Bălţi
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| Bălţi | |||
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| County | Bălţi | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Municipality | ||
| Mayor | Vasily Tarasovich Panchuk, since 2001 | ||
| Area | 73 km² | ||
| Population (2004) | 127,600 | ||
| Geographical coordinates | |||
| Dialing code | +373(231) | ||
| Web site | Official site of the Mayor | ||
Bălţi is the third-largest city of the Republic of Moldova and the main city of the northern region. The town is situated on the small river Răut (sometimes incorrectly spelled Reut, an affluent of Nistru Dniester), among a hilly landscape that in the Middle Ages was covered with forest, but has since been almost entirely cut down.
[edit] Population
The exact population of the city is hard to estimate. The official 2005 census indicated 126,728 inhabitants, but its accuracy is highly questionable, as the census officials, possibly motivated by financial shortages or political considerations, filled in approximate data rather than questioning large portions of population. The last census, during the Soviet period (1989), came up with approximately 159,000. An exodus has occurred since 1992 due to the economic situation in Moldova (worsening until 2001-2002 and stagnant after 2001-2002).
Many emigrant workers from the city are temporarily (legally or illegally) working in Russia and Greece, as well as western Europe including Italy, Portugal and Ireland, as it is very difficult to earn a living in Moldova. Often, elderly relatives and children of these workers are left to live in Bălţi. It is not unheard of for children to be left with minimal to no supervision for months or more.
Other former inhabitants of Bălţi moved (often permanently) during the same period to work or study in Romania, Russia, or the rest of Europe.
In 1930, by the Romanian census, Bălţi had a population of 35,000, of which 20,000 were Jews, 10,000 Romanians, and 5,000 Ukrainians and Russians. The surrounding Balti county was by the same census almost entirely Romanian, and it remains so today. After World War II, during the period when the city was part of the former Soviet Union, there was significant immigration from all over the USSR in a move to establish a local Soviet and party apparatus, to develop the industry, and to create a Russian-speaking majority. In the same period many Moldavians/Romanians from the countryside of Moldova moved to the cities, including Bălţi. By the end of 1980s, the Jews had migrated en masse to Israel. The Russian-speaking portion of the population (identifying themselves ethnically as Russians, Ukrainians, and also as over 30 other ethnicities of the former Soviet empire) had by then reached almost 50%, with Romanian-speaking Moldavians representing the other 50%.
Today, official figures put Moldavians/Romanians at 54%, Russians at 19% and Ukrainians at 24%, although Ukrainians often speak Russian, or a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian as their native tongue.
The majority of the population is bilingual, although both groups often speak the other language reluctantly. Some older Russians, especially those who came to Moldova as adults and had a career in the Soviet system, can speak only Russian, though they often understand some Romanian. Younger Moldavians, educated after 1989, speak mainly Romanian while understanding some Russian.
[edit] Geography, territory, and administrative composition
Bălţi is situated on the top and slopes of hills, and partially in a valley. The land in the north of Moldova is very fertile, with black-earth dominating in quasi-totality. The agricultural potential represents practically the only natural resource of Moldova. Some excavation of materials for the construction industry is also employed at several sites around Bălţi.
The river Raut, which is the size of a creek when it passes Bălţi, is polluted in a village upstream by a Soviet-style animal farm. Using its water is therefore quite hazardous, but for the most part the banks are fenced or otherwise unaccessible to the population.
The municipality covers an area of 78.0 km², of which the city proper 41.42 km², the village Elisabeta (an eastern suburb) 9.81 km², and the village Sadovoe (a north-western suburb) 26.77 km². Of these, an important portion (20.11 km²) is actually agricultural land.
Some city neighborhoods bear the names of the former 19th century suburbs: Pamanteni, Slobozia, Molodova, Baltul Nou, Podul Chisinaului; some are known by their Soviet-era names: 8th district, 9th district; or other names: Autogara (which in Romanian means the inter-city coach station), Dacia, also colloquially named Bam (the Soviet-era name October, from the October Revolution of 1917, was never used colloquially during that period).
