Heroes’ Cemetery from Chisinau to the Attention of Local and Central Authorities

CHISINAU, April 16, 2015 — On April 15, Deputy Defense Minister, Ana Vasilachi, presided the meeting of the working group responsible for solving the problem of the Heroes Cemetery from Chisinau, held at the Center of Military History and Culture.

According to Chief of the Center of Military History and Culture, ret. col. Vitalie Ciobanu, the Honor Cemetery, also called the Heroes’ Cemetery from Chisinau, is an international military cemetery, established during 1918-1942. 1,645 soldiers from six belligerent states (Romania, Russia, France, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland) are buried here. These soldiers died on battlefields during World War I and World War II. There are also Soviet soldiers who were wounded on the Western front and died on the way, while being transported.

The source specified that, in 1944, the cemetery was destroyed and leveled with a bulldozer. In 1959, the Phthisiology and Pulmonology Clinic was built on some of the graves. In 2006, the Government of the Republic of Moldova sold the cemetery’s territory to a trade association.

Deputy Defense Minister, Ana Vasilachi, stated that, during the meeting, the members of the working group analyzed the proposals for solving the cemetery’s problem. “It is our duty to find methods and solutions to reestablish this cemetery, where the soldiers who died in Moldova during the two World Wars are buried”, said Ana Vasilache.

The working group unites representatives of the Ministries of Defense, Justice, and Culture, of the Chisinau Mayoralty, as well as of the Land Relations and Cadastre Agency of the Republic of Moldova. It was established in 2013 following the civil society initiatives and the petitions of the Ministry of Defense.