Where is Moldova, anyway?

I don’t know what is wrong with me, I’m still thinking like an American, because in my mind, I didn’t understand why I was brining a flashlight. I was thinking we were going to a Gettysburg / Fort Washington type place—an old war site where people now took care of it as a tourist / historical site. WRONG! Think like a Moldovan, Sharon… Also, I had in my head somehow that we were going to a battle ground, that’s the connotations, in my opinion, of a military zone, but rather we were going to a military base… or an area of land that was controlled by the military during soviet times (more on this later too).

Someone, was in fact, taking care of this historical site. But not the government. And this person was not repairing it, but rather guarding it. We drove a few kilometers into the woods, along a very good road (not for America, but a good road for Moldova, esp. one found in the middle of the woods! Picture below… They needed them for the tanks, apparently), and then our car stopped. My tutor told me I needed to get into the back of the truck (windowless), and not to speak. If someone opened the back of the car, just look at them, don’t say a word, in case, they think you are a spy or are dangerous. I don’t look Moldovan, but I didn’t think I screamed American. But apparently this is the case. (If you didn’t know by now, I scream DANGER and SPY!)

This is the first, and only time, I have been slightly afraid in Moldova (knock on wood). And honestly, I was more confused really than afraid. The former USSR, as I have encountered it so far, has just been a yearning for communism and the “old ways”, or as they put it here—the “before”—nothing very pro-active or militant. We drove up to a admittance station, where the people who are now guarding the base, live. My professor spoke to them only in Russian, and apparently said the right things and we were allowed to pass, and a few kilometers later I was allowed to speak again. Yippee! The gift of speech.

The people who guard this base, and look after it, are Soviet nationalists, or rather MSSR nationalists. Loyal to Moldova, but wanting what was (this is according to my tutor, not according to fact or our conversation—clearly I don’t understand Russian) I’m not sure with what goal they look after it, but they welcome people who are interested in how it was in “soviet times.” In fact, through my tutor’s translation, it seems they are very proud of this base. Thus they welcomed my tutor and her family, and unbeknownst, an American Spy!

We had free range to this base, completely hidden from aerial view by trees and rock formations—plus it was all, garages included, underground. If you didn’t see the entrance, you wouldn’t know there was a base here (ceramic stairs leading underground have now been uncovered from hiding for our “pleasure”, but other than that, nothing has been changed). The farthest underground the complex went was 3 floors, and that floor had just now begin to be filled with water. There was a lot of rusty metal, and it was easy to envision this as a working base—peep holes and tunnels surrounded the perimeter—shot gun holes they said.

Quite the extensive base, which of course, was still riddled with bullets (non-discharged) on the ground of the rooms. I’m not sure when it was last in use. There were giant craters in the ground (picture below) that my tutor’s husband said once held missiles. But I’m not sure if I believe him. We are planning to go back and explore further—my little maglite didn’t really get us that far. Anyway here are some pictures from our excursion—what I failed to take a picture of, and will the next time, is the clear as day Russian symbol for toxic. Very interesting.

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*** This blog post, updated*** Okay, some more on the soviet stuff. Can I say again, that this is all hearsay. In fact, consider it more like folklore. I decided not to update my post, just to add this onto the text. Make of it what you will.

Anyway, Sunday, after returning from this excursion I had Romanian lessons with my other Romanian tutor. (Why do I have two? Because I am anal about grammar, and because, when you are learning a second language in a second language, it always helps to have two different people explain to you the same little bit of grammar). Anyway, while she was getting ready to start our lessons I spoke with her mother, who had been deported to Siberia during the USSR, and who now speaks a smattering of Romanian but mostly in Russian. Using her son as a translator, I showed her the pictures I took at the base.

Simple act, no, not really. She proceeded to tell me the history of the base (she knew exactly where it was, in what village, and what it looked like)—and about how I had been misled. Now, she says, she will tell me the real story.

The base that I saw, she says, was only about 1/10th of the military complext that exists over there (where I visited). We were only permitted to see the “open” part—and even if we had wandered further off, we would not be able to enter the other parts of the base. Hence the use of the word “zone” that had thrown me off earlier. Anyway, she said that the zone was set up like a star, with a base at each point and a lot of important stuff in the middle. The sniper holes, which threw me off, because I was thinking there were no huge battles in Moldova, were not for starting war but for guarding the base against the population, the curious and upset population.


She also related to me her experience with the radio show “Voice of America,” which explained to her exactly why the security was so tight around this military zone. According to her, she heard on this radio show, despite the attempt to block the program by “someone” by sending out pulses on the airwaves, that here, in this same base, they had atomic bombs. And she claims that these bombs are still here today. Although very doubtful of a claim, it is interesting to see the perspective of the population, or of one person, who lived through the entire ordeal. Further she claims that this is the reason the base is still guarded and that we were not allowed to see the entire base.