Misplaced Pages

#51948

147-806: Limited in the west by the Dniester river (separating it from Bessarabia ), in the east by the Southern Bug river (separating it from the German Reichskommissariat Ukraine ), and in the south by the Black Sea , it comprised the present-day region of Transnistria (which compared to the World War II whole is only a small strip along the bank of the Dniester) and territories further east (modern Odesa Oblast eastward of

294-407: A de facto military rear area , Ion Antonescu ended the civilian administration of the region and dismissed Governor Alexianu. At the same time or roughly two weeks later (15 February 1944), the very name "Transnistria" was dropped; the region – now under General Gheorghe Potopeanu (from 1 February 1944) – officially became a territory under military administration. On 15 March 1944, Potopeanu ordered

441-848: A vassal of the Ottoman Empire). Between 1711 and 1812, the Russian Empire occupied the region five times during its wars against the Ottoman and Austrian Empires . By the Treaty of Bucharest of May 28, 1812—concluding the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812 —the Ottoman Empire ceded the land between the Pruth and the Dniester, including both Moldavian and Turkish territories, to the Russian Empire . That entire region

588-512: A "natural and rational distribution of agricultural property", it also led to fragmentation of agricultural land. This made the practice of intensive agriculture difficult, since peasants had reduced opportunity to purchase agricultural equipment. Towards the end of the Communist period, the two interwar concepts of development and modernization were re-embraced. After the fall of Communism , Romanian historiography treated Bessarabia mainly in

735-483: A German order establishing a boundary between Transnistria and the rear of Army Group South. The resulting territory was divided into 13 counties, each ruled by a high-ranking officer with the role of prefect. A county was further divided into raions, each raion being ruled by a praetor ( pretor ), who had much broader powers than the prefect. The entire region, forming a single Governorate, was led by one Governor, Gheorghe Alexianu. Transnistria's administrative configuration

882-595: A Russian boy. Another newspaper, Свет (Lat. Svet, meaning "World" or Russian for "Light"), used the age-old blood libel against the Jews (alleging that the boy had been killed to use his blood in preparation of matzos ). After the 1905 Russian Revolution , a Romanian nationalist movement started to develop in Bessarabia. In the chaos brought by the Russian revolution of October 1917 , a National Council ( Sfatul Țării )

1029-529: A Westwards salient created by the Dniester river, centered around Coșnița (today part of the Dubăsari District of the Republic of Moldova ). Today east of the Dniester there are only 237,785 Romance-speaking residents left, a small percentage of the overall population of the region, most of whom live in the actual Transnistria break-away republic . But historically they were the majority: according to

1176-509: A complex phenomenon, which also required further mechanism to support the new owner. However, agriculture was ignored by the state, and the new owners were greatly affected by the lack of credit, Romanian authors of the time suggested various ways this situation could have been overcome. Ultimately, as the state failed to create an adequate agricultural policy, by the end of the 1920 authors were hoping progress could be made through private initiative. Romanian authors also paid particular attention to

1323-451: A different degree of their adaptability to the new conditions. The modernization interwar period is also seen as the third phase of a continuous process, begun in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and brutally interrupted by the establishment of Communism. In this context, some authors consider the comparative studies of the interwar and post-Communist periods in different fields as particularly current. Soviet historiography considered

1470-519: A general Romanian context in relation to the previous Russian period, as well as the uneven and not so fast modernization process, determined by both internal and external factors. According to Vladimir Solonar and Vladimir Bruter, Bessarabia under Romanian rule experienced low population growth due to high mortality (highest in Romania and one of the highest in Europe) as well as emigration; Bessarabia

1617-698: A government meeting showed intentions to deport all Jews behind the Ural Mountains if it would be possible: "I have about 10,000 Jews left in Bessarabia, who in a few days will be taken across the Dniester, and if circumstances will allow, they will be taken beyond the Urals". The process of disintegration of Romanian rule in Transnistria started to unfold almost as soon as 1944 began. German operative troops entered northern Transnistria in January 1944. By

SECTION 10

#1732773368052

1764-477: A larger country.". Civil service in Transnistria would paradoxically surpass in quality its counterpart within Romania itself. On 19 August 1941, Antonescu decreed the creation of the Romanian Administration in Transnistria. During the first week of the advance, in mid-August 1941, Romanian forces took over all of the region, except for a small area around Odessa , without a fight. At the time,

1911-550: A number of historical myths". The discussion of the social-economic and politico-administrative situation in the region was also closely related to the Romanian-Soviet conflictual relations of the 1960s and 1970s, during which both communist countries treated the Bessarabian problem for political purposes. The presence of the ideological factor in writing the history of Bessarabia was manifested itself not only at

2058-609: A single area to break through the Soviet line. The memoir however, was rejected by both Antonescu and Brigadier-General Alexandru Ioanițiu , chief of the Romanian General Staff , who argued that an attack in a single direction would leave the rest of the Romanian line too exposed. Marshal Antonescu subsequently issued a new directive calling for attacks between Tatarka and Dalnik, and Gniliavko and Dalnik, to be made by

2205-818: A strong Soviet counterattack the following day. On 30 August the Romanians retook the initiative, but gained very little ground. Hitler and the German High Command noted that 'Antonescu [was] using at Odessa the tactics of the First World War,' depending upon infantry to make unsupported frontal attacks against Soviet trench line defenses. The Soviets temporarily retook Kubanka but were driven back by nightfall. Soviet troops in Vakarzhany were encircled and continued to fight until 3 September, when combined German and Romanian infantry successfully stormed

2352-547: A stubborn resistance, launching repeated counter-attacks, inflicting and taking heavy casualties. The Royal Romanian Air Force actively supported the ground troops, disrupting Soviet naval traffic to and from Odessa, and also destroying an armored train on 20 August. By 24 August, despite constant attacks, the Romanians were bogged down in front of the Soviets' main line of defense. The 4th Army had already suffered 27,307 casualties, including 5,329 killed in action. Nevertheless,

2499-520: A territory under Romanian occupation, rather than Romanian territory, despite existing political and economic relations between the US and Romania. Soviet Russia (and later, the USSR) did not recognize the union, and by 1924, after its demands for a regional plebiscite were declined by Romania for the second time, declared Bessarabia to be Soviet territory under foreign occupation. On all Soviet maps, Bessarabia

2646-614: A torpedo at her, which missed. Delfinul swiftly counterattacked with her twin 13 mm machine gun, causing the Soviet submarine to submerge and retreat. During the October evacuation, Heinkel He 114 seaplanes of the Romanian Naval Aviation captured a Soviet armed merchantman. The operations at Odessa highlighted significant weaknesses in the Romanian Army, leading both military and political leaders in

2793-495: Is very fertile and has lignite deposits and stone quarries. People living in the area grow sugar beet , sunflower , wheat , maize , tobacco , wine grapes , and fruit . They raise sheep and cattle . The main industry in the region is agricultural processing. The main Bessarabian cities are Chișinău , the former capital of the Russian Bessarabia Governorate, now capital of Moldova; Bălți , on