[edit] Architecture
(add photos)
The main points of attraction in the city are:
- the "Vasile Alecsandri" theatre in the downtown
- the St Nicolas church (1795), orthodox. The building has a degree of catholic influence from Galicia (western Ukraine) brought in by the architect
- the St Constantine and Elena Cathedral (1933), orthodox, Romanian neo-Byzantine style (the building). At its official opening the whole Romanian royal family were present. The building survived almost without visible effects the harsh treatment during the Soviet era, when it was for most of the time a depot, later to be turned into the municipal museum.
- the Bishopric palace and the surrounding park, which during the Soviet time was the main office of the agricultural enterprise-institute "Selectia", and the nearby small church
- the Armenian church downtown
- the oldest surviving building, a two-stories boyar house, presently right in the centre of the downtown area, dates back to 1609, but it has been re-constructed and re-modeled many times with total disregard to conservation to the extent that now it simply looks like an odd two-storey building.
- others (see down through the text)
[edit] Economy, transportation, and utilities
[edit] The economy
This city was an important economic center during the Soviet era, with manufacturing playing an important role. Although the latter was mostly related to processing of farm products (such as wine making, sugar, meat processing, flour milling), there was also manufacturing of agricultural machinery, of various construction materials, and fur clothing. A mammoth Soviet-type 8000-worker factory (called "Lenin" before 1989 and "Raut" afterwards) produced a large variety of machine building products for consumer or industry use, from irons and telephone sets to sonar equipment for Soviet Military submarines.
However due to swift changes in the economic environment after the breakdown of the Soviet planned economy system to which the local management, accustomed to rely only on directives from above, could not adapt, the manufacturing base of the city has all but stalled, hence now outdated, if not sold for pennies.
The service sector has developed after 1989 only to the extent to cover the basic needs of the population. A variety of small private stores and supermarkets opened. Also, there are six public-owned and four private-owned markets; these are places where small-scale businessmen or women can for a tax trade different goods: imported or local-made clothing (quite often counterfeit) or agricultural products from farms in the villages neighboring Bălţi.
[edit] Utilities
The main energy supply of the city comes from the local thermo-electric plant CET Nord, which uses a variety of imported carbon-based fuel (easier to obtain and cheaper than oil). The city is well-connected by high-voltage lines, and there are recent plans for the construction of a new line.
Russian-imported natural gas is distributed to households, generally for cooking, not for heating. But this commodity has recently become a political hazard. Winter heating is distributed in a centralized fashion throughout the city by pipelines.
Although the city was often without electricity and heating during the political hassles of 1994-2001, it has experienced no shortages or interruptions ever since.
The drinking water is supplied into the pipes from a network of local artesian wells (which are insufficient) and from the river Nistru (Dnister) by a 60 km long pipeline connecting Bălţi to Soroca (which is not economically feasible).
[edit] Transportation
Bălţi was and is an important transportation hub of Moldova, though the quality of the paved roads and railroads is very poor due to the lack of regular maintainance. The best inter-city transportation is coach or van (privately or publicly owned). 135 km of Soviet style highway (portions in good or fair condition) connect the city to the capital Chisinau. By road one can also reach Ukraine (in about 2-3 hours to the north or to the east) and Romania (1 hour to the south-west) by the Sculeni-Sculeni crossing point which leads to the important Romanian city of Iasi (104 km from Bălţi), or (less frequented) by the Stanca-Costesti crossing directly to the west.
Regular railroad connection to Ocnita (north), Rezina (east) and Ungheni (south-east), as well as to Chisinau exists but it is extremely slow (it takes 6 hours to cover 200 km to Chisinau). The policy of the Soviet administration was to never build electric railroad lines on the right bank of the river Nistru (Dnister) and to build only a single lane between stations.
There are two railroad stations: Bălţi-oras (Bălţi-city) and Bălţi-Slobozia (the name of a city neighborhood), and an inter-city coach station (autogara).
