#Exhibit of the Month

The work In Memoriam. In Memory of the Heroes Who Fell at the Nistru (1992) was developed within the Center for Culture and Military History and published under the auspices of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, the Bureau for Reintegration, and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Moldova. Authors: Gheorghe Bălan, Vitalie Ciobanu, Gheorghe Cojocaru.

This work provides a retrospective of the events that led to the outbreak of the war on the Nistru, accompanied by photographs of the heroes who lost their lives in the battles to defend the independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova.

On March 2, 1992, the political conflict in the Nistru region escalated into a true fratricidal war. Under the fabricated pretext of "defending Russia's southern borders," political adventurers from the former Soviet metropolis encouraged Transnistrian separatism by arming secessionist paramilitary groups. At the same time, thousands of mercenary Cossacks and prisoners released early from jails, along with tanks and missiles, were sent against Independent Moldova, in a desperate attempt to revive the fallen empire.

Russia's undeclared war against the Republic of Moldova left behind hundreds of dead and wounded, shattered families, and villages in ruins. More than 50,000 peaceful residents from the conflict zone were forced to flee their homes, seeking refuge from the horrors of war.

For the sake of freedom and the future, Moldova's defenders faced death, enduring the hardships and humiliations of war.

During the Nistru war, 198 soldiers of the National Army and 89 personnel from the Ministry of Internal Affairs lost their lives, while 40 combatants went missing without a trace, and nearly 300 were left disabled.

Virtual Tour

Exhibitions

„War and Humanitarian Action: the Lessons of History”

From the International Committee of the Red Cross Photo Archives, the TASS News Agency, the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, and The National Museum of History of Moldova

14 September 2017 – 28 January 2018

The National Museum of History of Moldova and the Interregional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Moscow (for the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova) are organizing the exhibition "War and Humanitarian Action: the Lessons of History" from 14 September to 14 October 2017.

The exhibition reflects the special work carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross to help those in distress from the beginning to World War Two. Those over 50 photographic images taken from the archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the TASS news agency, the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia and the National Museum of History of Moldova, are documentary testimonies of tragic moments that marked the history of the 19th and 20th centuries: Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, Hispanic-American War of 1898, World War One, Greek-Turkish War of 1919-1922, World War Two. The photographs included in the exhibition show not only the cruelty, the brutality, the pain and the suffering - parts inherent to any war - but, in particular, examples of authentic humanitarian, condescending, compassionate and sacrificial actions shown by the staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Russian and Soviet Red Cross, the Red Cross in Bessarabia, the volunteers of the entire Red Cross Movement to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable people.

The central idea of the exhibition is that the criminal code of war often left the place for the human code during military conflicts. Beyond hate, violence and death, many testimonies make us discover that it always existed to a greater or lesser extent compassion, help, mercy, and pacifism.

The opening of the exhibition took place on September 14, 2017, at 15:00, on the ground floor of the National Museum of History of Moldova.