2940-676: The Balkan-Danubian culture (the culture of the First Bulgarian Empire). Between the 9th and 13th centuries, Bessarabia is mentioned in Slav chronicles as part of Bolohoveni (north) and Brodnici (south) voivodeships, believed to be Vlach principalities of the early Middle Ages. The last large-scale invasions were those of the Mongols of 1241, 1290, and 1343. Sehr al-Jedid (near Orhei ), an important settlement of

3087-650: The Gagauz -inhabited areas in southern Bessarabia was organised in 1994 as an autonomous region within Moldova. According to the traditional explanation, the name Bessarabia ( Basarabia in Romanian ) derives from the Wallachian Basarab dynasty , who allegedly ruled over the southern part of the area in the 14th century. However, some scholars question this, arguing that: According to Dimitrie Cantemir ,

SECTION 20

#1732773368052

3234-709: The Golden Horde , dates from this period. They led to a retreat of a big part of the population to the mountainous areas in Eastern Carpathians and to Transylvania . The population east of Prut became especially low at the time of the Tatar invasions. In the Late Middle Age, chronicles mention a Tigheci "republic", predating the establishment of the Principality of Moldavia , situated near

3381-740: The Moldavian Democratic Republic . On March 5 [O.S. 20 February] 1918, in a secret agreement signed along the Treaty of Buftea , the German Empire allowed Romania to annex Bessarabia in exchange for free passage of German troops toward Ukraine. The county councils of Bălți , Soroca and Orhei were the earliest to ask for unification of the Moldavian Democratic Republic with the Kingdom of Romania , and on April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, in

3528-661: The Nogai horde also inhabited the Budjak Region (in Turkish Bucak) of southern Bessarabia from the 16th to 18th centuries but were totally driven out prior to 1812. Administratively, Bessarabia became an oblast of the Russian Empire in 1818, and a guberniya in 1873. The Treaty of Adrianople , which concluded the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 , stated that the entire Danube Delta would be ceded to

3675-644: The Ottoman Empire invaded and captured Chilia and Cetatea Albă (Akkerman in Turkish), and annexed the shoreline southern part of Bessarabia, which was then divided into two sanjaks (districts) of the Ottoman Empire. In 1538, the Ottomans annexed more Bessarabian land in the south as far as Tighina , while the central and northern Bessarabia remained part of the Principality of Moldavia (which became

3822-701: The Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova , with the Budjak region covering the southern coastal region and part of the Ukrainian Chernivtsi Oblast covering a small area in the north. In the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) , and the ensuing Peace of Bucharest , the eastern parts of the Principality of Moldavia , an Ottoman vassal , along with some areas formerly under direct Ottoman rule, were ceded to Imperial Russia . The acquisition

3969-580: The Roman Dacia , due to the invading Goths and Carpi. The Goths, a Germanic tribe, poured into the Roman Empire from the lower Dniepr River , through the southern part of Bessarabia ( Budjak steppe ), which due to its geographic position and characteristics (mainly steppe ), was swept by various nomadic tribes for many centuries. In 378, the area was overrun by the Huns . From the 3rd century until

4116-685: The Scythia Minor province against invasions. Except for the Black Sea shore in the south, Bessarabia remained outside direct Roman control; the myriad of tribes there are called by modern historians Free Dacians . The 2nd to the 5th centuries also saw the development of the Chernyakhov culture . In 270, the Roman authorities began to withdraw their forces south of the Danube, especially from

4263-580: The Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina , a strong concentration of Soviet troops became present on the border with Romania. Nazi Germany wanted Romania as an ally in the war against the Soviet Union for fear that the Soviets were a threat to the Romanian oilfields. Romania in turn aligned their foreign policy with Germany for an assurance against the Soviet Union. With regards to Operation Barbarossa , Antonescu accepted Hitler's ideas that

4410-638: The Ukrainian SSR . Axis -aligned Romania recaptured the region in 1941 with the success of Operation München during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union , but lost it in 1944 as the tide of war turned. In 1947, the Soviet-Romanian border along the Prut was internationally recognised by the Treaty of Paris that formally ended hostilities of World War II . During the process of the dissolution of

4557-436: The city's catacombs . The Soviet counteroffensive which was meant to break the siege came during the night of 21/22 September 1941, and it was the climax of the battle for Odessa. Red Army troops established a bridgehead at Chebanka , threatening the Romanian 4th Army's weaker right flank. Before the Soviets could attack, a formation of 94 Romanian aircraft (32 bombers and 62 fighters) supported by 23 Italian aircraft attacked

Transnistria Governorate - Misplaced Pages Continue

4704-429: The revised Julian calendar . The uncertain political status of Transnistria throughout the Romanian occupation meant no clear economic policy was implemented across Transnistria. In addition to the looting of industrial and agricultural resources, Transnistria served as a colony for cheap labor to be used in mines and to rebuild destroyed infrastructure. In spite of popular demand, the Romanian administration, following

4851-441: The (Bessarabian) land in the interwar period". This ongoing controversy highlights the two antagonistic geopolitical tendencies present in the contemporary Moldovan historiography: the pro-East current versus the pro-West current. The Western historiography pointed out that the reforms at the beginning of Romania's rule were mainly directed at easing the social tensions existing across Eastern Europe and were, therefore, similar to

4998-550: The 11th and 3rd Corps, respectively. Ioanițiu forwarded a note to Major-General Arthur Hauffe , chief of the German military mission to Romania, informing him of the situation at Odessa and requesting assistance in the form of aircraft and several pioneer battalions. Although the Royal Romanian Air Force enjoyed some success against the Soviets ground and air forces, it was ill-equipped for anti-shipping raids, and

5145-420: The 11th century, the region was invaded numerous times in turn by different tribes: Goths , Huns , Avars , Bulgars , Magyars , Pechenegs , Cumans and Mongols . The territory of Bessarabia was encompassed in dozens of ephemeral kingdoms which were disbanded when another wave of migrants arrived. Those centuries were characterized by a terrible state of insecurity and mass movement of these tribes. The period

5292-512: The 1st Armored Division. At the same time, the 10th Dorobanți Regiment overran the Soviet forces at Lozovaya. The 4th Army gradually closed the circle around Odessa, but the offensive was temporarily stopped by Ion Antonescu on 13 August to strengthen the line west of the Hadjibey bank . The offensive resumed on 16 August, as Romanian troops attacked along the entire line, capturing Odessa's water reservoirs on 17 August. The Soviet forces put up

5439-477: The Bessarabian oblast. According to Vasile Stoica, emissary of the Romanian government to the United States, in 1834, Romanian was banned from schools and government facilities, despite 80% of the population speaking the language. This later lead to the banning of Romanian in churches, media, and books. According to the same author, those who protested the banning of Romanian could be sent to Siberia . At

