Moldovan resistance during World War II
History of Moldova |
---|
Moldova portal |
Moldovan resistance during World War II | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Resistance during World War II and the Eastern Front of World War II | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Romania Germany |
Communist Party of Moldavia Supported by: Soviet Union | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Michael I of Romania Ion Antonescu Constantin Voiculescu Olimpiu Stavrat Alexandru Rioșanu # Corneliu Calotescu Corneliu Dragalina Gheorghe Alexianu Gheorghe Potopeanu Gherman Pântea |
Nikita Salogor Gherasim Rudi Vasily Timoshchuk Nikolai Frolov Izrail Morgenshtern Ivan Aleshin Vasily Andreyev |
The Moldovan resistance during World War II opposed
From 1943, with the turn of tides on the
Activity
Early presence
During early 1941, Romanian Conducător Ion Antonescu began full preparation for a clash with the Soviets over the recovery of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. In May, after being informed of Operation Barbarossa, Antonescu expressed his "absolute faith" in Nazi Germany, conceiving of Bessarabia's planned annexation as both an act of retribution and a component of the "holy war" on communism.[1] Antonescu's preparation included hearing reports from his various intelligence agencies as to how the Red Army might organize the defense. The Fourth Romanian Army, garrisoned in Bacău, observed Soviet soldiers stationed in the MSSR, and reported with confidence that the recruits were untrained and always on the brink of a surrender. The Special Intelligence Service (SSI) returned a more pessimistic verdict, which included mention of the Soviet tendency to extend war into the enemy's territory. SSI agents warned that the Soviets could also reap the benefits of peacetime propaganda, "attract[ing] the worker and peasant masses from the enemy's army, as well as the [civilian] population, to the side of the revolution."[2]
On 30 June 1941, eight days after the start of the Axis invasion, the PCM Central Committee issued a letter to local party committees with instructions for the creation of underground organizations and a partisan movement behind enemy lines. It recommended that personnel for underground work should be selected from the prewar members of the clandestine Bessarabian communist organization, and that partisan groups should include people with good knowledge of the language and local conditions. The letter advised that extreme precaution should be taken to preserve conspiracy, especially in Bessarabian regions, and that partisan groups and partisans detachments should initially only include up to 10–15 individuals. In accordance with these instructions, the PCM decided on the creation of three underground party committees, 13 underground party organizations and 8 partisan detachments in the parts of the republic east of the Dniester, while in Bessarabian territories it envisioned 139 partisan detachments and a number of underground partisan groups. In all, it assigned 1,479 individuals for organizational duties related to the partisan movement.[3] The Red Army and the secret police, or NKVD, both began the task of arming locals, but failed to keep up with the pace of Axis attacks.[4] Meanwhile, a "Bessarabian" or "Moldovan" anti-Nazi cell was formed in Nazi-occupied France, following a split in the Romanian Communist Party.[5] This group, having had an undecided status before the Nazi–Soviet war of 1941, constituted the Bessarabian Union, which channeled support for the French Resistance and collected funds for hit-and-run attacks on German targets.[6]
In Bessarabia, the rapid advance of Axis troops accounted for a fast disintegration of government structures and PCM networks.
Various groups were still attested as active behind the
Romanian reports indicate several instances of gunfire directed at German personnel and trucks around Bălți. During one such raid, partisans Vasile Cojocaru and Nikolai Kavchuk successfully disarmed a Wehrmacht patrol and absconded with its rifles.[16] On 15 July, members of Bălți's Judenrat were ordered to hand in any communists that they knew to be hiding in the local ghetto, but refused to comply. Retribution followed: 66 Jews, including 20 Judenrat hostages, were gunned down by the Schutzstaffel.[17] Following one other partisan attack on 19 July, the German command ordered the local police to detain 75 men as hostages, all of whom were subsequently executed.[12]
Troops garrisoned in
Setbacks
The occupation authorities responded by scaling up repression. Upon creating their Transnistria Governorate, Romanian authorities established in Tiraspol a large concentration camp for Red Army soldiers and captured partisans. In the long run, this had the unintended effect of pushing locals to organize into underground networks to help detainees escape, sometimes using bribery or forgery to dull the vigilance of Romanian guards.[20] In August, the head of Romanian Police in Bessarabia, Pavel Epure, asserted that whatever communists remained at large were "disoriented and paralyzed"—according to historian Piotr Șornikov, this assessment was correct, but mostly because PCM cadres had been informed of the massive defeats encountered by the Red Army.[21] On 28 July, Romanian General Nicolae Ciupercă had issued an ultimatum to the local population, requiring all individuals engaged in underground activity to surrender or risk summary execution. Days after, General Nicolae Pălăngeanu reported increased attacks on Romanian troops and military convoys and ordered a combing of the villages and forests for "communist agents", indicating that those caught attacking the military should be shot.[22][23] Repressive measures were then directed toward locals who assisted or sheltered paratroopers, while those who helped capture partisans were promised a reward of 10 to 25 thousand lei and land allotment.[24][25]
Small-scale attacks on Romanian patrols and sabotages of the transport infrastructure were reported throughout August and September 1941 at
Overall, during the early months of resistance, partisans suffered heavy losses fighting a superior enemy. Most groups and detachments had little experience with guerilla warfare, acted separately and many of the underground party organizations did not take any steps to coordinate their fight. More devastatingly from its perspective, the MSSR government in exile had lost all contact with partisan groups acting behind enemy lines.[30][31] A group comprising Yury Korotkov, Iosif A. Bujor, Raisa Șafran and Maria Onufrienko was tasked with organizing a coordinating center in Chișinău, but the attempt to infiltrate them past the front line in mid-September 1941 ended in bloodshed.[32][33] Another such attempt was organized by the Bureau of PCM's Central Committee, at the time residing in Donetsk, which selected nine veteran communists, both from the Bessarabian underground and the Soviet Moldavian administration, to create a clandestine republican party center. The group, led by A. M. Tereshchenko and Mikhail Skvortsov , was airdropped between the villages of Micăuți and Drăsliceni on 25 September, but it was quickly discovered and annihilated.[34][35] Romanian documents indicate that until 1 October 1941, 48 parachuted partisans had been discovered, of whom 23 were captured alive, 11 were killed in action, and 14 escaped.[34]
Throughout summer and autumn 1941, several underground communist organizations in Bessarabia were uncovered by the SSI, a success that is attributable to betrayal.
