The hieromonks of Putna Monastery commemorated last Saturday the thousands of Romanians massacred at Varnița (Fântâna Albă) on April 1 in the so-called “Romanian Katyn” onslaught The service was held at the “People’s Golgotha – Fântâna Albă” Memorial Portal The monastery fathers were joined by clergymen from Putna village representatives of the following institutions laid wreaths: Putna Town Hall “Ion Nistor” Vicovu de Sus Technological High School the Association Suceava branch of the Romanian Orthodox Christian Students’ Association A song and poetry recital by the vocal-traditional group “Ai lui Ștefan noi oșteni” (“Prince Stephen’s New Servicemen”) from the “Ion Nistor” High School in Vicovu de Sus followed spoke about the transformation of the Fântâna Albă into a mass grave for thousands of Romanians killed because they were in search of their country Melchisedec Velnic presented the message of Mr Secretary of State at the Department for Romanians Abroad is a day of tragic memory for the Romanian people more than 3,000 Romanians were killed at Fântâna Albă when they tried to cross into Romania after the annexation of northern Bukovina by the Soviet Union We will keep alive their memory and the sacrifice they made in order to be forever close to their kindred,” the official said The archimandrite recalled that he has not been able to pray at the massacre site since 2019 Discussions are currently underway to make the Fântâna Albă – Climăuți border crossing The Abbot of Putna reiterated the need for the Fântâna Albă massacre to be included in history textbooks and expressed his hope that a church in memory of the victims could one day be built at the site After the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact in 1939 so many families began to cross the new border and come to Romania One such group was made of the thousands massacred at Fântâna Albă on April 1 000 Romanians from Bukovinan villages along the Siret Valley left for Romania: from Pătrăuții de Sus They had decided that they would rather die than live in the Soviet Union Those at the head of the group carried three crosses They told the Soviet authorities that they wanted to leave without taking anything with them When they reached the border they were met with machine-gun fire the wounded who remained alive were thrown into mass graves along with the dead Those who managed to escape were tracked down in the surrounding area around 13,000 families from their villages were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan with only about 10% surviving the deportation April 1 was designated in 2011 as the National Day for Honouring the Memory of Romanians – victims of the massacres from Fântâna Albă and other areas and other forms of repression organized by the Soviet totalitarian regime in Herta County northern Bukovina and the whole of Bessarabia Putna Monastery’s “People’s Golgotha – Fântâna Albă” Memorial Portal was consecrated on July 2 The whole ensemble – including a monumental gate spaces for laying flowers and lighting candles and inscriptions with the names of the martyred villages – has a profound significance and a symbolic message the cross marks a place of sacrifice; placed before the gate it shows that those killed laid their lives in passing towards their beloved Romania which was also a passage to true freedom in God The fountain is the symbol of the life that springs from sacrifice The portal was built by the monastery on the site of a cross erected on April 1 in memory of the Fântâna Albă massacre victims at the initiative of the Romanian Government’s Department for Romanians Abroad the Patriarchate of Jerusalem solemnly celebrated the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women... 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(function() { window.mc4wp = window.mc4wp || { listeners: [] cb) { window.mc4wp.listeners.push( { event : evt callback: cb } ); } } }})(); © 2023 OrthodoxTimes.com - All rights reserved Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website These cookies do not store any personal information Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website The former Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by the Habsburgs left some still visible traces in most eastern European nations which inherited its territories a century ago and this old legacy could explain why people from different sides of the former border vote Empires that ruled over long periods of time might have had enough time to build up formal and informal institutions that have lasted to the present day according to Sascha Becker of the University of Warwick (UK) and Luger Woessmann of the University of Munich In the context of Eastern Europe, the two experts point out that the Habsburg Empire is considered to have had better administrative institutions than the Ottoman Empire or the Russian Empire. They concluded that the legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still manifests itself as higher levels of trust in state institutions and between citizens than in regions that were part of the Russian or Ottoman empires Poland and Romania are the best examples, according to the experts. which were part of the German Reich until 1918 and some of them until 1945 “In the Romanian presidential election of 2014, the “Austro-Hungarian” regions backed liberal Klaus Iohannis, while others were mostly in favor of Social Democrat Victor Ponta”, according to a Bloomberg article, which uses the findings of the two experts. Around half of present day Romania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918 These provinces were ruled by the Habsburgs for centuries before becoming part of Romania one century ago these former Austro-Hungarian provinces are generally more developed than the other regions in Romania more urbanized and with lower unemployment According to latest available Eurostat data Vest region of Romania (including most of the former province of Banat and the rich cities of Timisoara and Arad) is the richest region of the country after Bucharest – which is 39 percent above the EU average in GDP/inhabitant at purchasing parity standard a consequence of a highly centralized nature of the Romanian state with 60 percent of EU average in terms of real development is followed by Centru region (Southern Transylvania 54 percent) and Nord Vest (Northern Transylvania the Nord Est region (including most of Moldova Romania’s poorest region) was at 36 percent of EU average in 2016 and official data show it has half the level of development of the Vest region But experts are debating if this is a legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in fact the re-baptized Habsburg Empire between 1867 and 1918 Becker and Woessmann say that when using “placebo” borders 100 km inwards or outwards of the actual Habsburg border “This indicates that our results capture a specific Habsburg effect rather than a general West-East pattern,” they claim Historians characterize the Habsburg bureaucracy as “fairly honest and generally high-minded” as well as relatively well-functioning and respected by the population in contrast to other empires in Eastern Europe The formal institutions of the empire ceased to exist with the collapse of the Habsburg Empire after World War I breaking up into separate nation states that have seen several waves of drastic institutional changes since point out that “when the Austro-Hungarian Empire entered the First World War it was a sophisticated but stagnant political regime unable to harness the creativity of its citizens for victory in war or prosperity thereafter.” “The system of imperial monarchy (…) failed to address the growing demands for independence development and wealth redistribution throughout his lands (the emperor Franz-Josef) was a prisoner of a stagnant and outdated set of political institutions,” Suri wrote even the critics of the empire admit that Vienna was the center of European creativity in the years between 1780 and 1914 a true crucible of innovation and creativity and some people in Eastern Europe feel the nostalgia for the old empire And Vienna’s legacy is still visible in the architecture of many Transylvanian cities which copied the trends and styles of their former Capital city Viennese Secession style was particularly popular in Transylvania and cities like Targu Mures Cluj or Arad host beautiful examples of Viennese-like architecture In a recently published piece entitled “The House of Habsburg Simon Winder studies the recent resurgence of interest in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Central Europe while the Austrian Empire was backward and oppressive it nevertheless provided a sense of security and rule of law for the 11 nationalities This aspect generates some nostalgia among the nations which felt the oppression of a totalitarian state for decades during the Cold War Some even translate this nostalgia in their daily life In present day Romanian province of Bucovina (included in Suceava county) a futsal team in the village of Vicovu de Jos called ‘Bukovina’ revives the good old times “The team represents the former Duchy of Bucovina, and the anthem we use is that of imperial Austria. We are the national team of Bucovina,” Cornel Carcea, the owner of the team, told Gazeta Sporturilor two Austrian investors have built brand new factories and a 4 star hotel offering hundreds of jobs and bringing some prosperity in this forgotten corner of the country We use cookies for keeping our website reliable and secure providing social media features and to analyse how our website is used.