5586-727: The Country Council and the National Congresses in Transylvania and Bukovina. The union was recognized by France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan in the Treaty of Paris of 1920 . However, the treaty never came into force, as Japan did not ratify it. The United States refused to sign the treaty on the grounds that Russia was not represented at the Conference. The US also considered Bessarabia

5733-654: The Dacian kingdom of Decebalus in the 1st century AD. This kingdom was defeated by the Roman Empire in 106. Southern Bessarabia was included in the empire even before that, in 57 AD, as part of the Roman province Moesia Inferior , but it was secured only when the Dacian Kingdom was defeated in 106. The Romans built defensive earthen walls in Southern Bessarabia (e.g. Lower Trajan Wall ) to defend

5880-419: The Dniester, southern Vinnytsia Oblast and a small part of Mykolaiv Oblast ), including the Black Sea port of Odesa , which became the administrative capital of Transnistria during World War II. In World War II, the Kingdom of Romania , persuaded and aided by Nazi Germany , took control of Transnistria for the first time in history. In August 1941, Adolf Hitler persuaded Ion Antonescu to take control of

6027-544: The German 11th Army . Due to the heavy resistance of the Soviet 9th Independent Army and the rapidly formed Separate Coastal Army , supported by the Black Sea Fleet , it took the Axis forces 73 days of siege and four assaults to take the city. Romanian forces suffered 93,000 casualties, against Red Army casualties estimated to be between 41,000 and 60,000. It is considered to be the "greatest independent success of

Transnistria Governorate - Misplaced Pages Continue

6174-587: The German example, refused to disband the reviled kolkhozes . Nevertheless, former de-kulakized peasants did get back their houses, although in the cities real estate was not returned to its previous owners. The kolkhoz was renamed obște , and the sovkhozes were renamed "ferme de stat" (state farms). Most of Transnistria's agricultural output was produced by the kolkhozes. Roughly 53,000 railway cars of grain were brought from Transnistria to Romania between September 1942 and June 1943. Without these, as Ion Antonescu admitted, Romania "would have had an enormous crisis". By

6321-549: The Germans. While refusing to declare Transnistria's annexation, Antonescu instructed its Governor to work in Transnistria "as if Romania had been installed in those territories for two million years". Part of Romania's grand strategy was to use Transnistria as a bargaining chip at the end of the war to obtain various gains, from Russia or Ukraine or possibly from Germany and Hungary. Romania's immediate aims, however, stemmed from Ion Antonescu's acute inferiority complex. His perception

6468-510: The Great ruled between 1457 and 1504, a period of nearly 50 years during which he won 32 battles defending his country against virtually all his neighbours (mainly the Ottomans and the Tatars, but also the Hungarians and the Poles) while losing only two. During this period, after each victory, he raised a monastery or a church close to the battlefield honoring Christianity. Many of these battlefields and churches, as well as old fortresses, are situated in Bessarabia (mainly along Dniester). In 1484,

6615-487: The Jews in Bogdanovka; shootings continued for more than a week." Similar events occurred at the Domanovka and Akmechetka  [ uk ] camps, and (quoting the same source) " typhus -devastated Jews were crowded into the 'colony' in Mohyliv-Podilskyi ." Other camps, also with very high death rates, were at Pechora and Vapniarka , the latter reserved for Jewish political prisoners deported from Romania proper. Many Jews died of exposure, starvation, or disease during

6762-436: The Red Army took Nikolaev and the next day crossed the lower Bug river in force. On April 5, Razdelnaia fell, and therewith the Odessa-Tiraspol highway was cut. On the 19th, after a brief but bitter fight, the Red Army re-entered Odessa. On the April 12, Tiraspol was occupied, and four days later all Transnistria was again in Soviet hands. During the final days, the Germans concentrated on destruction in Odessa, since evacuation

6909-563: The Red Army troops as they advanced North. During the ensuing aerial battle, which lasted ten hours, numerous bombing and strafing attacks were carried out against the Soviet bridgehead, as well as numerous dogfights with the Soviet Air Force. The bridgehead was pulverized, with all Soviet troops withdrawing from the area during the night of 4/5 October. Axis air forces destroyed over 20 Soviet aircraft (nine or ten of them during air battles) while losing one Romanian fighter during air combat plus four more either shot down by Soviet flak or destroyed on

7056-406: The Romanian common framework are also of interest. Romanian authors mainly blamed the lasting effects of Russian domination and the destabilizing role of Soviet Russia (USSR) for the malfunctioning of the Romanian administration, with some also pointing to the difficult and non-uniform character of the integration generated by the non-uniform character of the development of the provinces until 1918, of

7203-414: The Romanian government did not prepare to house thousands of people in Transnistria, where the deportees stayed. The people were instead placed in crude barracks without running water, electricity or latrines. Those who could not walk were simply left to die. In total, around 150 ghettos and camps functioned in Transnistria. In Odessa, between 80,000 and 90,000 of the city's roughly 180,000 Jews remained at

7350-405: The Romanian interwar period". In Suveică's opinion, the conception of Soviet historiography was based on distorted facts that would serve as "indisputable arguments" for the establishment of an illegal "occupation" regime. According to Wim P. van Meurs "the legitimation of the political regime has been the main function of (the Soviet) historiography and such a legitimation has usually been based on

7497-506: The Romanian troops, the 72nd Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht (in part), 2 German assault and 4 German engineer battalions, 3 German heavy artillery divisions, and periodically Luftwaffe units were also involved near Odessa. By early September the total number of German-Romanian troops near Odessa was about 277,000 soldiers and officers, up to 2,200 guns and mortars, 100–120 tanks, and 300 to 400 planes. The defense of Odessa lasted 73 days, from 5 August to 16 October 1941. On 10 August, in

SECTION 50

#1732773368052

7644-446: The Romanians had 60,000 soldiers to conquer the city from its 34,000 defenders. However, the organization was so poor, and the command was so superficial, that the initial assault on the city failed, resulting in a siege . Exploiting this success, the Soviets bolstered the cities defenses with naval marines, warships and paratroopers. Multiple attempts by the Romanian Fourth Army failed and a siege ensured. German forces were brought into

7791-425: The Soviet Union , the Moldavian and Ukrainian SSRs proclaimed their independence in 1991, becoming the modern states of Moldova and Ukraine while preserving the existing partition of Bessarabia. Following a short war in the early 1990s, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic was proclaimed in the Transnistria , extending its authority also over the municipality of Bender on the right bank of Dniester river. Part of

7938-434: The Soviet Union pressured Romania, under threat of war, into withdrawing from Bessarabia, allowing the Red Army to enter and the Soviet Union to annex the region . The area was formally integrated into the Soviet Union: the core joined parts of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , while territories in the north and the south of Bessarabia were transferred to

8085-556: The Soviet Union regained the area in spring 1944, and the Soviet Army advanced into the territory driving out the Axis forces, many thousands of Romanians/Vlachs of Transnistria were killed in those months and deported to gulags in the following years. So, a political campaign was directed towards the rich Moldavian peasant families, which were deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia as well. For instance, in just two days, July 6 and July 7, 1949, over 11,342 Moldavian families (more than 40,000 inhabitants of Ukraine Oblasts) were deported by