"Invisible army"
The Red Army's successful blocking of the German offensive in the Battle of Moscow (October 1941–January 1942) provided an impulse for the re-activation of underground PCM cells. In Camenca area, the party organization led by Yakov Alekseyevich Kucherov succeeded in creating an extensive network of clandestine groups in the local villages, while in Tiraspol a new group, including communists and non-communists alike, was organized by Viktor S. Panin. By summer, new organizations were also created in Rîbnița and Grigoriopol.[41][42][43] The former was a itself political mix, with 29 communists and 37 independents fighting side by side.[44] The formation of underground cells was also followed in Bessarabia, though new groups established here during late 1941 and early 1942 were mainly formed by the Komsomol. Examples include partisans cells in Bender, Cahul (with branches in Găvănoasa, Moscovei and Musaitu), Chișinău, Slobozia, Soroca (with branches in Cotiujenii Mari, Cuhurești, Cunicea, Mîrzești and Vasilcău), as well as Zîrnești.[41]
These would-be guerilla units soon began to build weapon caches by gathering materiel abandoned on the battlefields or by attacking Gendarmerie patrols. The Cahul group, whose leadership included
Transnistria became especially prone to passive resistance. Although, in its early months, the governorate administration was able to recruit members among anti-Soviet but non-Romanian intellectuals, it acknowledged that the effort was fruitless among other social categories.[48] Factory workers often kept in their houses portraits of Soviet leaders or Marxist works, university employees avoided engaging in mandatory anti-Soviet propaganda, and schoolchildren refused to learn prayers.[49] Forms of sabotage also hampered the work of Anton Golopenția and other statisticians observing Romanian and Moldovan communities on that bank of the Dniester. Confronted with the "radicalized mindset in an area seriously tested by German military reprisals and requisitions", these research teams were armed with pistols.[50] The effort was also hampered from within by communist statisticians such as Mihai Levente, who were in contact with the local partisans. They falsified records to include non-Romanians among those eligible for state assistance, or resold food parcels on the open market in order to fund the resistance.[51]
Non-Jewish Transnistrians were also unlikely to engage in the persecution of
Transnistrian officials were also vexed by the widespread cases of rape and other abuse by Romanian newcomers, which, they warned, could only "instigate to opposition against the liberators".[48] In one case, 20 women were sexually abused by the gendarmes in the church of Ghidirim, as punishment for refusing to perform compulsory labor.[54] This phenomenon was also observed by Selbstschutz units, staffed by Black Sea Germans, which declared themselves directly interested in preventing Romanian abuse; the airing of such accusations would lead to diplomatic incidents between the two Axis governments.[48] The Selbstschutz were supported by Nazi officials as a tool for anti-partisan warfare, but were almost entirely consumed with "contest[ing] Romanian control of the Transnistrian countryside", provoking the Romanian Army with a number of shootouts and carjackings.[55]
1942 reorganization
In early 1942, the PCM leadership had withdrawn deep into Soviet territory, at
Already on 28 May the PCM adopted the resolution "On strengthening the partisan war behind the rear of the German invaders", which decided that at least 200 men were to be trained in special courses to become "commanders, commissars and chiefs of staff of partisan detachments", including "15–20 leading party and council workers". These were to be sent behind enemy lines within three to four months.[59] A Moldovan department was consequently created in December 1942 under the Ukrainian Headquarters for the partisan movement, and, acting as the military section of the PCM Central Committee, it began recruiting and training personnel for partisan detachments, including preparations for their deployment. Leadership over that department was entrusted to Ivan Aleshin (or Alioșin), secretary of the PCM Central Committee.[59][60]
Propaganda efforts were also stepped up during 1942: a Moldovan editorial office was established within the All-Union Radio in Moscow and began regular broadcasts in Moldovan, the underground party organization in Camenca assembled a makeshift typography and printed eight leaflets distributed in the district and neighboring regions, groups in Tiraspol distributed leaflets ridiculing Antonescu and Hitler, while the ones in Cahul, Izmail, Sîngerei and Slobozia and Soroca generally used handwritten notes hung in public places. Written in Moldovan or Russian, the leaflets countered Romanian propaganda, quoted Sovinformburo cables, and deplored reversals of the Soviet land reform, describing as predatory the economic policies of Romanian bureaucrats, local capitalists, speculators, or landlords. PCM propaganda also addressed Romanian soldiers, calling on them to turn their weapons against the governments of Antonescu and Hitler.[61] In some cases, propaganda was non-communist in nature or origin—as with Ivan Ganea and other students at Soroca Agricultural School, investigated in late 1942 for having distributed leaflets calling on Moldovans to prepare for the Red Army's victory, and for having denounced local branches of the Iron Guard.[62]
Acts of sabotage also became more common in 1942. The SSI reported several actions against the Tiraspol oil and flour mills in the first half of the year.[63] In February 1942, partisans set ablaze a German fuel depot in Bender railway station, destroying hundreds of oil barrels and 17 full and 13 partially full gasoline tank cars. Days later, a carriage with lubricating oil belonging to Romanian Army suffered the same fate. Rail infrastructure was a primary target during the summer: two train collisions occurred in early August in Etulia and Ungheni, a railway bridge linking Etulia to Vulcănești was destroyed on 26 August and two cars carrying fodder and military equipment were set on fire on 28 August between Chircăiești and Hagimus.[64] Other attacks resulted in the destruction of an oil factory in Otaci, the meat processing plant in Chișinău, the electrical substations in Bălți and Soroca, and damage to depots in Tiraspol and Bulboaca.[58]
Camenca's underground organization set fire to the stables and grain warehouse in Hristovaia, to a dried fruit storage facility at a former sovkhoz, and to warehouses of the local oil and cheese factories. In the rural areas of Bessarabia and Transnistria, common forms of resistance included delays in harvesting and refusal to deliver agricultural products, pay taxes or perform compulsory labor for the Romanian administration, leading a Romanian troop commander to call local peasants "unconscious and devoid of patriotism". In July 1942, 54 peasants from Bahmut were brought to trial for failing to report for work, and similar instructions were given to the police in Cahul after the military failed to mobilize local horses and carriages in August 1942.[65] The local populace also supported Soviet prisoners of war interned across the region. During the winter of 1941–1942, they helped 70 POWs escape from the camp in Cubei.[65][66] The SSI chief in Reni reported that a large crowd gathered at the local station in June 1942 as trains carrying Russian POWs passed through the town, offering various products, fruit and cigarettes to the prisoners before being dispersed by gendarmes. He described women "of Romanian descent" as among those showing support, and contrasted the events with the passing of a train carrying Romanians wounded at Sevastopol, when "not one Bessarabian Romanian soul" had shown up.[67][68] Throughout summer 1942, the secret police reported instances of hostility towards the Romanian administration and appraisal of Soviet rule in the counties of Chișinău, Orhei and Soroca.[69]
