Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the USSR During the Cold War: Soviet Moldavia in the Radio Liberty Broadcast Programs
During the Cold War, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was in a rather peculiar situation because of its geographic position and special relationship with the USSR and Romania in which conflict, confrontation and cooperation were present. The Communist regime and its institutions developed a real “fighting campaign” against Western broadcasts (Voice of America, RFE/RL, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Radio France, Radio Vaticana, etc.). However, the citizens of Moldova used the opportunity to listen to these broadcasts as an alternative source of information. In this context, it is important to cross-check the RFE/RL files with the publications of the Soviet newspapers that published hundreds of articles against RFE/RL. The RFE/RL documents serve a bilateral role, providing insight related to the perception of life under, and resistance to, the totalitarian regimes, as well as a platform for the dissemination of critical views on the communist reality. Such analysis can shed light on the impact of Cold War broadcasting on totalitarian societies in general, and on Soviet society in particular.