Republic of Moldova
Republic of Moldova
German terms
The Republic of Moldova, or the Republic of Moldavia; also known unofficially as Moldavia or Moldova
Etymology
The region of Moldavia, and subsequently the Republic of Moldova, are named after the River Moldau (Romanian: Moldova), which flows through the historic Romanian province of Moldavia (located in north-eastern Romania ) but no longer flows through the territory of the present-day Republic of Moldova. The colloquial term ‘Moldavia’ derives from the abbreviated translation from Russian of ‘Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic’ (Moldavskaja Sovetskaja Socialističeskaja Respublika; MSSR ).
Topography
The landscape lies between the rivers Pruth (Romanian: Prut) to the west and the Dniester (also Dnjestr; Romanian: Nistru) to the east. It is smaller than the territory of Bessarabia during the interwar period.
Today, the term ‘Transnistria’ refers to a narrow strip of land along the eastern bank of the Dniester. By contrast, the Romanian-occupied territory known as ‘Transnistria’ from 1941 to 1944 comprised the Ukrainian plain around Odessa/Odesa, which was bounded to the south by the Black Sea coast, to the east by the Southern Bug (Ukrainian: Pivdenny Buh) and to the west by the Dniester.
Historical Geography
The territory of the present-day Republic of Moldova largely corresponds to the eastern half of the historic Principality of Moldavia, which was ceded to the Russian Empire in 1812 and was henceforth known as‘Bessarabia’. Following the collapse of the Russian Empire, the Democratic Republic of Moldova was founded in December 1917.
In January 1918, tensions escalated within the government of the newly founded republic, as well as between Romanian nationalist forces and the Bolsheviks. The government of the unoccupied, north-eastern part of Romania, based in Iași/Iași ( Wallachia and Dobruja were occupied by the Central Powers) decided – with the tacit approval of the Entente – to march into the region in order to secure supply routes and restore public order. At the same time, several members of the National Council of the Democratic Republic of Moldova met in secret and resolved to request Romanian troops, who occupied Bessarabia from 20 January 1918.
Under martial law, a section of the members of the National Council (Sfatul Țării) declared the region’s annexation to the Kingdom of Romania on 27 March 1918.
The invasion by Romanian troops in early 1918 and the decisions that followed were interpreted differently by Russia – or, later, the Soviet Union – and Romania. Whilst Russia denounced the military incursion as an occupation in breach of international law, from Romania’s perspective the events of early 1918 constituted a correction of the ‘injustice’ of the Treaty of 1812 (see above). This issue has never been definitively resolved under international law between Romania and Russia – despite several attempts – primarily because (Soviet)Russia was not a partyto the Paris Peace Treaties of 1919–1920. An attempt by Romania in 1924 to reach a settlement with Moscow also failed. This circumstance became a source of ongoing disputes, in which the respective interest groups in the present-day Republic of Moldova are also involved.
In 1924, for propaganda reasons, the Soviet Union established the small Autonomous Moldavian Socialist Soviet Republic within the Ukrainian SSR, comprising territories east of the Dniester.
In the secret additional protocol totheGerman–Soviet Non-AggressionPact (‘Hitler–Stalin Pact’), signed on 23 August 1939, Bessarabia was assigned to the Soviet Union ’s sphere of influence. The German Reich declared “a complete lack of political interest in these territories”.
At the end of June 1940, the Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to the Romanian government demanding the evacuation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. After the German government advised compliance with the Soviet demands, the Romanian king decided to withdraw from the territories claimed by the Soviet Union : Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina.
On 2 August 1940 , following its occupation by the Soviet Red Army , Bessarabia was merged with the Autonomous Moldavian SSR to form the independent Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR), which existed until June 1941. Two large districts in the south of Bessarabia were annexed to the Ukrainian SSR. In the autumn of 1940, the German minority in Bessarabia was resettled to the territory of the German Reich.
As an ally of the German Reich, Romania was able to recapture the territory from the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 – following the German attack on the Soviet Union (‘Operation Barbarossa’). In April 1944, Soviet troops advanced as far as Chișinău. Following the Red Army’s complete capture of Bessarabia in August 1944, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) was re-established there. The border demarcation was confirmed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1947.
Common symbolism
The national flag, introduced in 1990 whilst the country was still a Soviet republic, was initially highly controversial because the Moldovan People’s Front chose a blue, yellow and red tricolour identical to the Romanian flag. The flags differ only slightly in terms of their coats of arms: the national coat of arms of the Republic of Moldova features a brown eagle holding a cross in its beak, as well as a bull’s head – the heraldic animal of the former Principality of Moldova – on a red-and-blue background. In Romania’s coat of arms, the eagle is coloured yellow, whilst the Moldovan bull’s head symbolises just one of a total of five historical provinces of Romania depicted.
History of the Republic of Moldova from 1944 onwards
The history of the Republic of Moldova is closely linked to the region of Bessarabia, which has largely formed part of the territory of the Republic of Moldova since the re-establishment of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) in 1944 to the present day. (For the history of the Moldovan republics up to 1944, see the article‘Bessarabia’).