The counterinsurgency was directed mainly by the Gendarmerie; its agents, including Ovidiu Angelescu and Vasile Medvediuc, successfully spied on the partisans by going undercover.[70] Police infiltration, along with a lack of experience in clandestine work, resulted in uncovering Komsomol organizations in Cahul and Izmail during spring 1942. Refusing to testify against fellow partisans, members of the Cahul organization managed to briefly escape the Chișinău military prison only to be re-captured. Its leaders (Cojocaru, Kavchuk, Polivod, Mikhail Krasnov, Timofey Morozov) were executed, one died during detention, and 41 other received various prison sentences.[71][72] Two additional members of the group, Ivan Kravchenko and Ivan Maksimenko, made a last-minute escape, and survived in hiding until the war's end.[72] Many youths involved with the Izmail group (including Gagauz Tamara Mumzhieva and Bulgarian Boris Feltev)[66] also received life sentences, while five members of the organization in Hotin were executed.[71] In November 1942, the gendarmes captured and prosecuted at Chișinău Israel N. Pecher and another 39 leaders of a pro-Soviet network that extended across the border between Bessarabia and Transnistria, and was allegedly created by the NKVD. Several localities, such as Tiraspol and Podoima, were included in this raid.[70]
1943 offensive
During spring and summer 1943, the Moldovan department of the Ukrainian partisan headquarters made successive attempts to establish direct communication with the MSSR underground. As most of these failed, the PCM Central Committee obtained the Central Headquarters's consent to send its freshly-trained partisan groups to the areas of activity of the Ukrainian detachments, thus enabling them to gain actual combat experience before deployment in the republic.
Romania's evacuation of war booty from Transnistria following defeat at Stalingrad led to a surge in popularity for the communist underground, as reported in official Romanian documents. In Odessa, Tiraspol and other settlements near the Dniester clandestine organizations distributed increasing numbers of hand or type-written of leaflets reporting the progress of Soviet military operations and calling upon the population to hide livestock and grain, destroy bridges, and attack the occupation forces. In February 1943 Chișinău cell issued manifestos praising the Red Army, while calling on locals to create underground committees and self-protection groups; in March, leaflets distributed in Tiraspol called on POWs and those "capable of holding arms" to join the partisans. The Moldovan department of the Ukrainian partisans also printed new appeals, leaflets and information material in thousands of copies, airdropping them in Cahul, Lăpușna and Tighina counties. The Moldovan radio office also began broadcasting five times a day, under the heading "Moldova was and will be Soviet!", including a daily "Broadcast for partisans". Appeals were made to the Moldovan people to engage in sabotage and refuse to pay taxes or hand over agricultural products to the enemy. Chișinău's SSI mentioned that, as a result of Soviet propaganda, locals were negatively comparing the military administration with the Soviet one, and in effect sabotaging its efforts.[76] By November, as reported by the Bălți County police, locally produced communist leaflets and appeals were commonly distributed even in the rural areas.[77]
The turn of tides also created dissent within the Romanian and German army commands, as with General Ilie Șteflea—who sought to limit the number of Romanians engaged in the Kalmyk Steppe. According to Șteflea's own reports, he used Bender's quarantine facilities to withdraw 135,000 Romanians soldiers from the front lines, under the pretext that they were ailing.[78] This sabotage coincided with the partisans' intervention to stop active recruitment. Since Stalingrad had depleted Romanian Army reserves, conscription extended to Bessarabia and Bukovina.[79] In April 1943, Romania's attempt to set up a "Transnistrian Military Council" for attracting Moldovan volunteers was successfully countered by the underground group led by M. Skopenko in Tiraspol; after failing to recruit even a company, the council was dissolved by governor Gheorghe Alexianu.[80]
Desertion was common among regional recruits, with 101 of the 189 mobilized Bessarabians fleeing an Odessa-bound train on 18 February 1943. The military courts attempted to curb this phenomenon by imposing harsh punishments on Moldovans who refused to "take the oath of fidelity": 25 years of hard labor with confiscation of property. In one instance, Romanian leader Antonescu even requested that, in case of mass desertions, every tenth defector should be shot in front of the troop. Throughout the year, the Bessarabian administration published lists with those who failed to report for conscription, with tens reported missing in various villages across the region and over 70 at Alexăndreni and Milești Mari.[80] The ones actually drafted were moreover deemed unreliable, with Antonescu declaring in a cabinet meeting on 16 November 1943 that Bessarabians "do not want to fight" and "gravitate toward the Reds". According to Levit, part of them were sent to the Crimean front as "cannon fodder" in order to fulfill Hitler's requests for reinforcements, with their battalions positioned between German units in order to discourage flight. Bessarabians on the front line were also targeted by Soviet propaganda, which distributed leaflets calling on them to switch sides and join the Red Army and the partisans. Romanian POWs processed by the political department of the Soviet 51st Army reported that the Bessarabians were unwilling to fight and "half-openly" talked about surrender; in one instance, seven Bessarabians from an infantry battalion deserted and joined the Crimean partisans.[81]
The number of clandestine groups also increased in the aftermath of Stalingrad: ten groups in Tiraspol and its suburbs (led by Prokofy Efimovich Kustov, V. S. Panin, and Nikolai Cheban), one in Soroca and nearby Iorjnița and Zastînca (led by G. M. Gumenny), three in Dubăsari, a Komsomol organization in Ungheni (led by V. N. Gavrisha) and several rural groups (in Cuhurești and Nicolaevca, Crihana Nouă, Moara de Piatră, Novocotovsc, Sofia, Șerpeni and others).[82] At Dunduc, minority Lipovans under M. M. Chernolutsky established permanent links with the main partisan network.[83] Various groups were gradually able to extend their contacts and coordinate their activities across wider areas, with partisans in Camenca, Dubăsari, Rîbnița, Soroca and Tiraspol collaborating with Ukrainian units active around Balta, Kodyma, Kryzhopil and Pishchanka, trying to obtain weapons and ammunition from the latter.[84] During the second half of 1943, the organization in Cernăuți, Bukovina, established contacts with the groups active in Chișinău, Bălți and Soroca, while communist partisans in Camenca and Grigoriopol sent representatives near the front line in an effort to contact the PCM Central Committee.[85]