8232-408: The Soviet destroyer, but failed to detonate. It was one of the few actions the Romanian Navy undertook to support the siege, generally limiting itself to patrols of the submarine Delfinul . No Western source could be found to confirm this claim. On 20 August, Delfinul fought the only submarine vs submarine engagement of the siege. At 12:08 pm, the Soviet M-class submarine M-33 launched

8379-399: The Soviets as the defence of Odessa , lasted from 8 August until 16 October 1941, during the early phase of Operation Barbarossa , the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II . Odessa was a port on the Black Sea in the Ukrainian SSR . On 22 June 1941, the Axis powers invaded the Soviet Union. In August, Odessa became a target of the Romanian 4th Army and elements of

8526-443: The Soviets were also weakened, and thanks to the capture of Kubanka, Romanian heavy artillery now threatened the port of Odessa. Over the next three days, there was a lull in the fighting. On 28 August, the Romanians resumed their offensive, reinforced by a German assault battalion and ten heavy artillery battalions. The 4th , 11th and 1st Army Corps advanced towards Gnileakovo and Vakarzhany, only to be pushed back in some areas by

8673-409: The Soviets were being steadily reinforced and resupplied via the Navy. Meanwhile, the Romanian offensive was halted to wait for reinforcements. A German detachment led by Lieutenant-General René von Courbier and comprising one infantry regiment, one assault pioneer regiment and two artillery regiments arrived. Concurrently, the Soviets also received 15,000 men and ammunition. On 9 September, Ciupercă

8820-409: The administrative corps of Bessarabia - "an unstable and corrupt stratum" - observing that transfer of administrative personnel from Romania to Bessarabia was regarded as a severe punishment, and the clerks affected generally sought personal enrichment; the local administration was also considered rigid and unwilling to reform. In general, Western historiography analyzed the modernization of Bessarabia in

8967-457: The agrarian reform, was debated and approved in November 1918. The Country Council also decided to remove the other conditions and made unification with Romania unconditional. The legality of this vote was considered highly debatable since the meeting had not been publicly announced, there was no quorum (only 44 of the 125 members took part in it, mostly Moldavian conservatives), and then the Country Council voted for its self-dissolution, preventing

SECTION 60

#1732773368052

9114-443: The arrest and massacre of civilians suspected of aiding the Red Army. When it became clear that identifying individuals directly responsible for the incident would be almost impossible, Antonescu ordered the shooting of Jews. The massacre that followed resulted in 100,000 civilians killed, the majority of whom had nothing to do with the military action. A further number of Odessa Jews were deported to ghettos and concentration camps in

9261-412: The authority of the latter. Altogether, the area amounted to 39,733 square km. The creation of a separate Romanian occupation area was Ion Antonescu's initiative. German leadership was divided about allowing Romania such privilege. Even Hitler, who encouraged Romanian eastward expansion, originally meant to award eastern territories after the war. However, Antonescu's stubborn insistence eventually swayed

9408-441: The best food, health and education situation within Axis-occupied Eastern Europe. Under Romanian rule, religious and cultural revivals were permitted, prisoners of war were released and many local Communists were amnestied. This leniency eased local hostility to Romanian occupation after the terror of 1941, also undermining Soviet attempts to recruit partisans. Even while the retreating Romanians were looting Transnistria in March 1944,

9555-407: The bulk of the residents had stayed in the region. People feared Soviet repressions, but "there was no other way out", according to German sources. It is worth noting however, that there was still a very small piece of Transnistrian territory still left under Romanian rule as late as August 1944, according to an OKH map depicting the situation on the Romanian front as of 20 August. This area comprised

9702-434: The central level, but also at the level of the historiography of Soviet Moldavia . It was not until the second half of the '80s that the Moldovan historiography raised the issue of the Soviet political and ideological pressures. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Moldovan historiography, largely marked by the public identity discourse , deals with the problems of the interwar Bessarabian history, depending on

9849-422: The changes that took place in interwar Bessarabia expressed were directed either towards strengthening the political, economical, and social position of the bourgeoisie, to the detriment of the peasantry, or towards creating a favourable position for the Romanian population, to the detriment of the national minorities; Soviet authors thus reportedly rejected the notion that any modernization and progress took place in

9996-405: The colony of Tyras along the Black Sea coast and traded with the locals. Celts also settled in the southern parts of Bessarabia, their main city being Aliobrix . The first polity that is believed to have included the whole of Bessarabia was the Dacian polity of Burebista in the 1st century BC. After his death, the polity was divided into smaller pieces, and the central parts were unified in

10143-515: The conflict was a "race war" between the Aryans, represented by the Nordic Germans and Latin Romanians on the Axis side vs. the Slavs and Asians, commanded by the Jews on the Soviet side. Romania in turn committed two armies for the invasion of the Soviet Union, totaling over 300,000 troops between them. For their commitment, Romania was promised Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the area between Dniester and Southern Bug. On 19 August 1941, Germany and Romania signed an agreement placing Transnistria under

10290-404: The context of Romanian nation-building, seen as the main issue affecting Greater Romania; authors focused mainly on issues related to the general and specific context of Bessarabia after the Union, the state's efforts for social-political and economic integration, and cultural development of Bessarabia. The internal and external factors that determined the specifics of the province's integration into

10437-412: The context. On the one hand, the supporters of the idea of Moldovan statehood reject the option of modernization and progress of Bessarabia after the Union with Romania while, on the other hand, the historians who, starting from the idea of the Romanian character of Bessarabia, and using new sources, "contribute to the in-depth knowledge of the integrating and modernizing processes that marked the history of

10584-476: The country to call for a discontinuation of military operations against the Soviet Union. Antonescu ignored such objections, regarding continued participation and eventual victory on the Eastern Front as necessary for the restoration of Romania's territorial integrity. On the other hand, the capture of Odessa enabled Antonescu to surpass Mussolini in prestige, as the latter had no comparable spoils. Odessa

10731-598: The creation of Transnistria was signed on 19 August, at Tiraspol . It is known as the Tiraspol Agreement . This treaty was consolidated by a convention signed at Tighina on 30 August (the Tighina Agreement ), which however did not clearly define the northern borders of Transnistria. Antonescu claimed the northern towns of Mohyliv-Podilskyi , Zhmerynka and Tulchyn , a request to which Hitler acceded. The final borders were recognized on 4 September, in

10878-454: The day, Iuliu Maniu and Constantin Brătianu , declared that "the Romanian people will never consent to the continuation of the struggle beyond our national borders." The territory was divided into 13 counties (sing. județ ). Below these were subdivisions named Municipiu , Oraș and Raion . In December, 1941 Romanian authorities conducted a census in Transnistria and the ethnic structure