The city also has an operational airport a few km to the north (near the village of Corlateni), quite modern by Soviet standards, built in 1980s, where large-scale aircraft can land. No information on its activity nowadays is available. A second airport, for small scale aircraft lies in the fringes of the city in the east. It was one of the most important airports in the whole region during the World War II.
[edit] Medical facilities
The city has a big municipal hospital, a childrens' hospital, and a range of other medical facilities (smaller clinics and hospitals, as well as buildings, named poly-clinics, gathering doctors offices).
[edit] Other facilities
1st Motorized Infantry Brigade "Moldova" of the Moldavian army (out of a total of 6 brigades - three infantry, one artillery, one aircraft and one anti-aircraft) is located in Bălţi. A unit of Soviet "Tochka-M" short-range rockets, each carrying 500 kg of conventional explosive, was known to be based in the city. No updated information is available.
[edit] Education
The University of Balti, named after the 19th century Moldavian/Romanian illuminist and ethnologist Alecu Russo, has a couple of thousand students. The original complex of buildings (1930s) housed the financial administration, as well as three high-schools (two of which were girls-only) and has the characteristic architecture of the time. The university was founded in 1940 (or 1946 ?). Languages (Romanian, English, French, German, Russian), mathematics, physics, some engineering, law, economics, music education, education training, sociology and psychology are taught at Bachelor and Master levels. Many of its buildings have been added or re-furbished more recently. The main language of education is Romanian, but there are also some courses and specialities offered in Russian.
There is a school of nursing, several professional (technical) schools and 23 other schools (high-school only, high-school and middle school combined, middle- and elementary school combined, or only elementary school - mirroring the dingy structure of the Moldavian educational system).
11 of these 23 schools are in the Russian language, 5 are in the Romanian and the rest are mixed, a situation inherited from the Soviet system which discouraged education in any language but Russian, or would create mixed schools where the administration would be hold automatically in Russian, the official language of the Soviet Union. The resistance of the Moldavian population to the policy of Russification was the main local driving force of the political changes that occurred in 1988-1991, which ended in the breakdown of the Soviet Union (for economic and political reasons) and the independence of the territory that formed at the time the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic under the name of Republic of Moldova, with Romanian/Moldavian as official language.
[edit] History
[edit] The Middle Ages
The city was founded as a fair in 1421 by Ringalia of Mazovia, the sister of Polish king Wladyslaw II Jagiellon (of the Lithuanian dynasty), who was the wife of the Moldavian Prince Alexandru I cel Bun (meaning in translation "Alexander the Good"). At the time the territory belonged to the Dorohoi tinut (land/county), but later to the Iasi county of the Principality of Moldova (Iasi was the capital of the Principality from 1574 to 1859). A cross-road, Bălţi soon became well-known as a horse fair.
However in 1469 a Crimean Tatar invasion led by the han Meñli I Giray burned the place to the ground, before being defeated in a famous battle about 100 km north (near the village Lipnic). Bălţi was rebuilt very slowly.
[edit] 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries
In 1711 the Moldavian prince Dimitrie Cantemir (also a well-known historiographer and scientist of the time), impressed by the defeat of the Swedish-Polish king Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava (600 km east in eastern Ukraine) by the young Russian tsar Peter the Great, invited the later to Moldavia in a bold move to try to end Ottoman suzerainty and reclaim the independence of Moldova. During this failed military campaign the main headquarters of the Russian and parts of the Moldavian armies were established at Bălţi, a fact due simply to its cross-road location.
Unfortunately this intervention had several long-lasting negative consequences on the fate of Moldova. Understanding the danger to their dominance, the Turks no longer let the Moldavian boyars elect the prince, but instead sold the throne every 2-3 years to the best bid, generally coming from a rich Greek merchant from the Istanbul neighborhood of Fanar. The Fanariot Époque, which lasted from 1711 till 1822, is the darkest chapter in the history of the Principalities of Moldavia and of Walachia, during which 6 major wars totaling a quarter of a century in length were disputed between the full-equipped and greatly numbered armies of three empires: Ottoman, Russian and Habsburg. The local population (most of the battles would take place in the south of Moldavia but also throughout the rest of the territory) had to support alternatively the burdens of three invading armies, none of which friendly to the locals and regarding them with suspicion, not always unmotivated. Instead of growing at a big rate as it was a century earlier, the population decreased by 30% during this time.
