Post WWII Soviet famine still haunts Moldova, 80 years on
Issued on: 27/03/2026 -
FRANCE24
15:57 min
Eighty years ago, Moldova was struck by a famine that killed more than 150,000 people. Long shrouded in silence, this episode remains a blind spot in the country's history. But gradually, survivors' accounts, combined with the work of researchers, have shed light on a tragedy largely orchestrated by the Soviet authorities of the time. FRANCE 24's Maria Gerth Niculescu and Bastien Renouil report.
According to some estimates, as many as 2 million people died in the Soviet famine. The highest proportion of deaths was recorded in Moldova, where 10 percent of the population perished between 1946 and 1947. Hundreds of thousands more were affected by severe malnutrition and disease, many of them children.
The famine was largely blamed on the ramifications of the end of World War II and a bad drought. But there is growing evidence that perhaps an equal cause came directly from the Soviet authorities. Historians delving into the archives point to the regime's grain requisitions. In many villages, the quotas were so high that people were not even allowed to keep enough grain to survive themselves.
Eighty years on, those who either remember what happened, or have heard stories from family members, continue to suffer a collective trauma. In a country still torn between its Soviet legacy and its European aspirations, the need to remember the famine is essential to those wishing to counter any nostalgic narratives of the USSR.
Eighty years ago, Moldova was struck by a famine that killed more than 150,000 people. Long shrouded in silence, this episode remains a blind spot in the country's history. But gradually, survivors' accounts, combined with the work of researchers, have shed light on a tragedy largely orchestrated by the Soviet authorities of the time. FRANCE 24's Maria Gerth Niculescu and Bastien Renouil report.
According to some estimates, as many as 2 million people died in the Soviet famine. The highest proportion of deaths was recorded in Moldova, where 10 percent of the population perished between 1946 and 1947. Hundreds of thousands more were affected by severe malnutrition and disease, many of them children.
The famine was largely blamed on the ramifications of the end of World War II and a bad drought. But there is growing evidence that perhaps an equal cause came directly from the Soviet authorities. Historians delving into the archives point to the regime's grain requisitions. In many villages, the quotas were so high that people were not even allowed to keep enough grain to survive themselves.
Eighty years on, those who either remember what happened, or have heard stories from family members, continue to suffer a collective trauma. In a country still torn between its Soviet legacy and its European aspirations, the need to remember the famine is essential to those wishing to counter any nostalgic narratives of the USSR.
BY: Maria GERTH-NICULESCU
Bastien RENOUIL
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