11025-569: The deportations to Transnistria or after arrival. Others were murdered by Romanian or German units, either in Transnistria or after being driven across the Bug River into the German-occupied Ukraine. Most of the Jews who were sent to the camps in Transnistria never returned. Those who survived, around 70,000, returned to Romania in 1945 to find that they had lost their houses. Even for the general population, food in Transnistria

11172-475: The dual purpose of increasing German military supplies and depriving millions of supposedly racially inferior Eastern Europeans. The Romanians never even thought along these lines. Odessa was never cut off from its rural hinterland. Such abundance relative to German-occupied areas was not necessarily limited to Odessa. In early January 1944, Tiger Tank Battalion 503 assembled at Zhmerynka , a town in Transnistria. The Germans were pleasantly surprised to find beer in

11319-540: The end of March 1944, the Romanian administration had reopened 335 of the 946 prewar factories, their products being directed primarily towards the Romanian war effort. By the fall of 1943, a total of 1,593 km (990 miles) of railway tracks had been restored. The Romanian policy encouraged private enterprise. By 31 August 1943, Odessa alone had issued 8,610 licenses for economic activity, including: 1,256 groceries, 1,062 restaurants/cafes and 171 "small industries" such as soap factories. An Odessan named Mikhail Dmitrievich Manuilov

11466-759: The end of the Crimean War , in 1856, by the Treaty of Paris , Southern Bessarabia (organised as the Cahul and Ismail counties, with the Bolgrad county split from the latter in 1864) was returned to Moldavia, causing the Russian Empire to lose access to the Danube river. In 1859, Moldavia and Wallachia united to form the Romanian United Principalities (Romania) , which included the southern part of Bessarabia. The railway Chișinău - Iași

11613-472: The end of the month, the Romanians had lost control over the region's northern counties. Partisans, along with the Germans and their Cossack auxiliaries, frequently attacked Romanian officials of all ranks and commandeered their vehicles. Romanian gendarmes, severely outnumbered and in fear for their lives, remained in their quarters. The pretor of Trostineț raion was killed by German soldiers. On 29 January 1944, on account of Transnistria's transformation into

11760-487: The fortresses of Akkerman and Chilia , its eastern border becoming the River Dniester . Based on the name of the region, some authors consider that in the latter part of the 14th century the southern part of the region was under the rule of Wallachia (the ruling dynasty of Wallachia during that period was called Basarab ). In the 15th century, the entire region was a part of the principality of Moldavia. Stephen

11907-556: The ground. One Italian Savoia-Marchetti bomber was also lost. With the advance of Axis forces into the Soviet Union, Stavka decided to evacuate the defenders of Odessa. On the night of 14–15 October 1941, the Black Sea Fleet evacuated the garrison to Sevastopol where most of the units were later destroyed in the bitter fighting that took place there during the defence of Sevastopol . The Black Sea Fleet also managed to evacuate 350,000 soldiers and civilians. In support of

12054-666: The intervention of the Romanian Army , ostensibly to pacify the region. Soon after, the parliamentary assembly declared independence, and then union with the Kingdom of Romania . However, the legality of these acts was disputed, most prominently by the Soviet Union , which regarded the area as a territory occupied by Romania. In 1940, after securing the assent of Nazi Germany through the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact ,

12201-466: The interwar period, Romanian historians countered Soviet historians' description of it as the establishment of an "occupation regime". The agrarian reform, considered one of the most radical in Europe (an idea also supported by Western historians), was appreciated as having a positive role, emphasizing the national emancipation of the Romanian peasantry, while the modernization of agriculture was presented as

12348-538: The land offensive, the Romanian Navy dispatched motor torpedo boats to the recently occupied port of Vylkove (Vâlcov in Romanian). During the night of 18 September, the motor torpedo boats NMS Viscolul and NMS Vijelia attacked a Soviet convoy south of Odessa, each boat launching her two torpedoes at the closest enemy destroyer. Three of the four torpedoes missed. The fourth torpedo struck and damaged

12495-624: The late 14th century, the newly established Principality of Moldavia encompassed what later became known as Bessarabia. Afterward, this territory was directly or indirectly, partly or wholly controlled by: the Ottoman Empire (as suzerain of Moldavia, with direct rule only in Budjak and Khotyn ), the Russian Empire , Romania , the USSR . Since 1991, most of the territory forms the core of Moldova , with smaller parts in Ukraine . People have inhabited

12642-443: The latter in "a numerous and profitable mass of clients for the banks". According to the analysis Western authors, the reform only changed the distribution of the land, and not agricultural policies; as a result of the economical and social policies of the Romanian governments, small and medium-sized farms remained unprofitable, while the large farms not affected by the reform also lost their economic role. Western authors also criticized

12789-564: The latter to take over the administration between the Dniester and the Dnieper . Antonescu replied three days later, stating that he could only assume responsibility for the area between the Dniester and the Bug, due to lacking "the means and trained staff". The Romanian leader was however willing to supply security troops for the area between the Bug and the Dnieper. The German-Romanian agreement for

12936-410: The local bazaar, along with other wares that they had not seen in a long time. In 1943, Transnistrian factories, located mainly in and around Odessa, reported a 76% increase in their industrial output. Roughly 37% of this industry was privatized . A shortage of cash along with inflation resulted in the emergence of barter as the primary form of trade. On 14 August 1941, Hitler wrote to Antonescu, asking

13083-596: The local partisans were unable to mobilize civilian support. Orthodox churches of Transnistria fell into the jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Church . Under the leadership of Metropolitan bishop Visarion Puiu , the Romanian Orthodox Church in addition to opening all churches closed by Soviet authorities, set up three hundred new churches across Transnistria. Romanian clergy removed all Church Slavonic material and implemented

13230-503: The locals, as well as the general structure of the administrative corps. During the Communist period , Romanian historians initially treated the reforms applied after World War I mainly from social class perspectives. Starting with the 1960s, the first studies that mentioned the existence of a " Bessarabian historical problem " appeared. From the second half of the 1970s, studies on the agrarian reform considered that while this led to

13377-430: The modern town of Cahul in the southwest of Bessarabia, preserving its autonomy even during the later Principality even into the 18th century. Genovese merchants rebuilt or established a number of forts along the Dniester (notably Moncastro ) and Danube (including Kyliya/Chilia - Licostomo ). After the 1360s, the region was gradually included in the principality of Moldavia , which by 1392 established control over

13524-431: The most part natural and self-evident: the Black Sea (south) along with the rivers Bug (east) and Nistru (west). The problem of Transnistria's northern border caused some friction between the Germans and Romanians. The latter wanted to push the border north of the town of Zhmerynka (Romanian: Jmerinca), a strategically important railway hub. The Germans resisted at first, but ultimately conceded. Another point of contention

13671-501: The name Bessarabia originally applied only to the part of the territory south of the Upper Trajanic Wall , i.e. an area only slightly larger than present-day Budjak . The region is bounded by the Dniester to the north and east, the Prut to the west, and the lower River Danube and Black Sea to the south. It has an area of 45,630 km (17,620 sq mi). The area is mostly hilly plains and flat steppes . It