Not least, the 1711 campaign motivated Peter the Great of Russia to write his famous testament, which commanded the Russian tsars for the next two centuries to push military in order to reach the Straits of Bosporus and Dardanelles that separate Europe and Asia, and to conquer the Balkans, which would then be united under a pan-Orthodox Pan-Slavist Russian-led empire. Although the Moldavians, like other Romanians, are orthodox (they were religious, but not political, subjects of the East Roman/Byzantine Empire from 325 until its fall in 1453), they are not Slavs and do not share the same traditions and customs with the orthodox Slavs, especially with the Russians, who have many different indigenous elements. However the religious differences between the principality of Moldova and the Russian Empire were minimal (as in fact were the differences at the time with the Pope, from whom the Princes, especially in the 15th century, but also later, sought help). The ethnic identity (in this case Roman (Vlach) vs Slav) would only become important in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. The main cause of conflict between the Romanians and the Russians were the behavior (pillaging) of the Russian troops on the ground, and the desire of the principalities to recover their full independence, without any foreign (even orthodox) suzerainty.
During an intermission of these wars, in 1766, the prince Alexandru Ghica (one of a few local, not Greek princes of that time) has divided the Bălţi estate in two and gave half to the St Spiridon monastery of Iasi and half to the merchant brothers Alexandru, Constantin and Iordache Panaiti.
In 1812 the Peace of Bucharest granted the whole eastern half of the Principality of Moldova, a territory named since Basarabia (or Bessarabia; the name extended only to its lower 1/4 prior to 1812), and which coincides to a substantial extent to the territory of the modern Republic of Moldova, to the Russian Empire. In the first years of occupation (1812-1828) the Russians allowed substantial economic and cultural freedom to Moldavians/Romanians, wanting to secure the new province (gubernia in Russian). After 1828 the policy gradually worsened to the extent that in 1860s the education in Romanian was banned and the nobility was forced to use Russian and intermarry Russians, or leave for Romania (formed in 1859 by the union of the western half of the Principality of Moldova with the Principality of Valachia, to which the Principality of Transylvania, as well as Bessarabia and Bucovina-Bukovina joined in 1918). However this policy had a rather contrary effect, the cultural links with the rest of the Romanians did not diminish but rather increased in the 19th century, to the extent that in 1917, when the Russian Empire was disintegrating, the general filling was quasi-unanimous for an immediate and unconditional union with Romania. This happened in April 1918 following a vote of the 138-member Sfatul Tarii (Country's Council in translation) elected in September 1917.
In fact Bălţi benefited from the division of the Principality of Moldova along the river Prut in 1812, because although the city of Iasi was left on the right bank, the most part of the county was on the left bank, and Bălţi became its natural center. In 1818 the Russian tsar visited his newly acquired province, and during his passing through Bălţi he had a son born. Not willing to have a son born in a fair he immediately granted to Bălţi the town (city) status.
In early 19th century Bălţi had 8000 inhabitants. At the end of the 19th century the city became a rail road hub. Its ethnical composition also diversified with some colonists coming from Russia and Ukraine, being offered land or seeking freedom of religion (a number of Russian clerics have not accepted a 17th century move of modernization within the Russian Orthodox Church and were excommunicated, provoking a split; the western provinces of the Russian Empire where more liberal religiously). An important number of Jews from Galicia (then in the Habsburg Empire, now split between western Ukraine and south-eastern Poland) settled in Bălţi, and by the end of the century became a majority. Russian officials were unhappy with them, but unlike in Chisinau, they have not organized pogroms in Bălţi. In 1900 Bălţi still looked rather as an extended village. The city has not been affected by World War I other than the recruitment and movement of troops.
