The Pact, Sovietisation, and the Consequences
Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina 1940–1941
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In 1940, Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Sovietisation immediately followed. It aimed to eliminate opponents and create the social basis for Communist rule. Large landholders were subjected to expropriation, middle-class peasants stigmatised as “kulaks” and deported to Siberia, members of the old elite arrested. Among the victims of Soviet policy were also thousands of Jews. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, the Jews fell victim to the Holocaust. All of this was taboo until 1989. Afterwards, calls were heard for the re-establishment of Greater Romania. In the meantime, a differentiated analysis has gained ground.
(Osteuropa 7-8/2009, pp. 203–218)