The mayors of communes of Tighina county with the Gagauz population in the period of repressions from 1940–1949: historical and anthropological approaches

The conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the secret additional protocol on August 23, 1939 contributed to the beginning of the repressions of the 1940s in the MSSR. In 1940, when Soviet power was established in Bessarabia, Red Army troops and NKVD groups were introduced into the territory and began identifying and arresting “anti-Soviet elements”. These arrests continued from 28 June 1940 to 6 July 1949, with a break during the war (1941–1944). In order to analyze the repressions in the Gagauz communes in Tighina county, was selected information regarding 11 mayors who held this position before the establishment of Soviet power in 1940. 10 mayors were convicted, of which 5 people died, the fate of one is unknown and only 4 went through camps and exile and survived. Articles were applied to the mayors that did not correspond to the charges brought against them under the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian SSR and the RSFSR. The violation was also in the fact that they had Romanian citizenship and lived in the territory of the MSSR. The fact that most of the mayors did not emigrate suggests that they did not feel threatened by the Soviet regime and were not initially its opponents. The analysis shows how the Soviet government intentionally destroyed and suppressed the mayors and their family members from the communes with the Gagauz population in Tighina county.