In 1917-1918 Bălţi was part of the Moldavian Democratic Republic, which within months of its existence voted union with Romania. In the first part of the 20th century the economy expanded, and the city started to diversify. Many buildings in the town/city date from the inter-war period. The siege of the Bishopric was moved from Hotin to Bălţi, and the Bishopric palace was built. The St Constantine and Elena Cathedral was build throughout 1920s to be finished in 1932 and officially inaugurated in 1933 (Constantine was the Roman emperor who, under the influence of his mother Elena (Helen), ordered the Romans, from which Romanians descend, to convert to Christianity in 325).
[edit] World War II period
[edit] Soviet 1940 occupation and its toll on the population
The city reached close to 40,000 inhabitants in 1940, when according to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact the Red Army invaded Basarabia (Bessarabia). Surprisingly to the locals, the Romanian authorities, in great limbo due to recent international developments (conquest of France by Germany four days before the Russian ultimatum), decided to temporarily avoid an armed conflict. They withdrew the army and the administration in 48 hours, as required by the USSR, giving up all defensive installations in the area that were built for the sole eventuality of a Soviet aggression. 28 June 1940 is the darkest day of the 20th century for Moldavians/Romanians, echoed in later deportations to labor camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan, in political persecutions, sadist tortures, or even outright killings (especially in 1940-1941 of many intellectuals and former administration officials who did not have time to or did not wish to flee to Romania), in the famine of 1946 - 1947, and in denationalization.
On June 13, 1941, tens of thousands of former teachers, doctors, office workers, and even better-to-do peasants, thought to be hostile and dangerous to the Soviet regime, were gathered to be deported in cattle cars to Siberia. Bălţi, as the most important railroad link in the north of Moldova, served as a gathering point.
[edit] Military action in 1941
On June 22 1941 the Romanian Army started military action against the Red Army dislocated in Basarabia (Bessarabia). This was planned to coincide with the German offensive against the Soviets, although the Romanian troops were ordered to push only to the river Nistru (Dnister), Romania's eastern border in 1940. For the first 10 days, 3rd and 4th Romanian Armies developed bridgeheads, as their main advance was planned to start on July 2. (1st and 2nd Romanian Armies were reserve, rather than frontline units, and were never used on the Eastern Front. They were dislocated mainly in southern Transylvania, with the idea that at some point they might be used against Hungary, to undo the Nazi-sponsored transfer of territories in that area a year earlier.) According to the will of its new ally, Nazi Germany, Romania has allotted an 80 km strip of front between its two armies (3rd and 4th), to the 11th German Army. This portion included Bălţi. About 1/2 of the effectives of this army, including its artillery, were Romanian units transferred for one month under the German command. The German motorized columns and the 1st Romanian Armored Division started their move from several bridgeheads on the river Prut, 50 to 70 km from the city, on the evening of 2 July, and by July 5th already controlled large portions of northern Moldavia (Bessarabia). [1]
The city and was supposed to be conquered by the 14th Romanian Division from the 30th German Corps, supported by the 170th German Division from the 54th German Corps. But, Soviet units managed to temporarely stop them on July 4th on the eastern outskirts of the town. However, 2nd and 3rd Batalions of the 13 Romanian Dorobanti regiment Stefan cel Mare of the 14th Division maneuvered to the south and took the village of Biliceni and surounding areas, at which time 14th Division, was transfered from the 30th to the 54th German Corps.
Some of the Soviet forces fighting in the area included the 74th Soviet Infantry Division, and the 2nd Soviet Mechanized Corps, consisting of the 21th Motorized Infantry, the 11th and 16th Tank Divisions. These Soviet units operated in an area 20 km around Balti, but it is not clear which subunits took direct part in actions for the city.
The main military actions took part on July 7th - 9th near the villages south of the city: 8th Dorobanti Regiment and the 32nd Infantry Regiment Mircea, both from the 5th Romanian Infantry Division, clashed with Soviet cavalry. Feeling much easier on the ground than the German and Soviet units, they managed to overcome several Soviet strongholds near Zgardesti, Mandresti, and Gliceni Forest. Then, supported by four artillery battalions, the 32nd Regiment, attacked Mandresti frontally with one battalion and with the second maneuvered to the south, threatening the rear of the Soviet forces, which retreated leaving behind a lot of their heavy weapons.
