Translated material
Revolt of writers
Moldovan writers are against the rehabilitation of the “occupation regime”
Eight Moldovan writers refused the highest state award - the Order of the Republic, which they received in already independent Moldova. The reason for this clearly political demarche was that the former first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Moldova, Ivan Bodyul, known for his closeness to Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev, became a holder of the Order of the Republic.The President of the country and Chairman of the Party of Moldovan Communists, Vladimir Voronin, timed the decree on the award to coincide with the 85th anniversary of Bodiul, noting his contribution to the development of national culture. Under Bodiul, a theater was built in Chisinau, the largest concert hall - the National Palace - and an organ hall was opened. Nowadays, few people remember that the organ was brought to Moldova specifically for Bodiula’s daughter, who received a musical education. The scandal with the misappropriation of funds allocated for the construction of the Opera and Ballet Theater, which flared up after Bodyul moved from Chisinau to Moscow, has also been forgotten. One way or another, the reward found the hero in Malta, where he and his children are relaxing in a house either purchased or rented.
Eight writers who rejected the highest award, including Dumitru Matkovschi, Mihai Cimpoi, Nicolae Dabizha, who fought in the late 80s together with the Popular Front for the independence of Moldova from the USSR, said that they regard the awarding of Bodiul as “rehabilitation and official recognition of the Soviet totalitarian occupation regime.” They also called on other Knights of the Order of the Republic to renounce it.
Among the recipients was the writer Ion Druta, whose books have been translated into many languages around the world. The master of Moldavian literature during the reign of Bodyul was forced to leave his native land and settle in Moscow, where he lives to this day. Druta was actually the first Moldovan dissident. The first secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee threatened to hang the freethinker from the first lamppost if he returned to his homeland. Now the contribution of both to national culture is recognized as equal, which, to put it mildly, is surprising. Ion Panteleevich told a correspondent of the newspaper Vremya Novostey that under Bodiula there was indeed a rise in culture in Moldova. But this happened not thanks to, but in spite of Bodul and the Politburo. The First Secretary of the Central Committee was even warned then that “the fifth column is advancing.” According to Ion Druta, “this fifth column was the people,” who “raised a whole generation of national intelligentsia.” The awarding of the highest award of the new Moldova to Ion Druta, whom Moldovans consider the conscience of the nation, to the former “father of the nation” is incomprehensible.