Румыны за Днестром: Молдавская АССР в румынской историографии
Romanians beyond the Dniester River: The Moldavian ASSR in Romanian Historiography

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the interpretation of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Romanian historiography of the 1920s – 1940s, as well as in contemporary academic and publicistic literature of Moldova. Special attention has been paid to the problem of how the concept of Transdniestria as a part of the Romanian ethnic territory developed. Furthermore, the understanding of the USSR policy concerning this region by Romanian historians has been investigated. It has been found that today’s Romanian historians rely mainly on the image of the Moldavian ASSR that developed in the historiography of interwar Romania. They have controversial opinions on the Moldavian autonomy. On the one hand, its establishment lived up to the expectations of the residents in this region. On the other hand, they turned out to be placed under the alien power. Romanian authors consider Transdniester Moldovans as an integral part of the Romanian nation, believing that the Soviet experiments in the sphere of culture were meant to distance Moldovans from their Romanian origin. In the political perspective, the Moldavian autonomy is perceived as a platform for spread of communism in the Balkan area, primarily in Romania.

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