Romania Party), were widely distributed in Chisinau in 2004−5. Theodoru is supported by French Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson. Both books distort the Holocaust by manipulating the history of Soviet rule in Bessarabia, 1940−41, claiming that the massacres of Jews were ‘merely’ a reaction to Jewish support of the Soviet regime and to the anti-Nazi partisans during the war. The books are also anti-Zionist and promote the myth of a Jewish conspiracy.

The main protagonists of Holocaust revisionism in Moldova are Anatol Petrencu, president of the Association of Historians of Moldova; Nicolae Dabija, chairman of the Union of Writers of Moldova, editor of the newspaper Literatura si Arta and deputy chairman of the Social Liberal Party of Moldova; writer Paul Goma, currently living in France, whose antisemitic books are published in Chisinau and widely distributed by Hyde Park through the Internet. They are strongly influenced by Romanian historians and university professors such as Gheorge Buzatu and the above mentioned Ion Coja. Moreover, some Moldovan historians are guided by Romanian historiographic tradition, especially the dominant nationalist line.

National Moldovan TV organized a biased talk show devoted to the role of Antonescu in the war, with the participation of Anatol Petrencu and other nationalist historians and politicians.

 

Antisemitism on the Internet

Much antisemitism in Moldova is disseminated on the Internet, which is becoming increasingly popular among Moldovan youth. Internet websites and discussion forums, such as moldova.net, www.curaj.net and yam.ro, are used to spread ultra-nationalist and revisionist ideas. Such forums play an important role, filling a gap that existed in the youth-oriented media market.

Extremist activities of Russia-oriented groups, such as the National Bolshevik Party, which has a small branch in Moldova promoting totalitarian, fascist and Stalinist messages, are advanced via the Internet. Besides its chauvinistic website, the National Bolshevik Party spread their ideas by distributing leaflets among young people. After the National Bolshevik Party was refused registration as a political party in 2005, it signed up as non-governmental organization. Their activities are especially visible in Transnistria, a breakaway region with de facto independence. In cooperation with other Moldovan NGOs, the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA) in Moldova monitors the site and passes on details about their Dutch host, http://www.nazbol.tk, for appropriate action to be taken in the Netherlands.

 

Responses to Antisemitism and Racism

Recently, Moldova has made some important gestures, including officially recognizing the facts of the Holocaust. President Vladimir Voronin explicitly condemned historical denial in his speech on the occasion of Victory Day, 9 May 2005.

The first attempts to fight against Holocaust denial in Moldova began in 1997−98. A group of former ghetto prisoners (publicist and musical critic Efim Tcaci, academician Efim Levit and poet Anatol Gujel) founded the Anti-fascist Democratic Alliance, whose main goal is to fight antisemitism and Holocaust denial on the social and academic levels. The quarterly magazine Ne zabudem (We Will Not Forget) was published by them. The book by Efim Tcaci, Anti-Judaism, or Troglodyte World, was published by the HCA in 1998.

Some local groups, such as the HCA and the Anti-fascist Democratic Alliance, combat antisemitism and xenophobia by publishing magazines such as Collage, and monitoring them in the media and on the Internet in cooperation with INACH (International Network against Cyber Hate). Two Jewish newspapers, Evreiiskoe Mestecko and Istoki, also contribute to the fight against antisemitism in Moldova.

In 2005 the book Holocaust: Pages of History, on Antonescu’s role in the killing of Jews during the Holocaust, was published. This was the first time that a history book on the Holocaust in Moldova became available to the general public in independent Moldova. The author, Moldovan historian Sergeii Nazaria, was attacked by the nationalist intelligentsia.