Immediately after the Red Army captured the territory, the NKVD deported many officials accused of collaborating with the Romanian authorities. Administrative posts were mostly taken over by Russians and Ukrainians from other parts of the Soviet Union. After 1945, many successful farmers were exiled on the grounds that they were resisting the new tax system. This system, combined with an exceptionally severe drought, led to a famine in 1946–47, which, according to estimates, claimed the lives of up to 200,000 people in the MSSR. On 5–6 July 1949, wealthy farmers, traders and members of banned religious communities were deported, along with their families, to Kazakhstan and Siberia. As a result of the repression, the collectivisation of agriculture made rapid progress: in 1950, it was announced that 97 per cent of agricultural holdings had been transferred to ‘collective ownership’.[1] Between 1950 and 1952, Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982) led the Communist Party of the MSSR; neither he nor most of his successors spoke Moldovan/Romanian. Ivan Bodiul (1918–2013), the Party’s General Secretary between 1961 and 1980, made his mark through particularly harsh measures against traditional structures. As a result, many churches and monasteries were expropriated in the 1960s.
At that time, the agricultural sector was recovering, and agricultural products – particularly wine, brandy and tobacco – were exported from the republic throughout the Soviet Union. At the same time, a programme of accelerated industrialisation began, particularly in the food processing sector. Due to the growing demand for labour, many Slavs migrated to the republic. The proportion of Moldovans in the total population fell from 65.4 per cent in 1959 to 63.9 per cent in 1979. Owing to the high birth rate among Moldovans, their proportion rose to 64.5 per cent by 1994.[2]
Social advancement and the attainment of leadership positions were easier for Slavs, as official communication took place exclusively in Russian. An increasing number of Moldovans attended secondary schools where lessons were taught in Russian. Urbanised Moldovans were mostly bilingual, whilst in rural areas Moldovan continued to dominate. In censuses, this was not referred to as Romanian, and some linguists even claimed that it was a distinct Eastern Romance language with strong Slavic influences. Until 1989, Moldavian was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, which made access to publications from Romania more difficult. There was only limited cultural exchange and travel with Romania.
As part of Romania’s nationally oriented foreign policy, historians in Bucharest began to emphasise the Romanian character of Bessarabia from 1964 onwards. In contrast, historians from the Moldavian SSR emphasised that, following its incorporation into the Russian Empire in 1812, this region had followed a different course of development to that of Romania. Nicolae Ceauşescu (1918–1989), Romania’s head of state and party leader, visited the MSSR in 1976 and accepted the post-war borders. However, when he explicitly opposed Mikhail Gorbachev’s reform programme in 1989, he made territorial claims. In the MSSR, Semion Grossu, who had led the Communist Party since December 1981, also boycotted Gorbachev’s reforms.
In June 1988, the Democratic Movement was formed, which initially sought above all to enforce glasnost’ (Russian for ‘openness’ or ‘transparency’). As the mark was relaxed, it was now acknowledged that the formation of the MSSR had been a consequence of the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact of 1939. Some nationalist groups subsequently called for the recognition of Moldovan/Romanian as an official language, and they were able to mobilise broad sections of the population. By acclamation, a ‘Grand National Assembly’ resolved to introduce the new official language. With the support of the Moldovan People’s Front, Mircea Snegur became President of the Supreme Soviet of the MSSR in July 1989. On 31 August 1989, a majority in the Soviet passed the new language law, although deputies from the Russian movement Edinstvo (Unity) and the small Turkic people of the Gagauz protested against it. Due to physical attacks, many representatives of the Slavic population left the Supreme Soviet in May 1990.
Following the failed coup in Moscow, the majority in the Supreme Soviet proclaimed the independent Republic of Moldova on 28 August 1991. In doing so, it followed the example of the Popular Fronts in the Baltic states, which had done the same around the same time. Snegur became President of the Republic of Moldova in September 1991. Following the introduction of Moldovan (or Romanian) as the official language (1994), many Russian speakers were forced out of state institutions.
With the support of the 14th Soviet Army, later renamed the 14th Russian Army, radical Slavs and Gagauz established military units. These were directed primarily against the efforts of some leaders of the Popular Front to annex the Republic of Moldova to Romania. This resistance was also joined by the Slavic population, who inhabited a small strip of territory, mainly east of the River Dniester, and declared it the ‘Transnistrian Moldovan Republic’ (Pridnestrovskaya Moldavskaya Respublika). The chronology of events and their justification under international law – which is decisive for the legitimacy of the new entity – are disputed. However, this republic, with its capital Tiraspol/Tiraspil, was not recognised internationally as an independent state.
Between March and July 1992, armed clashes took place, resulting in many fatalities. Russian President Boris Yeltsin (1931–2007) and Moldovan President Snegur agreed on a special status for Transnistria, guaranteed by a joint monitoring commission.
The OSCE established a conflict-mitigation mission in Chișinău, which sought to maintain contact between the warring parties. Tensions regarding the Gagauz people were defused in 1994 when they were granted extensive rights to autonomous administration under a treaty. In their settlement area in the south of the Republic of Moldova, around the town of Comrat/Komrat, Gagauz became an official language alongside Romanian. Tensions persist to this day with representatives of the Slavic minorities from the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova.
