Fântâna Albă massacre
| Fântâna Albă massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | Fântâna Albă, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Staryi Vovchynets, Ukraine) |
| Coordinates | 47°58′37″N 25°53′00″E / 47.97694°N 25.88333°E |
| Date | 1 April 1941 (CET) |
| Target | ethnic Romanians attempting to cross the border from the Soviet Union into Romania |
| Victims | Around 1000-3000 people were killed |
| Perpetrators | NKVD, Soviet Border Troops |
The Fântâna Albă massacre took place on 1 April 1941 in Northern Bukovina when up to 3,000 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".
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.