Sabotage also intensified, including the derailment of an aviation fuel train at Bender in March 1943 and three burning down of three warehouses in Tiraspol, two of which had housed war booty. More arson attacks were reported in May by Chișinău's Regional Police Inspectorate: a state-owned sunflower oil refinery in Otaci was burned down, with simultaneous fires occurring in Izvoare, Albineț, Chirileni, Glodeni, Sculeni, Rîșcani, Pîrlița and Năvîrneț in Bălți County. The same report also attributed to communist activity the sinking of Izmail and Mihai Viteazul ships, operating on the Danube.[86] The SSI reported that, by October 1943, sabotage had halved the number of steam locomotives in operation from Basarabeasca railway yard, while those still available needed to be repaired constantly; in November, another train collision was reported in Zaim.[87] The Bender police reported several partisan attacks in Transnistria during the same period, including one targeting the Dubăsari barracks and one the communication lines in Doroțcaia.[88] Instigated by the Camenca communist committee, agricultural workers distributed hundreds of quintals of harvested corn and wheat to locals, instead of delivering them to the administration, hid twenty tractors set for evacuation to Romania, and managed to sow 4,256 hectares of winter wheat—despite a ban on such practices being imposed by Romanian authorities.[89]
With the Red Army now on the offensive, Salogor called on
Renewed clampdown
After the assault on Crimea in early 1943, a Romanian Army counterintelligence group, the "Informational Center B", was moved to Tiraspol and began the hunt for Soviet partisans in the surrounding region.[96] One early success came by accident, when Romanian sappers in Dubăsari discovered Dmitry Nadvodsky's partisans attempting to obtain access to their weapons' cache; this led to a temporary suspension of resistance activity in that town. In May 1943, Nadvodsky's group was infiltrated by gendarme spies, which resulted in the arrest of several key partisans. Nadvodsky then attempted to divert attention by staging attacks on the strategic bridge at Criuleni.[97] Gheorghe Viziteu, at the time a young gendarme in Lăpușna County, reports being told by his superiors that "the forests of Bessarabia and Transnistria [were] packed full" (bucșite) of "communist partisans". He attributed their presence to daily reinforcements by Soviet paratroopers and airdropped supplies, as well as noting the mass desertions from a penal military unit, namely the Sărata Rehabilitation Battalion. Viziteu recalls participating in retaliatory actions, during which captives were rounded up for imprisonment at Hîncești.[98]
Romanian officials further targeted those peasants who refused to assist the administration: in September 1943 the pretor of Grigoriopol decided to intern in labor camps ten locals who had refused to provide their carts for military use, while a week later a large group of peasants from Coșnița was imprisoned. In Bessarabia, by September many civilians accused of passive resistance ended up in the Friedenstal camp, including 138 from Borogani, 34 from Iargara, 38 from Lărguța, 15 from Capaclia and 170 from Beșghioz.[99] The SSI remarked in a report dated 30 November 1943 that the pro-Soviet propaganda was extensively distributed throughout Bessarabia and it began to attract "people who, although they are not supporters of communist ideas, act against" the Romanian administration, persuading locals to join partisan groups.[100]
Counting 3,000 in 1943, the total number of partisans swelled up to 3,900 by 1944.[58] Resistance grew more defiant: on 9 September 1943, Veniamin Rybchak, Adam Marjină and Georgy Gasner produced a massive red flag embroidered in white with the acronym "СССР" ("USSR"). This was flown over the Labor Exchange in downtown Chișinău, and only taken down when Romanians could be sure that it had not been booby trapped. However, all three participants gave themselves away during the spectacle, and were dispatched to a labor camp in Onești.[101] In November, after attacking a train in Crujopol, Kucherov found himself arrested, but his Camenca group was revived by M. Ya. Popovsky and E. A. Vershigora.[102] From December, Kustov and his deputy K. I. Vozniuk began preparing for a major partisan action in support of the advancing Red Army. They obtained backing from the heads of local industries, and increased the pace at which POWs were helped to escape from the local camps. Kustov's group also plotted an attempt on Antonescu's life, when the latter visited Tiraspol.[103] By January 1944, the Grigoriopol branch was holding meetings out in the open, and similarly preparing to go on the offensive; it also assisted fugitives from POW camps as they attempted to join the Ukrainian partisans. Eventually, however, Kustov's entire network was captured by the gendarmes, who submitted prisoners to various forms of torture.[104] Following the backlash at Tiraspol, Panin was able to escape and hide with several of his comrades at Sucleia.[105]
Confronted with the repeated failures of more combative organizations, Iosif Bartodzy set up a more secretive, pan-Moldovan, network at Chișinău. This "Inter-District Organization" was also penetrated by SSI men in January 1944, resulting in Bartodzy's own arrest and torture.[106][107] He survived by inventing stories of a "Bessarabian regional committee", which the SSI believed, but which proved largely immaterial to the investigation. Left permanently disabled by his interrogators, Bartodzy was finally sentenced to hard labor for creating an "illegal organization"; the same verdict was pronounced against ten of his colleagues.[108] In other areas of the former MSSR, the SSI and related organizations staged similar roundups. The OBUS group, with members in Otaci and Arionești, attempted to derail a German ammunition train on 22 February, but withdrew under pressure from the gendarmes.[109] At Bender, partisan leaders Nikolai Kalashnikov and Vladimir Lungu could obtain pledges of support from three low-ranking officers serving in the Romanian Army, and organized a movement to sabotage the harvest.[110] Kalashnikov found himself arrested on 29 December 1943; his entire ring of supporters was then exposed by the SSI.[111] Gumenny and Jurjiu's networks were also slowly neutralized by policemen, once they "began to pose a direct threat to the occupying power".[112] During March 1944, policemen were also able to quell partisan agitation in Parcani, where they uncovered a group that had attempted to join up with the Kotovski detachment.[113]
