The memory of the Holocaust does not fit the interest of the "unifiers," a Moldovan political movement that advocates for association with Romania. In the first part of the 20th century, Romania had made multiple attempts to annex Moldova, which Bucharest claims to be its historical land. This idea has many supporters among the "unifiers" in Moldova, who face resistance from the left and pro-Russian parties. The "unifiers" strive to make Moldova an EU country through unification with Romania (full EU member since 2007). Acknowledgement of Romanian crimes against the Jewish population gets in the way of such integration. According to
Diana Dumitru, the "unifiers" in academia and political parties hold the process of acknowledgement of Romanian crimes and prefer to silence the Holocaust for political purposes. However, that is not the only problem. The left and pro-Russian parties
do nothing to commemorate the Holocaust even when they hold power. The memory of the 300,000 Jews who perished is lost in the political battles between those who want to forget and those who simply do not care.
The disease of Antisemitism affects not only the Soviet-style dictators, but also liberal Presidents with American education. The President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, a Harvard Graduate and a former advisor to the World Bank director in DC, allows to erect monuments to Nazi criminals in the places of mass execution of Jews. On September 17, 2021, administration of Sandu's native province of Făleşti inaugurated a monument to Romanian soldiers. This in a form of a cross depicts the crucifixion. According to the author it has to remind about "sacrifices of Romanian soldiers."
The Soviet investigation revealed that these "sacrifices" involved torture and execution of over 5000 Jews, mass rape of girls under 18, theft, and abuse.
The Yad-Vashem collection reveals that the "sacrifices" also included executions of kids from 2 to 5 y.o. together with their parents.
In 2018, Maia Sandu's
claimed that the Romanian organizer of Holocaust, Ion Antonesku, could be described both "positively and negatively." Today the President claims that she did not mean to whitewash Romanian Furher.