Dear Pearl ,

It seems that in Edmonton Spring came earlier than here; yesterday we had such nice big snow flakes.

To answer your question why the territories which belonged to Romania before WWII were not given back, I am going to mention some historical facts.

First, we have to keep in mind that Russia , and therefore USSR always had and still has a strong tendency to territorial expansion. Now, going back to the beginning of WWII in 1939 Germany and USSR signed a nonaggression pact named Molotov-Ribentrop (The foreign affair ministers) pact. According to this, USSR took (in two days) possession of Bucovina in the North and Basarabia in the East. A short time after that, Germans breaking that pact started their march toward USSR .

Since Romania was in their way, and had petroleum deposits needed for Garman war machine they were prepared to tramp over as a horde of Rhinoceros (here I am making allusion of the famous play of Eugen Ionescu). To avoid a catastrophic situation Romanian followed the advice of the proverb: ”Fa-te prieten cu Dracu pina treci puntea” ( Befriend the Devil until you pass over the narrow foot bridge). So Romania entered in alliance with Germany in the attack against USSR hopping that in case of victory the two provinces will be given back.

When the winds of war turned and the Soviet Army approached the eastern frontier of Romania , the politicians who opposed the alliance with Germany managed to arrest General Antonescu, the chief of Romania at that time, to turn the arms against the Germans and to fight beside the Allied Forces to the end of the war. The day of August 23 marking this event became a national holyday.

After the war at the Peace Conference at Yalta in Crimea ,

Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin drew the frontiers of the European countries. Stalin claimed compensations for the damages produced by the Romanian Army to this country. So, beside a large amount of material goods including petroleum which ran continuously through a direct pipeline from Romanian deposits to USSR , the two provinces remained in their possession.

With feelings of frustration and hopelessness the Romanians accepted the situation because they could not fight alone against a Peace Treaty and the powerful USSR .

Now Bucovina where your relatives live became part of the Ukraine and Basarabia is an (independent) country named Moldova and it is under Russian influence. During the years the Russians occupied these provinces they were very diligent in increasing the Russian population by moving people around. So we have to hope for better circumstances in which the territorial integrity of Romania can be achieved.

Dumineca 1 mai este Pastele (Easter) in Romania . Cu aceasta ocazie iti spun traditionalul

      ``Cristos a inviat”

Best wishes, Florica.