Soviet monuments, legal obligations and propaganda risks: Romania’s memory dilemma

Eighty years after the end of World War II, Romania is reopening a debate long considered politically untouchable: how the country commemorates the presence of the Soviet Army on its territory. What was once framed exclusively as “liberation” is now increasingly scrutinised as occupation, coercion and historical falsification – a reassessment driven not by central government, but by local authorities and historians.

For the first time in Romania’s post-1989 public administration history, local councillors in Sighișoara have formally asked for an official correction of what they describe as a false historical narrative surrounding a so-called Soviet military cemetery in their town. The initiative does not seek demolition, but reinterpretation: a factual information panel explaining the real historical context of 1944-1945.

According to data from the National Office for the Cult of Heroes (ONCE), Romania currently hosts 180 monuments dedicated to the Red Army in 145 localities, as well as 233 Soviet military cemeteries spread across 216 towns and villages. Many were erected at the direct initiative of the Red Army’s General Staff during or immediately after military operations, beginning in 1944.

While legally protected under Romanian law and international treaties, critics argue that these sites continue to project a Soviet-era narrative that ignores local realities and documented abuses committed against civilians.

The Sighișoara case

The draft decision submitted to the Sighișoara Local Council in April 2025 concerns a cemetery containing 59 funerary monuments and a statue dedicated to a Soviet commander identified as C.D. Isacov. According to the project’s authors, no battles were fought in or around the town during the Red Army’s advance. They argue that the large number of graves is linked to the town’s historical role as a rear-area military cemetery, where wounded soldiers and those suffering from diseases such as typhus died.

Crucially, no archaeological investigations or later documentary research were conducted to verify whether Soviet soldiers were actually buried there. Some graves, the project claims, are cenotaphs – symbolic monuments marking deaths that occurred elsewhere or whose remains were never present at the site.

Local historians have documented numerous abuses committed by Soviet troops against Romanian, Hungarian and Saxon civilians in the region, including looting, rape and killings – incidents recorded in contemporary official reports and survivor testimonies. Yet none of this context is reflected in the cemetery’s current presentation, which honours Soviet “liberators”.

The issue gained renewed attention in 2013, when the cemetery was restored by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Romania. According to local councillor Andrei Călugăr, the renovation made inscriptions more visible and was followed by commemorative ceremonies that included wreaths praising Vladimir Putin.

“That was the moment I realised this was not a forgotten relic, but an active site, connected to contemporary Russia and capable of functioning as a propaganda vector,” Călugăr said.

A “false cemetery”

The historical documentation underpinning the proposal was prepared by retired colonel Alexandru Teodoreanu, who spent years researching archives and interviewing remaining eyewitnesses of the Soviet occupation. His conclusion: the cemetery is a construct imposed by the Red Army rather than a reflection of actual combat losses.

According to archival records cited by the councillors, the only Soviet deaths in Sighișoara resulted from clashes with civilians attempting to defend themselves from abuses, as well as non-combat incidents. “It is unworthy for the municipality to help perpetuate a lie and glorify those who terrorised our grandparents,” Călugăr argues.

The project’s progress remains uncertain. The municipality requested confirmation from multiple institutions, including the National Archives, as well as approval from the county commission on public inscriptions. Following these requests, the initiative was temporarily withdrawn and is expected to be resubmitted in a revised form.

A nationwide legacy

Legally, Soviet military graves and monuments in Romania are regulated by Law 379/2003, a 2005 bilateral agreement with Russia, and the Geneva Conventions. ONCE stresses that all such sites are classified as socio-cultural memorials and enjoy the same protection regime as Romanian war graves, with local authorities responsible for their maintenance.

One county with a particularly high concentration of Soviet memorials is Suceava County, where monuments and cemeteries exist in towns such as Fălticeni, Rădăuți and Câmpulung Moldovenesc. The Fălticeni memorial, built in 1949 and renovated as recently as 2017, includes 41 marked graves and a five-metre obelisk bearing Soviet symbols.

Historian Virgiliu Țârău of Babeș-Bolyai University notes that many such cemeteries were established where no fighting occurred. “They were created as part of a state policy. These sites never disappear and can later become objects of political negotiation between states,” he argues.

From monuments to memory wars

Across Central and Eastern Europe, Soviet monuments have become symbolic battlegrounds, particularly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In Batina, a socialist-realist monument was repeatedly painted in Ukrainian colours after 2022, highlighting that many “Soviet” soldiers killed there were, in fact, Ukrainians. In Budapest, the Gellért Hill Liberty Monument was reinterpreted after 1989 by changing its inscription rather than dismantling it. In Prague, artist David Černý famously painted a Soviet tank monument pink in 1991, transforming it into a permanent provocation.

The most recent and politically charged case remains Sofia, where the Monument to the Soviet Army was dismantled in 2023 and moved to a museum after decades of vandalism and debate.

Romanian historian Șerban Pavelesc argues that many of Romania’s Soviet memorials were commissioned directly by the Red Army’s General Staff and inserted into public space as tools of ideological control. “They store a falsified, sanitised memory in favour of the Red Army,” he says.

The full article in Romanian by EUalive’s partner PressOne can be found here.

Caption: Screenshot showing the restored cemetery in the centre of Sighișoara./PressOne