While reorganizing their territorial network, the Romanian police and Gendarmerie succeeded in capturing 600 partisans between 1942 and 1944, most of whom were incarcerated at Chișinău, Tiraspol, Rîbnița and Dubăsari.[58] Tiraspol's camp total population in mid 1943 was 1,500, not all of whom were originally partisans. However, these organized themselves into a distinct resistance cell, organizing escapes which fed the partisan movement in Transnistria.[114][115] As counted by historian Anton Moraru, Romanians or Germans killed 238 partisans the Rîbnița prison in March 1944, and 600 in Tiraspol;[58] victims of the former massacre included Kucherov.[116] Especially in Bessarabia, Romanian prison authorities were alarmed by the looming threat of Antonescu's regime collapsing, and proceeded with some leniency. Though tortured and sentenced to death, Kalashnikov, Jurjiu and others were never executed.[117] Several transfers out of Tiraspol were ordered by the Romanian authorities, but, in late March, the camp was transferred to a German unit, which staged daily shootings over several days. This prompted a prisoners' revolt, as a result of which 230 people managed to hide with civilians in Tiraspol and the surrounding villages.[118] Just before withdrawing from the city, a punitive unit killed 16 of the 18 partisans still held in captivity, including Kustov.[119]
The death count at Rîbnița is given by scholar Dennis Deletant as 215, and includes Jewish members of the Romanian Communist Party who had been jailed there alongside partisans and Soviet parachutists. He similarly notes that some 60 partisans were led away before the massacre, and therefore survived.[120] A Romanian communist, Belu Zilber, claimed in his memoirs that he successfully pleaded with Antonescu himself to release Jewish party members from Vapniarka in Transnistria, noting that they were in danger of being mass murdered by the retreating Germans. When asked to explain himself by the party leadership, Zilber purportedly replied: "Had there been any partisans in Romania, perhaps I would have given some thought to storming the camp. Had I though it over a bit longer, I would have given up on this plan, as it would have resulted in a general massacre."[121]
Final battles
Meanwhile, in January–March 1944, PCM groups under Yakov Shkryabach faced off with the
As noted by soldier Neculai Caba, during the late days of March, partisans around Chișcăreni were able to persuade virtually all the Bessarabians in Romania's 8th Redcoats Regiment (up to a fourth of its manpower) to surrender or join up with them.[126] After Soviet troops took over the north of Bessarabia, former partisan detachments were tasked with requisitioning. Between April and June 1944, detachments led by Andreyev and Rudi seized 400 horses and carriages from the local population around Soroca.[58] In this context, Moldovan peasants' resistance to food quotas imposed by the Romanian Army mutated into anti-Soviet resistance, attributed by MSSR authorities to "adverse kulak elements".[127][128] During May 1944, anti-Soviet partisans staged attacks in places such as Ochiul Alb and Ciulucani; the PCM argued that they were stay-behind members of the National Christian Party and the Iron Guard.[129]
As a result of the Red Army's push south from Soroca, the number of Soviet loyalists active behind enemy lines had dropped to 946 in April 1944.[58] As noted by Șornikov, the partisan movement failed in its goal of steering a pro-Soviet popular revolt, mainly because most able-bodied in Romanian-held areas had been conscripted for labor duty, while "the cities of Bessarabia were flooded with German and Romanian troops".[130] At that stage, Center B had followed the Fourth Army as it withdrew from Tiraspol to Iași. Centers B and H divided their areas of operation in southern Bessarabia, with the former notionally active north of Orhei and Vorniceni.[131]
Beginning in January 1944, the Red Army's counterintelligence, or SMERSH, infiltrated Chișinău to uncover Center H's network of spies.[132] Escaping detention, Rybchak and Marjină regained Chișinău and proceeded to destroy German lines of communication. The SSI grew aware of this, and sent in an informant; the cell was neutralized and its members were dispatched to a Romanian prison in Galați.[133] Some other partisans were attested in Center H's area, in forests around Ciuciuleni. In summer 1944, they reportedly assassinated the gendarmes of Dahnovici and Cojușna.[98] As reported by Mina Dobzeu, then living as an Orthodox monk at Hâncu, workers on the monastery site actively assisted the resistance, which put monks at risk of retaliation by the Romanian authorities. Several of his colleagues were interrogated by the Romanian authorities, and a Brother Clement was shot, under the mistaken assumption that he was armed.[134]
In July–August 1944, just ahead and during the
Legacy
Impact and depictions
According to Moraru, some forty separate groups were active, at one time or another, directly against the Romanian military and civilian administration,[58] while Levit provides the same figure for the end of 1943.[140] Șornikov counts "60 underground organizations and groups operating in Moldova",[113] while noting that thirty of these could only have been formed in 1943.[141] Overall, during 1943–1944, partisan detachments participated in 39 military operations, destroying four ammunition depots, four fuel depots, an electrical substation, a post office and 23 barracks. 277 train cars carrying troops, ammunition and military equipment were derailed as a result of the activity of the 1st Moldavian Partisan Unit. Other detachments succeeded in damaging 271 locomotives, 2,160 train cars, 185 motor vehicles, eleven airplanes, four armored cars and other military equipment. The partisans managed to neutralize 14,000 enemy soldiers and officers and captured 400 weapons, eight pieces of artillery, twelve military trucks, 160 horses and 2,000 head of cattle.[58] By 1944, in Bessarabia-proper, 5,000 propaganda leaflets had been distributed.[58][142]
During the closing phases of World War II, Moldovan refugee writers related the fight of the partisans with historical instances of resistance by the local population. Thus,
In Soviet culture, the legend surrounding Moldovan partisans was enhanced by the 1940 song Smuglyanka, which became popular from 1942. Though written about a Bessarabian girl in the Russian Civil War of 1918–1921, it became generally understood as a reference to the Moldovan guerilla of the 1940s.[146][147] An April 1945 exhibit in Chișinău already featured portraits and compositions by Moisei Gamburd, which depicted various Moldovan partisans.[148] Accounts about the real-life Bessarabian fighter Boris Glavan appear in Alexander Fadeyev's novel, The Young Guard.[149] During the latter 1950s, the PCM promoted narratives about Glavan and another individual combatant, Ion Soltyz, along with increasingly "absurd claims" about the Moldovans' willingness to fight for the Red Army.[150] Glavan had in fact fought and died in Ukrainian territory, while Soltyz's celebrated self-sacrifice had occurred in April 1945.[151]
