00:00The village of Grzesht is located on both banks of the Prut River, and therefore on
00:04either side of the border between the Republic of Moldova and EU Member State, Romania.
00:09Despite the international border that separates them, the villagers can visit each other whenever
00:14they like.
00:14But it wasn't always like that.
00:16In 1940, the Soviet Union annexed the region of Bessarabia, which was at the time part
00:22of the Kingdom of Romania.
00:24When this happened, Grzesht was divided in two, with one side staying part of Romania
00:29and the other joining the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was part of the Soviet Union.
00:34And so it remained for 50 years.
00:3876-year-old Alexandru Kršmaru remembers how Soviet soldiers used to patrol the border on the
00:44banks of the river.
00:45People were not allowed to communicate with relatives and friends on the other side.
00:49It was preventive, that it was not an animal that would not come to the other side.
00:53There was a new guard, which opened the car and circulated at midnight, and it was more sophisticated.
01:08Alexandru, Valeriu and Vladimir are friends.
01:11They were all born in the 1950s and remember the stories their parents told them about the
01:16barbed wire at the border.
01:18For Alexandru's family, the day the barbed wire was installed, was traumatic.
01:24His wife's aunt was abruptly separated from her family.
01:27She had 16 years old and in the morning, she went from Kosoleni to Kostoleni, because there
01:34was a lot of pods, there was a lot of pods, and she left to Iași.
01:54The woman, who was forced to remain in Romania, was only reunited with her family 50 years
02:00later, on May 6, 1990.
02:28Alexandru's family had to shout out her name because of the huge crowds.
02:32Almost one million people had gathered at various points along the border that day, because
02:36on May 6, Romanian citizens were allowed to cross the Prut and enter the Moldavian Soviet
02:42Socialist Republic for just a few hours without passports or permits.
02:46Many of the participants threw flowers into the water, a symbolic gesture representing
02:51the desire for reunification between the two countries and the removal of the border imposed
02:55by the Soviet regime.
02:56That's how the event got its name, the Bridge of Flowers.
03:01The opening of the border was made possible by two seismic changes at the time, firstly,
03:05the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe, and secondly, a general liberalization within
03:10the Soviet Union under President Mikhail Gorbachev.
03:13It was a momentous occasion, and one many compared to the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany about
03:19six months previously.
03:43A second Bridge of Flowers event followed on June 16, 1991.
03:47On that day, people from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic were allowed to cross the
03:53border into Romania.
03:54The part of Grzesht on the other side of the river is part of Romania.
03:58Although it's only one kilometre away as the crow flies, people who want to get here from
04:03Moldova have to travel almost 75 kilometres to the next border checkpoint.
04:08Because Romania is a member of the EU but Moldova is not, this border is also part of the EU's
04:13eastern frontier.
04:15People in both parts of the village speak the same language, Romanian, and share the same
04:20traditions.
04:22Some would like the Republic of Moldova to reunite with Romania.
04:26We are the same blood, the same blood, but we can't do something there.
04:31I don't know.
04:32We have to be united until a certain time, because there have been so many years that they
04:38have not given any result.
04:40We hope.
04:41This view is not, however, shared by everyone.
04:44Polls show that only 30 to 40 percent of Moldovans would vote for reunification with Romania in
04:50a referendum.
04:51In Romania, this figure stands at 57 percent.
04:55Alexandru, Valeriu and Vladimir returned to the Prut River, where they witnessed the Bridge
05:00of Flowers 35 years ago.
05:02I wanted to take it.
05:04They were all over the place.
05:06We were all over the place.
05:08We were all over the place.
05:10We were all over the place.
05:10We were all over the place.
05:12I'm so excited about the people.
05:15I like to see the bridge built here in the village.
05:18I walk with the bridge and go back to the bridge and I'll die and go back to the bridge.
05:25Even if the days of barbed wire and Soviet guards are long gone, villagers on both banks
05:31of the river still yearn for a time when borders will be a thing of the past, if not through
05:36a union with Romania, then at least through Moldova's accession to the European Union.
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