13818-542: The nascent region of Bulgaria . With the rise of the Khazars' state in the east, the invasions began to diminish and it was possible to create larger states. According to some opinions, the southern part of Bessarabia remained under the influence of the First Bulgarian Empire until the end of the 9th century. Between the 8th and 10th centuries, the southern part of Bessarabia was inhabited by people from

13965-557: The night of 15 September, Soviet troops broke contact with the Romanian 1st Corps and retreated toward the southeast. On 16 September, the 1st Corps took the heights northwest of Gross-Liebenthal. Romanian troops also occupied the area south of the Sukhoy bank. Over 3,000 Soviet soldiers were captured, but these losses were replaced by the 157th Rifle Division , with a strength of 12,600 troops. Also, 18 Soviet companies were brought in from Novorossiysk . Partisan fighting continued, however, in

14112-487: The northern half of the region. A Soviet partisan movement was active in the Odessa catacombs from October 1941 to 1944 with varying levels of activity. Romanian troops attempted to flush the partisans out with chemical weapons and by sealing off as many exits as they could. The catacombs were never completely cleared, however the impact of these partisan movements were not significant. The borders of Transnistria were for

14259-505: The occupation of the whole region was completed in early March. The occupation of Bessarabia by the Romanians was not universally welcomed, and the members of the Bessarabian government denied that the Romanian troops had ever been invited to occupy the republic. After Ukraine issued its Fourth Universal , breaking ties with Bolshevik Russia and proclaiming a sovereign Ukrainian state, Sfatul Țării declared Bessarabia's independence on February 6 [ O.S. January 24] 1918, as

14406-453: The ones taking place elsewhere in the region. In the case of the agrarian reform, G. Clenton Logio states that the Romanians were pressed into legislating it, as expropriation had begun before the Union and there was the danger that Bessarabians would undo this act; he notes that no planning took place regarding the effects of the reform and the problems of the peasantry were ignored, transforming

14553-575: The order of the Minister of State Security, I. L. Mordovets, under a plan named "Operation South". The Census statistics for Romanian-speaking population in territories east of the Dniester river are the following: Bessarabia Bessarabia ( / ˌ b ɛ s ə ˈ r eɪ b i ə / ) is a historical region in Eastern Europe , bounded by the Dniester river on the east and

14700-477: The port of Odessa under German control. This was because there were not enough Romanian engineers to repair the Soviet-inflicted damage. According to Antonescu, Hitler asked his permission to let the Germans use the port, implying recognition for Romania's sovereignty. On 10 June 1942, the Romanians gained control of the port of Odessa from the Germans. From early October 1942 to the end of their rule over

14847-679: The presence of Romanian troops in Odessa and the establishment of the Transnistria Governorate led to a deterioration of Romania's international situation, with the British declaring war on Romania on 6 December, and on 12 December Romania declared war on the United States in solidarity with Germany and Japan. The Axis forces will eventually be cleared from Odessa on 10 April 1944 during the Odessa Offensive . Odessa

14994-469: The presence of the Romanian Army, The Country Council , called "Sfatul Țării", voted in favour of the union, with the following conditions: 86 deputies voted in support, three voted against and 36 abstained. The Romanian prime minister at the time, Alexandru Marghiloman , would later admit that the union was decided in Bucharest and Iași , the seats of the Romanian government. The first condition,

15141-577: The protests of the Moldavians and minorities members who had not participated in the parliamentary session from being taken into account. In the autumn of 1919, elections for the Romanian Constituent Assembly were held in Bessarabia; 90 deputies and 35 senators were chosen. On December 20, 1919, these men voted, along with the representatives of Romania's other regions, to ratify the unification acts that had been approved by

15288-440: The region during Romanian rule. The transformations that took place on different levels of the Bessarabian society at that time were treated from a social class and/or ethnopolitical positions; Svetlana Suveică states "the writings from the Soviet period, directly determined by the interference of politics in historical science, alternated the ideas regarding the "Moldovan" nation and the national identity, with severe condemnations of

15435-710: The region, the Romanians had no major problems with the Germans. Albeit not annexing the region outright, the Romanian Antonescu government organized the territory in the Guvernământul Transnistriei under Romanian governor, Gheorghe Alexianu . The Nazi-allied Antonescu government hoped to annex the territory eventually, but developments on the Eastern Front precluded it. Romanian opposition parties were against Romanian operations beyond Bessarabia and Bukovina. Two eminent political figures of

15582-538: The region. On 7 December 1941, the University of Odessa was reopened with 6 faculties – medicine, polytechnical, law, sciences, languages and agricultural engineering. The Romanian policy of security during 1942–1943 was successful in keeping Transnistria pacified. The ruthless methods applied by the Germans elsewhere were less successful, as evidenced by the attempts of refugees to escape from German to Romanian jurisdiction. Romanian policies in Transnistria amounted to

15729-503: The reinforce the attackers and eventually in October 1941 after two months of fighting, the Romanian army took control of the city. Casualties were significant with Romanian losses standing at 90,020 casualties. Once Romanian troops entered Odessa, they established the headquarters of two of their divisions in the local NKVD building. However, the building was mined by the Soviets, who blew it up, killing over 61 troops, including 16 officers and one general. In reprisal, Ion Antonescu ordered

15876-570: The remaining Jews in Bessarabia (84,000 of 105,000) and northern Bukovina (36,000 of 60,000) were herded into these as well. A striking paradox is the fact that most of Romanian Jews (375,000) under Antonescu regime survived WW2. The Holocaust Encyclopedia ( United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ) writes that "Among the most notorious of these ghettos… was Bogdanovka , on the west bank of the Bug River… In December 1941, Romanian troops, together with Ukrainian auxiliaries, massacred almost all

16023-670: The rest of the Royal Romanian Air Force . The following aircraft comprised the Transnistrian air section: Responsibility for the Holocaust in Odessa and Transnistria at large was squarely Romania's, the only country aside from Germany to administer a major Soviet city during World War II. Odessa – at the time, one of the greatest centers of Jewish life and culture in Europe – had been rendered virtually judenrein , despite its population being one third Jewish at

16170-791: The results of the Russian census (quoted in Romanian sources) of 1793, 49 villages out of 67 between the Dniester and the Southern Bug were Romanian. And further east of the Transnistria Governorate there were many neo-Latin communities: indeed the Romanians/Moldavians in Ukraine – east of the Bug river – were calculated by a German census to be nearly 780.000 (probably an excessive number), and were made plans to move them to Transnistria in 1942/43. But nothing

16317-575: The river Răut , often dubbed the "Northern capital" of Moldova; Bender/Tighina , on the Dniester, currently controlled by the unrecognized Russian-backed separatist region of Transnistria; Izmail , in the southwest corner of Ukraine on the Danube; and Bilhorod-Dnistrovs'kyi , historically known as Cetatea Albă or Akkerman, also in southwestern Ukraine near Odesa. Other towns of administrative or historical importance include Cahul , Soroca , Orhei , Ungheni and Comrat , all now in Moldova; and Khotyn , Kilia , Reni and Bolhrad , all now in Ukraine. In

