A draft law proposed by Transnistrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky to commemorate the victims of the genocide committed during the Nazi-Romanian occupation of 1941–1944 has passed its first reading in the Supreme Council of Transnistria.
The proposed law, “On the Victims of the Genocide of the Transnistrian People and the Preservation of Their Memory in Connection with the Crimes of the Nazi-Romanian Occupation Regime of 1941–1944,” aims to preserve the historical memory of these events for future generations.
The legislation provides for several measures, including:
– the creation of a Book of Remembrance for victims of the genocide of the Transnistrian people;
– the identification and restoration of burial sites, mass execution locations, ghettos, and concentration camps;
– archival, research, educational, museum, and public awareness initiatives dedicated to documenting and preserving the history of these atrocities.
Anna Volkova, State Adviser to the President of Transnistria and the official representative of the initiative, explained that Vadim Krasnoselsky established a scientific and expert commission to examine archival records and eyewitness testimonies from the occupation period.
“An extensive documentary archive has been created. It still requires further study, analysis, and public dissemination. It is important that future generations know their history and understand these tragic chapters,” Anna Volkova said.
She emphasized that the crimes committed by the Nazi-Romanian occupation authorities against civilians were entirely unprovoked. According to her, elderly people, women, and children throughout Transnistria were subjected to brutal persecution and extermination.
“During the occupation, from Kamenka to the Slobodzeya district, unprovoked crimes were committed against civilians that qualify as war crimes and crimes against humanity. In Dubossary alone, terrible atrocities took place in 1941. There is a list containing 444 entries, with some entries representing up to 21 victims. It is difficult to speak about these events, but our younger generation must know this history.”
Volkova also noted that the occupation authorities did not limit themselves to the extermination of the elderly and the infirm. Those selected for forced labor in support of the Third Reich—including pregnant women—were subjected to abuse, torture, and inhumane treatment. At the same time, the occupation administration promoted Nazi ideology, Romanian nationalism, and ethnic discrimination.
“The use of forced labor through compulsory labor service, the exploitation of prisoners held in concentration camps and ghettos under inhumane conditions, the deportation of civilians for forced labor in Germany, the spread of Nazi, chauvinistic, and antisemitic ideology, and the policy of forced Romanianization accompanied by the destruction of the cultural foundations of the multinational population through discrimination based on ethnicity and language, including within the education system—all these criminal acts together constitute the genocide of the Transnistrian people. They were deliberate, systematic actions stemming from the ideological and political doctrines of both Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Romania. Such crimes have no statute of limitations.”
The bill is expected to be considered in its second and final reading during the next plenary session of the Supreme Council.