Although a Glavan Prize was awarded annually by the Moldovan Komsomol,[151] commemorations of partisan service remained scarce, and historical works on the movement were delayed until the 1960s, when Simion Afteniuc published the first monograph.[145] This was followed by a series of stories in popular magazines,[145] with Andreyev and several other participants in the movement also leaving memoirs detailing their roles. As noted by historian Volodymyr Kovalchuk, documented clashes between Moldovan units and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army were almost never mentioned in such accounts.[122] In 1968, the official textbook of MSSR history made a point of specifically indicating that the adversaries were Romanians, rather than unnamed "fascist conquerors". It also acknowledged that Moldovan partisans had been few in numbers.[152]
This image was further revised by authors writing after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As observed by historian Svetlana Suveică, the partisan cult survived in both the breakaway Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and autonomous Gagauzia, with Șornikov and Stepan S. Bulgar as its chief proponents. She notes that the latter also exaggerated the scale of Gagauz resistance to Romanian rule, producing a "politicised and biased" textbook.[153] Following documents published by the German Wehrmacht and Ukrainian historians, Moraru characterizes the partisan formations as a "subversive movement, of espionage and terror"; he considers that their actions go against "international human rights" and "are identical to political and military terrorism". Moraru contrasts his view with that of "Russian and Russified" historians, such as Levit, Dumitru Elin, Aleksandr Korenev, V. Kovalenko, Nikolai Berezniakov, A. Durakov and Petru Boico, who have acclaimed the partisan movement.[58] The same terminology is used by Romanian historian Valeriu Avram, who calls pro-Soviet resistance groups "NKVD terrorists".[154] Similarly, Dobzeu refers to the partisans as "Soviet spies [and] diversionists", but assesses that, by 1944, Romanian troops were "no longer the benefactors."[134]
Ethnic representation
Moraru asserts that the PCM "represented the interests of the non-Romanian, non-Moldovan population", with partisan detachments made up of "Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, and other nationalities"; he counts only twenty "Russified" Moldovans among the active participants. He also claims that 16,000 "Romanians, soldiers, officers and civilian population" were killed by "the terrorists".[58] Van Meurs notes the "almost complete absence of ethnic Moldavian heroes", and suggests that Joseph Stalin had wanted it this way: "Stalin had distrusted people in newly acquired territories and particularly if they would have to confront their ethnic kin in war such as Moldavians with Romanians. As a result, many Moldavians had been deported in 1940–1941 or were forced to labor in the factories way behind the actual front lines. Only a small number of Moldavian soldiers was deployed on what was called 'the other fronts of the Soviet Union'."[145] Various records suggest that, in Bessarabia (as opposed to Transnistria), Moldovan peasants and urbanites were often eager participants in anti-Soviet reprisals, which often doubled as pogroms against Jews.[155] Moldovans who took active measures against the partisans included Grigore and Vasile Coval—respectively, the father and brother of PCM leader Nicolae Coval. This matter was brought up by Salogor during the inner-party struggles of 1946.[156]
The cosmopolitan traits of the partisan movement are discussed by Frolov, himself non-Moldovan, in terms of Soviet patriotism: "The multinational Soviet family [was] fighting against the Nazi invaders for the honor, freedom and independence of their motherland."[157] Overall, "the ambiguous phrase 'sons of the Moldavian people' was generally used to cover the fact that most of the heroes were of a Ukrainian or Russian origin."[150] Șornikov highlights the ill-preparedness of the PCM by noting that, of the Tereshchenko–Skvortsov group, not one could converse in standardized Moldovan; the only native speaker was a P. I. Muntean, who had only mastered a Transnistrian Romanian dialect.[158] This policy was partly amended in 1944, when Bartodzy's "Inter-District Organization" acquired a representative basis, comprising "59 Moldovans, 20 Ukrainians, 13 Russians, [and] 2 Jews."[159]
In some cases, Soviet literature describe the semi-nomadic
Another young Moldovan communist was
Romanian occupation authorities had mostly worried about the spread of resistance through ethnic minority groups, but concluded that Bessarabian Ukrainians were mostly indifferent, rather than openly hostile.[166] In 1943–1944, field agents also noted with satisfaction that pro-Soviet minorities such as the Gagauz and Bulgarians were more cooperative, and that Greater Romania was coming to be seen as the better option.[167] At a very early stage in the war, Antonescu had entertained the notion that opposition to Romanian rule would mostly come from Jewish Bolshevism, and this served as a justification to his attempt at exterminating Bessarabia's Jews; Jews from Romania-proper were viewed as assimilated, and as such generally spared.[168] In October 1941, Antonescu publicly justified his mass deportation and selective extermination of Jews as an anti-partisan measure, noting that Romanian troops had seized "14–15-year-old Jewish children with pockets full of grenades".[169] This view was subsequently embraced by some pro-Romanian intellectuals in Bessarabia, including Elena Alistar.[170] As interpreted by Șornikov, "the public nature of the massacres perpetrated against Jews attested as to the invaders' intention of intimidating Moldovans, Russians, Ukrainians, and other residents of Bessarabia."[21]
During the actual formation of partisan units, the PCM recommended against recruiting Jews, as they were explicitly targeted for execution by the Romanians.[171] However, this did not prevent the PCM from still sending in Jewish paratroopers throughout 1941 and '42, suggesting to Șornikov that the party had failed to grasp the extent of antisemitic violence in Bessarabia and Transnistria.[158] In the latter region, Jews became divided between those who collaborated with the Antonescu regime and those who fought against occupation: the Judenrat formed at Rîbnița was opposed by Nikolai L. Duvidzon and his Komsomol underground, who also sabotaged transports of grain from Ukraine to Romania.[172] Bartodzy, who established Chișinău's partisan command in January 1944, was a Transylvanian Jew, born Raul Veltman. In order to penetrate the Bessarabian and Transnistrian administration, he passed himself off as an ethnic Romanian.[106]
According to Levit, subsequent
Notes
- ^ Deletant 2006, pp. 79–82.
- ^ Troncotă 1996, pp. 6–7.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 323–324.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, p. 95.
- ^ Burcea 2013, pp. 124–127.
- ^ Burcea 2013, p. 127.
- ^ Cașu 2012.
- ^ Dumitru 2019, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Cașu 2012, p. 365.
- ^ Cașu 2012, pp. 374–375.
- ^ Cașu 2012, pp. 376–377.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, p. 326.
- ^ Gheorghiu 2009, p. 35.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, p. 107.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 95–96, 99.