In the Republic of Moldova (excluding Transnistria), the 2004 census yielded the following results for the 2.4 million inhabitants: Moldovans 77.2 per cent, Romanians 7.9 per cent, Ukrainians 4.9 per cent, Gagauz 4.2 per cent, Russians 3.2 per cent, Bulgarians 1.6 per cent and all others less than 1 per cent. In the separatist enclave of Transnistria (approx. 0.5 million inhabitants), the 2004 census recorded the following: Moldovans 31.9 per cent, Russians 30.37 per cent, Ukrainians 28.8 per cent, Gagauz 0.7 per cent, Bulgarians 2.5 per cent and smaller groups.
Due to inter-ethnic conflicts, the restructuring of the economy in the Republic of Moldova has progressed only slowly. Two-thirds of the arable land has been gradually privatised since the 1990s. However, with plots averaging less than three hectares, the market cannot be adequately supplied. The most important industrial enterprises are located in Transnistria, and until a few years ago, the Republic of Moldova was dependent on energy supplies from Russia . Over a third of Moldova’s 4.3 million people work abroad, some in Russia, but the vast majority in European Union countries. By acquiring Romanian citizenship, they have gained easier access to the labour market there. Their bank transfers, alongside financial aid from the European Union, constitute the state’s most important sources of revenue. A distinctive feature of the republic is that the Communist Party, newly founded in 1993, has many supporters; as a result, it formed the government between 2001 and 2009. This party advocates close economic ties with Russia . It criticises the Moldovan government for having concluded an Association Agreement with the European Union in June 2014 without consulting the population via a referendum.
The Republic of Moldova has been and continues to be indirectly affected, albeit in many ways, by Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine since February 2022. In the first weeks of the war, it was the influx of refugees, power cuts, disrupted supply chains and, in particular, the fear of being drawn into the conflict that caused widespread anxiety. As a result of this conflict, the Republic of Moldova has come increasingly into the focus of European politics and public opinion.
In early March 2022, the Republic of Moldova applied for membership of the European Union and regards integration into European structures as its most important political objective. This is also intended to safeguard the state’s autonomy, which is under threat from the regional context, particularly with regard to Russia. European integration remains a contentious issue in domestic politics. There are still – albeit a shrinking – sections of the population who favour a renewed alignment with Russia . They criticise the 2020 language law, which is primarily intended to establish Romanian as the language of instruction.
Since 2026, the movement seeking reunification with Romania has gained increased support and political backing, including from the presidents of both states, Maia Sandu and Nicuşor Dan.
Bibliography
- Anuarul Statistic al Republicii Moldova [Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Moldova]. Chişinău 1994.
- Vasile Dumbrava, Igor Șarov (eds.): Places of Memory and Competing Cultures of Remembrance. Historical-Political Conflicts in Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Leipzig 2023.
- Iulian Fruntaşu: An Ethnopolitical History of Bessarabia 1812–2002. Chişinău 2002.
- Stefan Ihrig: Who Are the Moldovans? Romanianism versus Moldovanism in Historiography and School Textbooks of the Republic of Moldova 1991–2006. Stuttgart 2008 (Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 76).
- Florian Kührer-Wielach, Svetlana Suveica: Between the Powers. Identities, Ideologies and People in Moldovan History. In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 74 (2024), Nos. 28–29, pp. 6–13.
- Anton Moraru: Istoria românilor. Basarabia şi Transnistria 1812–1993 [History of the Romanians. Bessarabia and Transnistria 1812–1993]. Chişinău 1995.
- Petru Negură, Svetlana Suveica: ‘Everyday Ethnicity and Popular Responses to Nation-Building Projects in Moldova after 1989’. In: Comparative Southeast European Studies 4 (2023), pp. 465–487.
- Claus Neukirch: The Republic of Moldova. Nation- and State-Building in Eastern Europe. Münster 1996 (Eastern Europe 9).
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- Dareg A. Zabarah: Nation and Statehood in Moldova. Ideological and Political Dynamics since the 1980s. Wiesbaden 2011.
Handbooks and periodicals
- Federal Agency for Civic Education (ed.): Republic of Moldova. Politics and Contemporary History 74 (2024), Nos. 28–29.
- Klaus Bochmann, Vasile Dumbrava, Dietmar Müller, Victoria Reinhardt (eds.): The Republic of Moldova. Republica Moldova. A Handbook. Leipzig 2012.
- Rebecca Haynes: Moldova. A History. London, New York 2020.
- Flavius Solomon: Ethnic Identity and Minorities in the Republic of Moldova. A Bibliography. Iaşi 2001.
Notes
[1] Neukirch: Republic of Moldova, p. 69 ff.
[2] Anuarul statistical [Statistical Yearbook]. 1994, p. 64.
[3] Demografia Republicii Moldova: ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demografia_Republicii_Moldova (accessed 3 November 2020).
Citation
Mariana Hausleitner/Uwe Konst: Republic of Moldova. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2026. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32628 (accessed 25 June 2026).
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