16464-400: The sector of the 3rd Corps, the bulk of the 7th Infantry Division reached Elssas , while the 1st Guard Division arrived on the alignment Strassburg – Petra Evdokievka . In the sector of the 5th Corps, the 1st Armored Division broke through Odessa's first line of defense. That evening, the Romanian division reached the second line of defense. The 1st Cavalry Brigade took Severinovca and joined

16611-512: The situation in the region during the occupation. To this end, it opened all churches, previously closed down by the Soviets. During 1942–1943, 2,200 primary schools were organized in the region, including 1,677 Ukrainian, 311 Romanian, 150 Russian, 70 German, and 6 Bulgarian. 117 middle and high schools were opened, including 65 middle schools, 29 technical high schools, and 23 academic high schools. Theaters were opened in Odessa and Tiraspol, as well as several museums, libraries, and cinemas throughout

16758-451: The start of World War II. Many Jews were deported to Transnistria from Bessarabia and Bukovina . During the period 1941–1944, 200,000 Romani people and Jews became victims of the Romanian occupation of Transnistria. Not being Romanian territory, Transnistria was used as a killing field for the extermination of Jews. Survivors say that in comparison with the Holocaust of Nazi Germany , where deportations were carefully planned,

16905-547: The supreme power in Bessarabia. On the pretext of securing supply lines against raids by Bolsheviks and armed bandits, members of the Moldavian legislative council Sfatul Țării and the Entente Powers requested military assistance from Romania, and the Romanian Army crossed the republic's border on January 23 [ O.S. January 10] 1918; following several skirmishes with Moldovan and Bolshevik troops,

17052-564: The territory as a substitute for Northern Transylvania , occupied by Miklós Horthy 's Hungary following the Second Vienna Award . Despite the Romanian administration, the Kingdom of Romania did not formally incorporate Transnistria into its administrative framework; the Nazi-friendly Antonescu government hoped to annex the territory eventually, but developments on the Eastern Front precluded it. Following

17199-485: The territory of Bessarabia for thousands of years. Cucuteni–Trypillia culture flourished between the 6th and 3rd millennium BC. In Antiquity the region was inhabited by Thracians , as well as for shorter periods by Cimmerians , Scythians , Sarmatians , and Celts , specifically by tribes such as the Costoboci , Carpi , Britogali , Tyragetae , and Bastarnae . In the 6th century BC, Greek settlers established

17346-468: The time the Germans and Romanians captured the city on October 16, 1941. Six days later, a bomb exploded in the Romanian military headquarters in Odessa, prompting a massacre of Jews; many were burned alive. In October and November 1941 alone, Romanian troops in Odessa killed about 30,000 Jews. Transnistria was the site of two concentration camps and several de facto ghettos (which the Romanian wartime government referred to as "colonies"). In addition, most of

17493-418: The transfer of Southern Bessarabia. The Kishinev pogrom took place in the capital of Bessarabia on April 6, 1903, after local newspapers published articles inciting the public to act against Jews ; 47 or 49 Jews were killed, 92 severely wounded and 700 houses destroyed. The anti-Semitic newspaper Бессарабец (Bessarabetz, meaning "Bessarabian"), published by Pavel Krushevan, insinuated that local Jews killed

17640-530: The troops of the 4th Romanian Army, commanded by General Nicolae Ciupercă (5 infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions and one motorized brigade), cut off the units of the Maritime Army (two rifle divisions and the 1st Cavalry Division) from the main forces of the Southern Front. Subsequently, it was the 4th Romanian Army that was the main attacking force in the fight for Odessa. In addition to

17787-452: The unification of administrative legislation, norms, and principles of administrative law, as well as their application in Romanian practice. The institute of the zemstvo was regarded by some of them as the most democratic form of government, and its dissolution by the Romanian authorities was deplored; authors such as Onisifor Ghibu expressed a critical view on the relation between Romanian administrative personnel from outside Bessarabia and

17934-806: The victory of Bolshevist Russia in the Russian Civil War , the Ukrainian SSR was created in 1922, and in 1924 the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established on a strip of Ukrainian land on the west bank of Dniester where Moldovans and Romanians accounted for less than a third and the relative majority of the population was Ukrainian . (See Demographics of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ). Svetlana Suveică considers that historical discourse regarding interwar Bessarabia

18081-448: The village. On 3 September, General Ciupercă submitted a memoir to by-now Marshal Antonescu, highlighting the poor condition of the front-line divisions, which were exhausted after nearly a month of continuous fighting. He proposed a reorganization of six divisions (the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 14th, 21st Infantry and Guard Divisions), which would be split into 2 corps and supported by 8 heavy artillery battalions. These units would then attack in

18228-648: The war by any minor Axis power". On 9 July 1941, the Separate Coastal Army was created from the units of the Coastal Group of Forces. On 22 July 1941, the bombing of Odessa began (groups of bombers twice raided the city on that day). As a result of the breakthrough of the Soviet defense on the Dniester River by the 11th German and the 4th Romanian Armies, the situation in the Odessa direction became more complicated. In early August 1941

18375-538: The whole of the region in 1878, when Romania , the result of Moldavia's union with Wallachia , was pressured into exchanging those territories for the Dobruja . In 1917, in the wake of the Russian Revolution , the area constituted itself as the Moldavian Democratic Republic , an autonomous republic part of a proposed federative Russian state . Bolshevik agitation in late 1917 and early 1918 resulted in

18522-597: The withdrawal of all remaining personnel from the region. The last Romanian-perpetrated massacre during the Holocaust in Transnistria also took place on 15 March 1944, when Romanian gendarmes killed 4 Jews in Slobidka . Shortly before being liberated by the Red Army, Transnistria's urban centers were transferred from Romanian to German control: Bershad roughly 1 week before its liberation, Balta and Zhmerynka both on 16 March and Tiraspol on 19 March. The Romanian mayor of Odessa

18669-564: Was Antonescu's decision to create a civil administration for the region, directly subordinated to himself. This effectively removed the region's administration from Wehrmacht control. Although consternated, the Germans could only acquiesce. Initially, the railways in the region remained under German control. After months of negotiations, the railways were taken over by the Romanian State in March 1942. The Romanians initially agreed to leave

18816-411: Was a financial specialist employed by the Soviets and Romanians alike. Although he despised both, he asserted in his postwar memoirs that "life in Odessa gradually improved and its situation was in stark contrast to the situation in the other cities, which were under the German occupation". In their zones of occupation, the Germans practiced a policy of isolating bigger cities from the countryside. This had

