Tiraspol: the liberation history

Tiraspol celebrates today the Day of Liberation from Nazi invaders and Romanian occupiers. 78 years have passed since the Soviet troops entered the city and hoisted the red banner over the city theater. A meeting-requiem was held at the Memorial of Glory in the morning. The commemorative event was attended by the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Vadim Krasnoselsky, the first President of the PMR Igor Smirnov, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic Alexander Korshunov and Vice Speaker of the Parliament Galina Antyufeeva.

“The 12th of April is a significant date for the history of the city of Tiraspol and the entire republic as a whole. This day will always be important and dear for our people, tragic and mournful, but at the same time bright and joyful. Veterans of the Great Patriotic War made a worthy contribution to the chronicles of the liberation of the city from the fascist yoke, showing heroism, courage, patience, endurance in the most difficult war years for a large country”, says Speaker of the Parliament Alexander Korshunov in his welcome address.

Decades will pass, generations will change, but this significant day as a symbol of national pride, military glory and valor of the people will forever remain in our hearts and our memory, the Speaker of Parliament emphasized.

Tiraspol was completely liberated from the Nazi invaders and the Romanian occupiers the 12th of April, 1944, by three o'clock in the morning. The city inhabitants took to the streets and greeted their liberators with jubilation early in the morning, it was noted in the course of the rally. Tiraspol Liberation Day is one of the most important and revered holidays for Tiraspol residents. It was solemnly celebrated in Soviet times, and they continue to do so now, said a member of the Council of Veterans of the Armed Forces and Labor of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, retired Lieutenant Colonel Valery Glazkov.

The leaders of the republic and representatives of public organizations laid flowers today at the capital's Memorial of Glory to the Eternal Flame and graves, where the Soviet soldiers – the liberators of Tiraspol and the natives of Pridnestrovie who fell on the fronts of the Second World War – are buried.

Nazar Turchenko is an activist of the youth public movement “Volunteers of Victory. Pridnestrovie". He tries to come to the Memorial of Glory every year in order to honor the memory of the fallen soldiers-liberators.

It was said at the meeting that Pridnestrovians will always remember the exploits of the defenders who laid on the altar of freedom of our state, the most precious thing - their lives.