Fighting the Falsification of History

Preserving historical memory and combating the falsification of history was discussed at the editorial office of the Pridnestrovie newspaper. On April 15, a meeting of the Expert Club was held there. The discussion was attended by the heads of the Parliamentary Committee on Education, Public Associations and Mass Media Igor Buga, Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Maxim Kravets, Head of the State Service for Documentation and Archives Management Zinaida Todorashko and Pridnestrovian journalists.

The participants in the discussion noted that serious work has long been underway in Pridnestrovie to preserve historical memory. The Supreme Council Deputy Igor Buga spoke in his speech in detail about the activities of the Heirs of Victories public organization, which he heads. This year, the organization turns 9 years old. About 100 people take part in its work. The organization has held more than six hundred events during its existence. Activists of the organization participated in excavations at the St. Vladimir Bastion, where the remains of more than 4300 victims of mass repressions of the 1930s were discovered. It was the activists of the organization who found the remains of an unknown soldier, whose reburial took place on April 16 at the Glory Memorial in Tiraspol. They sawed and chopped more than 100 cubic meters of firewood for lonely people during the energy crisis this winter. Igor Buga added that in the year of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, a large-scale procession of the Immortal Regiment is planned to be held on May 9 in Pridnestrovie. Flowers will be laid at the Glory Memorial. Historical reconstruction of the events of the Great Patriotic War will be organized on June 21.

Archives play an important role in preserving and transmitting historical truth. The Archival Service of Pridnestrovie turns 100 this year.

The head of the Archival Service of Pridnestrovie focused as an example on the recently published collection "Without a Statute of Limitations", dedicated to the actions of the German-Romanian occupiers on the territory of Pridnestrovie. The collection contains 204 documents, many of which have not previously been included in scientific circulation.

All participants in the meeting agreed that it is precisely the careful attitude to their history that is the basis of the Pridnestrovian identity. It is necessary to counter this to objectively cover the historical past, including without ignoring problematic issues, to expose the disseminated fakes with the involvement of expert historians. The role of the media in this work is difficult to overestimate.

Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Maxim Kravets cited as an example of the work being carried out the reaction of the Pridnestrovian society to the Romanian history textbook published in Moldova.

The Historical Portal of Pridnestrovie plays an important role in countering the falsification of history, accumulating an array of historical information, allowing one to identify gaps in the coverage of certain historical topics.

Pridnestrovie is also fighting the falsification of history at the legislative level. Thus, in September 2024, the Supreme Council supported the initiative of the President of the PMR Vadim Krasnoselsky to ban the use of the term "transnistria" in relation to the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.

Deputy Igor Buga told the participants of the "Expert Club" in more detail about the work that the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is doing to preserve historical memory and traditional values.

In addition, all participants of the meeting noted that the concept of historical education needs to be improved. It's not just about textbooks, but about a differentiated approach to teaching this subject in schools and higher education institutions.

Based on materials from the Pridnestrovian media