- ^ a b Șornikov 2014a, p. 96.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, pp. 106–107.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 360–361.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 106–107.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 113–115.
- ^ a b Șornikov 2014a, p. 99.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 327–328.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, p. 97.
- ^ Levit 1981, p. 328.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, p. 98.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 328–329.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Levit 1981, p. 362.
- ^ Levit 1981, p. 334.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 331–333.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 100–105.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 331–332.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 103–104.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, pp. 332–333.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 104–105.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, pp. 335–336.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 99–100.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 99–101.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 334–335.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, pp. 341–345.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 110–115.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 140–141, 154–155.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 140–141.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, pp. 357–358.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 350–351.
- ^ a b c Dumitru 2019, pp. 186–187.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, pp. 356–357.
- ^ Golopenția 2006, p. xvii.
- ^ Golopenția 2006, p. xx.
- ^ Dumitru 2019, pp. 196–202.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, p. 102.
- ^ Dumitru 2019, p. 188.
- ^ Steinhart 2012, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Cașu 2012, pp. 379–382, 384.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 369–370.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Moraru A. 2015, p. 3.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, p. 371.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, pp. 105–106.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 350–355.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, p. 116.
- ^ Levit 1981, p. 361.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 362–363.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, pp. 366–367.
- ^ a b Șornikov 2014a, p. 120.
- ^ Dumitru 2019, pp. 150–151.
- ^ Levit 1981, p. 367.
- ^ Levit 1981, pp. 367–369.
- ^ a b Avram 1993, p. 3.
- ^ a b Levit 1981, p. 370.
- ^ a b Șornikov 2014a, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 174–175.
- ^ Vershigora 1947, pp. 394–395.
- ^ a b Frolov 1968, p. 126.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 170–174.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 214.
- ^ Șteflea 1979, p. 34.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 72.
- ^ a b Levit 1983, pp. 185–186.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 123–124.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 177–178.
- ^ Șornikov 2014a, p. 119.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 190–191.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 218–219.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 181–182.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 205.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 222.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 212.
- ^ Frolov 1968, pp. 108–109.
- ^ Frolov 1968, p. 109.
- ^ Frolov 1968, pp. 111–117.
- ^ Frolov 1968, p. 114.
- ^ Frolov 1968, pp. 120–121.
- ^ Frolov 1968, p. 118.
- ^ Moraru P. 2015, p. 147.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, pp. 111–112.
- ^ a b c Viziteu 2010, p. 34.
- ^ Levit 1983, pp. 206–207.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 215.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, p. 151.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 154–155.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, pp. 112–114.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, pp. 114–115.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, p. 145.
- ^ a b Șornikov 2014a, p. 117.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 146–151.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 149–151.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, p. 143.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 218.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 141–142.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 143–144.
- ^ a b Șornikov 2015, p. 146.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 156–157.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 216.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, p. 154.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 141–142, 144.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 157–159.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, p. 115.
- ^ Deletant 2006, pp. 197–198, 224–225, 340.
- ^ Șerbulescu 1991, p. 41.
- ^ a b Kovalchuk 2015.
- ^ a b Andrianov 1984, p. 40.
- ^ Bulat 2000, p. 325.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 155–156.
- ^ Caba, Aioanei & Axinte 2013, pp. 444–445.
- ^ Negură & Postică 2012, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Șevcenco 2016, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Șevcenco 2016, pp. 52–54.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, p. 159.
- ^ Moraru P. 2015, pp. 147–148.
- ^ Moraru P. 2011, pp. 68–70.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 151–153.
- ^ a b Sârbu & Munteanu 2012, pp. 188, 190.
- ^ Moraru P. 2015, p. 148.
- ^ Moraru P. 2011, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Viziteu 2010, p. 35.
- ^ Tihonov 2008, p. 247.
- ^ Cracănă 2013, p. 97.
- ^ Levit 1983, p. 203.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, p. 110.
- ^ Frolov 1968, p. 125.
- ^ Negură 2013, pp. 97–98.
- ^ van Meurs 1994, pp. 282–283.
- ^ a b c d van Meurs 1994, p. 294.
- ^ Goncharova 2010.
- ^ Stites 1995, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Nicolaev 2016, p. 74.
- ^ a b Grădinaru 2018, pp. 74–75.
- ^ a b van Meurs 1994, p. 295.
- ^ a b c Nicolaev 2012, p. 77.
- ^ van Meurs 1994, pp. 295–296.
- ^ Suveică 2017, pp. 399–401.
- ^ Avram 1993.
- ^ Dumitru 2019, pp. 154–183, 245–246.
- ^ Cașu & Pâslariuc 2010, pp. 289–290.
- ^ Frolov 1968, p. 108.
- ^ a b Șornikov 2014a, p. 104.
- ^ Șornikov 2015, pp. 149.
- ^ Kotljarchuk 2016, p. 141.
- ^ Negru Gh. 2012, pp. 92–94.
- ^ Nicolaev 2012, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Nicolaev 2012, p. 76.
- ^ Negură & Postică 2012, p. 65.
- ^ Șevcenco 2016, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Dumitru 2019, p. 151.
- ^ Negură & Postică 2012, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Deletant 2006, pp. 128–129.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, p. 109.
- ^ Dumitru 2019, pp. 151–152.
- ^ Solonari 2002, p. 439.
- ^ Șornikov 2014b, pp. 109–110.
- ^ Solonari 2002, pp. 439–440.
- ^ Burcea 2013, p. 146.
- ^ Negru N. 2011, pp. 34–36.
- ^ Negru N. 2011, pp. 34–35.
References
- Andrianov, Vasily (January 1984). "World War II Organization of Partisan Units Examined". USSR Report. Military History Journal. No. 1. Foreign Broadcast Information Service.
- Avram, Valeriu (15 July 1993). "Teroriștii N.K.V.D.-ului". Revista Jandarmeriei. 3 (14): 1, 3.
- ISBN 9975-61-139-7.
- Burcea, Mihai (2013). "Recuperarea memoriei interbrigadiștilor și maquisarzilor români. Studiu de caz: Ion Călin (II)". Annals of the University of Bucharest. Political Science Series. 15 (2): 123–148.
- Caba, Neculai A.; Aioanei, Alexandru D.; Axinte, Ciprian (2013). "De la Prut în Munții Ural. Memoriile unui țăran din nordul Moldovei". Archiva Moldaviæ. 5: 423–464.
