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Abstract
This article investigates how the Bulgarian community of southern Moldova experienced the collapse of the Soviet Union. It questions why Moldova’s Bulgarian population refused offers from the Gagauz and Ukraine’s Bulgarian minority to join them in their quest for autonomy. The fact they chose not to is somewhat puzzling, as Moldova’s Bulgarian minority shared many of the same grievances as the Gagauz and Ukrainian Bulgarians, and they were offered considerable concessions to join each movement. I argue that there were several reasons for this. Firstly, Bulgarians in Taraclia distrusted the Gagauz and Ukrainian Bulgarians. Secondly, local political elites quickly realised they could extract greater concessions from Chișinău by aligning with the central government during such a tumultuous period. Finally, relations between Taraclia and Chișinău were characterized by a high degree of pragmatism.
Abstract
The article discusses the organization and process of repatriation of American prisoners of war and interned civilians liberated from German captivity by the Red Army. It presents legal grounds of repatriation, the adopted principles of arranging the repatriation process, the territorial network of komendanturas and camps where the liberated citizens were kept, the living, medical and sanitary conditions in the mentioned units, the evacuation routes, the means of transport, the number of the repatriated, the rules of the work of teams of contact officers. A detailed analysis of the above-mentioned issues reveals the complicated and tense relations between the United States and the Soviet Union in the final years of World War II. It also perfectly illustrates the attitude of the USSR towards the American ally, which was characterized by failure to follow agreements, disregarding the requests and petitions from US representatives, and delaying a lot of shared actions.