18963-574: Was also characterized by economic stagnation and high unemployment. Access to social services declined after the abolition of the zemstvos in the early 1920s, as these had previously provided local autonomy in managing education and public health. In the late 1930s, the Bessarabian population had among the highest incidences of several major infectious diseases and some of the highest mortality rates from these diseases. Siege of Odessa (1941) Axis victory Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Air war The siege of Odessa , known to

19110-485: Was among the Russian Empire's last territorial acquisitions in Europe. The newly acquired territories were organised as the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire, adopting a name previously used for the southern plains between the Dniester and the Danube rivers. Following the Crimean War , in 1856, the southern areas of Bessarabia were returned to Moldavian rule; Russian rule was restored over

19257-475: Was as follows: Romanian authorities used Transnistria as an "ethnic dump" for Jews and Roma from other regions of the country. Beginning in June 1942, Romanian authorities deported over 25,000 ethnic Roma from Bessarabia and Romania proper to Transnistria. During this same time period, over 90,000 Jews were deported from Bessarabia to Transnistria. The Romanian administration of Transnistria attempted to stabilize

19404-428: Was deposed by the Germans on 24 March, being replaced by a Russian engineer and German collaborator named Petrushkov. The Germans officially took over the region on 1 April 1944. The Red Army entered Transnistria on 14 March 1944, taking the town of Bershad . Tulchyn followed on 15 March, Mohyliv-Podilskyi on 20 March, Balta on 29 March and Rîbnița on 30 March. Yampil was liberated on 17 March 1944. Zhmerynka

19551-437: Was done. A far more likely figure was that given by a Romanian daily in March 1943. It reported that, as of the summer of 1942, 23,000 Moldavian families had been located in Soviet territory east of the Bug (under German occupation). A group of these had been made to make records of their folk music "in order to preserve proof of the permanence of the Romanian element in the distant East" (Universul, March 15, 1943). Indeed, when

19698-539: Was established in Bessarabia, with 120 members elected from Bessarabia by some political and professional organizations and 10 elected from Transnistria (the left bank of Dniester where Romanians accounted for half of the population, the rest being Russians and Ukrainians . See Demographics of Transnistria ). The Rumcherod Committee ( Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of Romanian Front , Black Sea Fleet and Odesa Military District) proclaimed itself

19845-415: Was heavily influenced by the political association of the authors, and sought mainly to argue for or against the legality of Romanian rule in Bessarabia. The impact of the various reforms on the progress of the province was mostly ignored. Romanian historiography, for the most part, consistently sought to demonstrate the legitimacy of the regime established after the Union of Bessarabia with Romania. During

19992-637: Was highlighted as a territory not belonging to Romania. A Provisional Workers' & Peasants' Government of Bessarabia was founded on May 5, 1919, in exile at Odesa , by the Bolsheviks . On May 11, 1919, the Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as an autonomous part of Russian SFSR , but was abolished by the military forces of Poland and France in September 1919 (see Polish–Soviet War ). After

20139-439: Was impossible. Port installations, some industrial facilities, and transportation junctions were blown up (even the electric power plant, various mills, stores of bread, sugar, and other foods were destroyed). Of Odessa's population, scarcely 200,000 remained; many had hidden in the vicinity while some had sought safety in the countryside. And some had left westward with the Romanians and Germans: only those most compromised had left;

20286-576: Was later known as the Dark Ages of Europe, or age of migrations. In 561, the Avars captured Bessarabia and executed the local ruler Mesamer . Following the Avars, Slavs arrived in the region and established settlements. Then, in 582, Onogur Bulgars settled in southeastern Bessarabia and northern Dobruja , from which they moved to Moesia Inferior (allegedly under pressure from the Khazars ), and formed

20433-468: Was liberated by the Red Army on 21 March. Pervomaisk (of which Golta was a part) was taken on 22 March, followed by Ochakiv on 31 March. The Soviets reached Berezivka on 31 March. On 1 April, Governor Potopeanu was deposed by the Germans and what remained of Transnistria (the 5 administrative centers not yet liberated by the Red Army as of 1 April: Ananiv , Odessa , Ovidiopol , Tiraspol and Dubăsari ) came under official German control. On March 28,

20580-607: Was one of the first four Soviet cities to be awarded the title of " Hero City " in 1945, the others being Leningrad , Stalingrad , and Sevastopol. Museum of the Heroic Defense of Odessa (411th Coastal Battery Memorial) was opened on the day of the 30th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, 9 May 1975. Close by is also the Museum of Partisan Glory in the Odessa Catacombs. The underground museum commemorates

20727-493: Was only settled fully in November 1941. For two months (3 August to 28 October), all of Pervomaisk was under German occupation. On 28 October, Romania took over the part of Pervomaisk located on the western bank of the river Bug and restored its old name (Golta). In November, the seat of Golta County was moved from Kryve Ozero to Golta. Transnistria had budgetary autonomy and as such made use of its own aircraft, separate from

20874-499: Was opened on June 1, 1875, in preparation for the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and the Eiffel Bridge was opened on April 21 [ O.S. April 9] 1877, just three days before the outbreak of the war. The Romanian War of Independence was fought in 1877–78, with the help of the Russian Empire as an ally. Northern Dobruja was awarded to Romania for its role in the 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War, and as compensation for

21021-576: Was replaced by Lieutenant-General Iosif Iacobici, who was expressly ordered to follow the General Staff's directives without question. The offensive resumed on 12 September, but was again stopped temporarily on September 14 as Romanian and German artillery units were running low on ammunition. Two Vânători battalions were encircled by Red Army troops near the Hadjibey bank, but were eventually relieved despite Soviet efforts to annihilate them. On

21168-464: Was that his beloved country was being looked down upon by other European countries. From his perspective, raising Romania's ranking required it ruling over other peoples, in an orderly, efficient and "civilized" manner, comparable to how other European states ruled over their Asian and African subjects. According to Antonescu's own words: "Yes. The whole prestige of this country is engaged in Transnistria. We have to demonstrate that we are able to administer

21315-522: Was the most important wartime conquest – without substantial German support – by any of the minor European Axis powers. Casualties suffered during the siege of Odessa were: The recapture of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in Operation München and the subsequent victory at Odessa led to a partial demobilization of the Romanian army, which was reduced in size from nearly 900,000 personnel on 1 October to 465,000 on 1 January 1942. Politically,

21462-565: Was then called Bessarabia . In 1814, the first German settlers arrived and mainly settled in the southern parts, and Bessarabian Bulgarians began settling in the region too, founding towns such as Bolhrad . Between 1812 and 1846, the Bulgarian and Gagauz population migrated to the Russian Empire via the River Danube , after living many years under oppressive Ottoman rule, and settled in southern Bessarabia. Turkic-speaking tribes of

21609-442: Was very scarce, through lack of Romanian planning. According to one survivor's account, people would gather outside a slaughterhouse and wait for scraps of meat, skin and bones to be thrown out of the slaughterhouse after the cleaning each morning. He remembers that they were fighting for the bones "just like dogs would" and that people were starving to death. Among the survivors were Liviu Librescu and Norman Manea . Antonescu, in

#51948