On July 8th, 22nd Regiment of the 13th Romnian Division also joined the battle for Balti, fighting at Singureni and Tarinei Hill. The latter, together with the 39th Romanian Infantry Regiment from the 14th Romanian Division, reached the Raut River at 1000 hours on July 9th, and managed to establish a bridgehead north of Raut in the Elisabeta region, already on the north-east outskirt of the city. This threatend to encircle the Red Army units in the city, who then hastely withdrew on the 9th.
(Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of the German RSHA, flew several fighter missions in his private modified Me109 from the Bălţi airport in July 1941. Heydrich was shot down by Soviet anti-air fire over Ukraine, and barely escaped capture after having to swim for his life.)
[edit] Mass deportation of Jews in 1941-1942
In the three-day period following the conquest, while the armies were moving through the city in the pursuit of the Russian troops and before the Romanian administration moved in, the two-dozen-strong einsatzkommando unit attached to the 11th German Army hunted and assassinated over 200 Jews. The German army was strictly ordered by Berlin not to interfere in "non-military matters", and was sometimes obliged to hand in Jews in the houses of which they temporarily installed.
Fortunately the majority of Jews from the city fled with the retreating Russians (to Uzbekistan) and survived the war unharmed. By the time German troops entered only 1,300 of the 20,000 Jews were in the city. Many other thousands simply hid in the neighboring villages, thinking they would be safe once the frontline had passed. The Romanian authorities, however, decided to deport all Jews from the territories occupied by USSR in 1940, as well as from two other Romanian counties, to Transnistria, across the river Nistru (Dnister). They were motivated in this by the fact that Jews had supported the Russian invasion a year earlier. Although some Jews did indeed become Soviet communist activists, they were a tiny minority among the total Jewish population of the city, and have certainly retreated along with the Russian troops.
The Romanian troops stopped at the river Nistru (Dnister), and the German troops were trying to cut the retreating Russians, from the north, along the left bank of the river Southern Bug, situated further east from Nistru (Dnister), This left Transnistria, as was then called this piece of territory between the two rivers, a no-man land. Hitler has planned, and managed to persuade Ion Antonescu, Romanian Army Chief of Staff and prime minister since September 1940, to occupy and administrate it. This action is responsible for further distanciating Antonescu from the Romanian democratic politicians, who refused to take part in a military-dominated government, and thus Antonescu remained considerably associated historically with Hitler. Although in the middle ages, when the population was much sparser, Moldavians/Romanians represented an important part of the population of Transnistria (up to 50% sometimes), by the 20th century (after much influx of population during the 19th century) Moldavian(Romanian) villages were concentrated mostly on the left bank of Nistru (Dnister), with Ukrainians and Russians dominating numerically the region, and Jews representing an important minority, and virtually a majority in the city of Odessa. In the towns in the north and middle of Transnistria the Romanian authorities decided to deport the remaining Jewish population of Basarabia (Bessarabia), northern Bucovina (Bukovina) and two other counties of Romania (Suceava and Botosani) – a total of 90,000 people, 80% of which would not survive 1944.
Jews were organized in columns and marched to crossing points. No regular food supply, overnight housing, transportation, or additional clothing were organized, and many people died on the road, shoot by a few sadist guards on the pretext of slowing down the movement. In towns such as Moghilev-Podolski (Movilau in Romanian), Iampol, Bershad, and others ghettos were fenced out, and Jews were settled. Being deprived of the right to own agricultural land, and having very few job opportunities, often without clean water and having insufficient housing, many became ill from malnutrition and infections. Interestingly, the Jews from Romania that were not affected by the deportation were treated quite tolerantly by the Romanian authorities, and even were allowed to visit the ghettos to deliver food and clothing. Unfortunately, because of fear, very few ventured to do this. In several of these places the retreating German troops in 1944 shot every Jew in order to cover up the existence of the ghetto camps.
