How Heroes Are Born in Transnistria: Identity and Antisemitism Against the Backdrop of a Frozen Conflict

Transnistria declared its independence from Moldova in the context of the Soviet Union’s collapse. Lodged between Ukraine and the River Dniester, the breakaway region belongs to a group of post-Soviet conflicts, mainly known as “frozen conflicts.” Given Transnistria’s status, the identity issue is highly exploited by the local elites, underlining the need to constantly legitimize its existence. After the war against the leadership in Chișinău in 1992, a Transnistrian identity was bolstered to emphasize the region’s distinct character compared to Moldova. The fear of Romanianization seems to foster the animosities between Transnistria and Moldova—a politicized rhetoric on which the rulers of the region capitalize. Drawing on constructivist scholarship on identity politics and on a qualitative discourse analysis of the writings of Igor Shornikov, a politician and historian in Transnistria, this paper examines how he approaches Bessarabia’s “national issue” at the beginning of the 1900s. Shornikov portrays Pavel Krushevan, the antisemite associated with the Kishinev Pogrom (1903), as a defender of the Moldovan national identity and a counterbalance to Romanian influence. Shornikov’s stress on Moldovan identity obscures the intricacies regarding Pavel Krushevan and his role in the bloody event of 1903. The article represents a case study showing how identity and history are instrumentalized in the regions with post-Soviet conflicts.