Fântâna Albă massacre

The Fântâna Albă massacre took place on 1 April 1941 in Northern Bukovina when up to 200 civilians were killed by Soviet Border Troops as they attempted to cross the border from the Soviet Union to Romania near the village of Fântâna Albă, now Staryi Vovchynets in Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine. Although according to Soviet official reports, no more than 44 civilians were killed, but local witnesses assert a much higher toll, stating that survivors were tortured, killed, or buried in mass graves. Others were taken away to be tortured and killed at the hands of the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. Some sources have referred to the massacre as "the Romanian Katyn".

Romanian newspaper Adevărul has given death tolls for the massacre as high as 2,000 to 3,000. Moldovan historian Constantin Ungureanu noted that figures of a few thousands killed presented in press and television are exaggerated, adding that it was also inaccurate that the massacre took place on Easter as it had been stated especially on television and as Adevărul also claimed, since Eastern Orthodox Easter was on 20 April in 1941.

In 2011, the Chamber of Deputies of Romania adopted a law establishing 1 April as the National Day honoring the memory of Romanian victims of massacres at Fântâna Albă, Lunca, and other areas, of deportations, of hunger, and of other forms of repression organized by the Soviet regime in Hertsa (now Ukraine), northern Bukovina, and Bessarabia.

Background

In late June 1940, the Kingdom of Romania was forced to withdraw from a territory inhabited by 3.76 million people, submitting to an ultimatum by the Soviet Union that resulted in the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. The Romanian administration and military were evacuated while the Red Army and the NKVD quickly occupied the region. The rapid change in administration and redrawing of the border caught many families by surprise, leaving family members trapped on both sides.