- ISBN 978-973-611-915-6.
- Cașu, Igor; Pâslariuc, Virgil (2010). "Chestiunea revizuirii hotarelor RSS Moldovenești: de la proiectul 'Moldova Mare' la proiectul 'Basarabia Mare' și cauzele eșecului acestora (decembrie 1943 – iunie 1946)". Archiva Moldaviæ. 2: 275–370.
- Cracănă, Iuliu (2013). "Legislația pentru sancționarea 'criminalilor de război' și a 'vinovaților pentru dezastrul țării'". Document. Buletinul Arhivelor Militare Române. 15 (1): 86–100.
- ISBN 1-4039-9341-6.
- ISBN 978-973-46-7666-8.
- Frolov, Nikolai Mikhailovich (1968). "Поезда летели под откос". Б боях за Молдавию. Cartea Moldovenească. pp. 105–127.
- Gheorghiu, George (2009). "Ecouri în memoria timpului. Itinerariul eroic al Diviziei 1 Blindate române". Document. Buletinul Arhivelor Militare Române. 12 (1): 34–41.
- ISBN 973-45-0546-7.
- Goncharova, Yuliya (5 May 2010). "'Смуглянку' не пускали на фронт". Moskovskij Komsomolets (in Russian). No. 25343. Archived from the original on 2013-03-17.
- Grădinaru, Olga (2018). "A. Fadeev și Tânăra Gardă: contextul și geneza celor două ediții ale romanului". Studia Universitatis Petru Maior. Philologia. 25: 66–77.
- ISBN 978-1541360853.
- Kovalchuk, Volodymyr (2015). "Бої та сутички між українськими повстанцями та радянськими "молдавськими" партизанськими з'єднаннями у Південній Волині (кінець 1943 – поч. 1944 р.)". Ukraynskyy Vyzvol'nyy Rukh (20): 149–162.
- Levit, Izeaslav (1981). Участие фашистской Румынии в агрессии против СССР. Истоки, планы, реализация (1.IX 1939—19.XI 1942). Editura Știința.
- Levit, Izeaslav (1983). Крах политики агрессии диктатуры Антонеску (19.XI 1942—23.VIII 1944). Editura Știința.
- Moraru, Anton (16 April 2015). "Mișcarea teroristă în spatele Frontului Român". Literatura și Arta. 16 (3633): 3.
- Moraru, Pavel (2011). "Ieșirea României din războiul împotriva U.R.S.S. și acțiunile SMERȘ pentru anihilarea agenturii serviciilor speciale românești". Revista de Istorie a Moldovei (1–2): 68–85.
- Moraru, Pavel (2015). "Activitatea Centrului de Informații 'B' al Armatei Române în timpul bătăliei pentru Odessa (1941)". Studia Universitas Moldaviae. Științe Umanistice (4): 146–158.
- Negru, Gheorghe (2012). "Lupta cu 'naționalismul' în R.S.S.M.. Două cazuri mai puțin cunoscute din 1970". Limba Română (11–12): 88–94.
- Negru, Nina (2011). "Omul care călătorea singur: 95 de ani de la nașterea lui Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu". Magazin Bibliologic (1–2): 32–36.
- Negură, Petru (2013). "'Războiul pentru Apărarea Patriei' în viața și opera scriitorilor moldoveni: eveniment de cotitură și mit fondator". In Dumitru, Diana; Cașu, Igor; Cușco, Andrei; Negură, Petru (eds.). Al Doilea Război Mondial. Memorie și Istorie în Estul și Vestul Europei. Editura Cartier. pp. 89–120.
- Negură, Petru; Postică, Elena (2012). "Forme de rezistență a populației civile față de autoritățile sovietice în RSS Moldovenească (1940–1956)". Dystopia (1–2): 59–88.
- Nicolaev, Gheorghe (2012). "Politici comemorative sovietice in RSS Moldovenească prin monumente de istorie și sculpturi monumentale (1944–1990)". Revista de Istorie a Moldovei (4): 59–82.
- Nicolaev, Gheorghe (2016). "File din istoria Muzeului Național de Artă al Moldovei (1944–1990): realizări și impedimente". Revista de Istorie a Moldovei (3): 71–95.
- Sârbu, Antonina; Munteanu, Vitalie (2012). "Rugăciunea Inimii e calea spre mântuire". Limba Română (3–4): 185–198.
- ISBN 973-28-0222-7.
- Șevcenco, Ruslan (2016). "Rezistența antisovietică în RSS Moldovenească: anul 1944". Enciclopedica. Revista de Istorie a Științei și Studii Enciclopedice (1): 50–59.
- S2CID 162214245.
- Șornikov, Piotr (2014a). "Подполье в действии (I)". Russkoe Pole (11): 95–120.
- Șornikov, Piotr (2014b). "Подполье в действии (II)". Russkoe Pole (12): 106–115.
- Șornikov, Piotr (2015). "Подполье в действии (III)". Russkoe Pole (1): 140–159.
- Șteflea, Ilie (1979). "Șeful Marelui Stat Major rezistă presiunilor Wehrmachtului". Magazin Istoric. 13 (8): 32–36.
- Steinhart, Eric C. (2012). "Creating Killers: The Nazification of the Black Sea Germans and the Holocaust in Southern Ukraine, 1941–1944". Bulletin of the German Historical Institute Washington, DC (50): 57–74.
- ISBN 0-253-20949-8.
- Suveică, Svetlana (2017). "From Heroisation to Competing Victimhoods. History Writing on the Second World War in Moldova". Südosteuropa. 65 (2): 388–411. S2CID 164632141.
- Tihonov, Ludmila (2008). "Politica comunistă de marginalizare a vieții bisericești din Basarabia". In Ciobanu, Vasile; Radu, Sorin (eds.). Partide politice și minorități naționale din România în secolul XX. Vol. 3. TechnoMedia. pp. 244–251. ISBN 978-973-739-261-9.
- Troncotă, Cristian (1996). "Aprilie, 1941. S.S.I. avertizează asupra imensului potențial al U.R.S.S.". Magazin Istoric. 30 (6): 3–7.
- van Meurs, Wim (1994). The Bessarabian Question in Communist Historiography. East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-284-0.
- Vershigora, Pyotr (1947). Люди с чистой совестью. Voenizdat.
- Viziteu, Gheorghe (2010). "Amintiri de groază". Jandarmul Botoșănean. 30 (1): 34–35.