Румыно-советские исторические споры в 1960–1980-е годы = Romanian-Soviet Historiographical Disputes In The 1960s–1980s

Buga, Vasile (2026) Румыно-советские исторические споры в 1960–1980-е годы = Romanian-Soviet Historiographical Disputes In The 1960s–1980s. RUSSIANSTUDIES.HU, 8 (1). pp. 113-130. ISSN 2677-1640

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Abstract

The article examines the evolution of Romanian-Soviet disputes over the interpretationof their shared history in the 1960s–1980s. It demonstrates how historiographical debatessurrounding Bessarabia, the “Moldovan nation”, and the role of Russia and the USSR inthe Balkans became a significant factor in bilateral relations. Drawing on recently studiedarchival material from Chișinău (memoranda of the Central Committee of the CommunistParty of Moldavia and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, KGBrecords, party reports and ideological summaries) as well as from Moscow, it reconstructsthe mechanisms of coordinated action by the Union republics – above all the Moldavian SSR– in shaping an alarmist perception of Bucharest’s policies in Moscow. The article shows howdisputes over the interpretation of the Russo-Turkish wars, the incorporation of Bessarabiain 1812, the events of 1918 and 1940–1944, and the very existence of an independentMoldovan nation were transferred into school textbooks, encyclopaedias and works ofliterature, and became the object of ongoing ideological supervision, censorship anddiplomatic démarches (ranging from the withdrawal of Nicolae Iorga’s works to campaignsaround the novels of Marin Preda and Dumitru Popescu). Particular attention is paid to thecomprehensive plan for an ideological response to Romanian propaganda developed inChișinău, which envisaged the publication of specialised studies, the revision of curriculaand the restriction of Romanian publications. The author argues that it was the persistentinitiatives of the leadership of the Moldavian SSR, invoking the threat of the “Bessarabianquestion”, that largely determined the rigidity of the Soviet line towards Romania. At thesame time, with the onset of Perestroika, these contentious historiographical issues weregradually marginalised within the agenda of high-level bilateral contacts.

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