[edit] Military action in 1944 and the Bǎlţi POW Camp
In February 1944 the Soviet troops were driving unstoppably westwards, and on the 27th entered the city. West of Bălţi they first reached the border of the USSR of 22 June 1941, and followed on without any thought to stop. From March to August 1944 the frontline stabilized along a west-east curve passing 40 km south of the city. After gathering enormous quantities of troops (3.4 million) and artillery (370 units per km of frontline) the Red Army penetrated the German-Romanian defenses (600,000 troops) in the Iaşi-Chişinǎu operation, partly surrounding them.
Before the operation the Soviets had established a prisoner of war (POW) concentration camp by fencing out several streets in the southeast limits of Bălţi, next to the airport situated there. During the night lights were arranged inside the camp in a way to resemble those of the airport. Heavily bombed by the German aviation, they would produce havoc inside the POW camp, while the airport would be left intact. The holes produced by the bombs were used as common graves for the dying prisoners. In the outcome of the Iasi-Chisinau operation, 40,000 Germans, 10,000 Romanians, 3,000 Italians and 2,000 Hungarians were gathered in the POW camp in Bălţi, the main transit POW camp for this operation.
Unfortunately very many POWs died in the camp from malnutrition, infections, or being shot by sadist guards, and then were buried in the bomb holes. By the end of 1945, all surviving prisoners were moved out to the interior of the Soviet Union to work, the site of the camp leveled, and no buildings were ever erected in the area. Rumors about the POW camp and the conditions inside it were quickly silenced, and even by the 1980s the vast majority of the inhabitants of the town did not know about its existence. Consequently, during the Perestroika time, laborers were astonished to run upon thousands of human skeletons while working on straightening a road, and were so disturbed they refused to continue the work.
The political changes of the end of the 1980s allowed the remaining survivors of the camp to come out and relate the truth. Fortunately for these few individuals, they were originally from the north of Moldova. By simply approaching the inner barbed wire on the side facing the city, and crying out in Romanian when the guards were not near, they were able to pass the word about their fate to friends and relatives in their home villages. The later would come to the camp – bribe and feed the Soviet guards for a spared life. Unfortunately Germans, as well as the majority of Romanian POWs who were not locals, could not use this method to escape. Many German officers died of malnutrition, refusing the black bread. The more physically fit were then transferred for work throughout the former USSR.
The Soviet archives have preserved considerable information about the POW camp in Bălţi, although they were kept a secret before 1989. Apparently, a study at the time on a sample of 800 POWs came up with only 13 survivors by 1953. A cross has been erected on the site where the construction workers have stumbled upon the bones. Plans for an "Ossuary Church" to be built were also put forward, but the lack of financial possibilities and political will from the still Russian-dominated municipal authorities have rendered them nowhere. Even the exact extent of the camp is not known, with only a small portion being unveiled so far (the field is several sq km in size).
[edit] Post World War II to modern days
After World War II Moldova suffered two years of famine (1946-47), which took a total of 295 000 lives, due to the non-worked fields (active age Moldavians were enrolled en mass in the Soviet army at the end of 1944 to serve as cannon fodder, and were not demobilized many months and sometimes years after the war ended), and to the quasi-total confiscation of peasants' harvest and food for the needs of the State. In fact, this is the only known famine in the recorded history of Moldova. Fearing the repeat of the 1941 deportation (which was repeated at even bigger scale in 1949 and 1951) the remaining intellectuals fled in 1944 to Romania before the Soviet troops arrived. In 1949-1950 mass collectivization of farmed land was implemented.
The war and the events that followed it have left a deep impact on the city. Many buildings were leveled or damaged by bombardments and military action. A part of the population was killed, sent to labor camps or ghettos (where many if not the majority died), starved to death, or simply fled and did not return. The losses affected all the ethnic groups, while from social groups the inter-war intellectuality has all by disappeared. The city has suffered in the same degree as the rest of Moldova.
