ORGANIZAREA ȘI DESFĂȘURAREA OPERAȚIUNII ,,SUD” ÎN RSS MOLDOVENEASCĂ (CAZURILE ETNICILOR BULGARI ȘI GĂGĂUZI)
ORGANIZATION AND CONDUCT OF OPERATION “SOUTH” IN THE MOLDOVAN SSR (THE CASES OF ETHNIC BULGARIANS AND GAGAUS)

Summary/Abstract: The military successes of the USSR in the Second World War allowed the reestablishment of the communist regime in the Moldovan SSR in 1944. The reoccupation of this territory by the USSR caused significant political, economic, social, institutional and cultural changes - a process initiated by the Soviet authorities as early as 1940. Also, terror was unleashed in the region, against people who did not fit into the stereotypes of the Soviet state. The study focuses on the investigation of the history of the Bulgarians and Gagauz people of the Moldovan SSR during the referenced period. The second and largest wave of Stalinist deportations, that took place on the night of the 5th to the 6th of July 1949, is the subject of this paper. The article analyzes the stages of the operation’s organization, the mechanisms, the objective and subjective factors that were the basis of the organization and realization of the forced deportations from the villages of the Moldovan SSR with a predominantly Bulgarian and Gagauz population in 1949. The social categories of the people subjected to mass deportations are highlighted, thus providing an in-depth understanding of the immediate impact and long-term consequences of the operation on the Bulgarian and Gagauz communities in the region. The research explores the method of drawing up lists of people that were to be deported from the southern districts - Cahul, Congaz, Comrat, Ceadîr-Lunga, Taraclia and Vulcănești, emphasizing the role of union, republican and local structures in this process. In order to provide the most truthful picture of the events, unpublished documents stored in the National Archives Agency, published documents, which elucidate the legislative framework of the operation, as well as the memoirs of the direct victims of the deportations, were used.

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