In 1950s through 1980s Bălţi, as well as Chisinau and other cities of Moldova, was "invaded" by a very diverse group of representatives of the "big brother" from Soviet and party apparatchiks to a handful of well-qualified engineers to ordinary workers trying to leave the poorest regions of Russia to outright criminals. Although the city could now claim several dozen nationalities, only one language was accepted in public places - Russian. The majority of new-comers never felt a home connection with the city, rather considering USSR as a whole as their home, in contrast with the Russian and Ukrainian minorities before 1940. The Jews of the city, primarily speakers of (generally) Yiddish and some of Romanian before 1940, quickly switched to Russian, so that by 1980s only the elderly was speaking Yiddish. However the degree of knowing Moldavian/Romanian language before 1989 was clearly higher among Jews, even those born after 1940, than among Russians. By 1991 almost all Jews had moved to Israel.
The population of the city increased 4-fold from 1940 to 1989, with the addition of the new-comers from all over USSR, and of the local Moldavians/Romanians moving from countryside to the city. By 1989 a tie was established between the numbers of the two communities, although one of them was entirely deprived of using its language in public life, even for shopping.
During 1980s the constituency that included the city delegated to the Soviet Union High Council (the equivalent of the parliament) the Soviet marshal Akhromeev, one of the most preeminent hard-liners in the Soviet power system. He was one of the close allies of the 1991 putchists that tried to overthrow Gorbachev, and conveniently committed suicide afterwards without making public the fate of the USSR Communist Party foreign accounts.
During 1988-89 Bălţi was known as the "quiet city" of Moldova. Only four public meetings (demonstrations) took place in the city during this period, and none gathered more than 15000. The main reform-oriented part of the population was formed naturally by the students and faculty of the local university, which regularly gathered inside during this period, sometimes numbering several thousand.
All the elections since 1989 were won locally by the old Soviet apparatus candidates, the Russian minority being stronger politically not least because of its higher turnout rate. However the policies of the local authorities have evolved from one individual to the next, so that although extreme left by today standards, some of them would have been considered quite liberal in Soviet times. A large degree of municipal activity is still done only in Russian, in total disregard with the 1989 national law. Unfortunately, the most striking feature that has not changed since the Soviet time is the managerial inability.
[edit] City and county coats of arms
The city coat of arms is the head of a horse, because Bălţi was famous as a middle age horse fair.
The county coat of arms has an archer, a hill, the sun and three bulrush sticks on it. While the other three elements are quite sufficient to identify the place where Bălţi is situated in the landscape of the north of Moldova, the archer represents the medieval military recruitment of the time, based on free peasants paying tax only to the country's ruler, and ready to serve at the first call. They were a first-line of defense against the invading barbarian hordes, often would have to defend their families and villages themselves, or hide them in the forests, before the Principality's army would come to relief. Throughout the hilly part (i.e. most) of Moldova many summits have an additional man-made earth addition of up to 10 meters in some places, where in the early middle-age warning fires were located. One can easily recognize these spots on the Moldavian, now deforested, mainly cultivated landscape, all the way to the banks of the river Nistru (Dnister), across from which the Asian steep starts, and can observe a repeating peculiarity: From each of the summits the otherwise obscured neighborhood is very well observable, with at least 3 other such spots in clear view, although possibly at a couple hours walking distance.
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[edit] Cultural trivia
The Yiddish song “Beltz, Mayn Shtetele” is a moving evocation of a happy childhood spent in the shtetl (little town) Beltz. Its composer Alexander Olshanetsky (1892-1946) had moved to the US from Bessarabia in 1921, the lyrics are by Jacob Jacobs (1892-1972).
[edit] Sister Cities
[edit] External links
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de:Bălţi fr:Municipalité de Bălţi he:בלצי lv:Belci lt:Belcai mo:Бэлць nl:Bălţi pl:Bielce pt:Bălţi (município) ro:Bălţi ru:Бельцы sk:Bălţi fi:Bălţi
