title: Moldova

text: During the periods 1940–1941 and 1944–1953, deportations of locals to the northern Urals, to Siberia, and northern Kazakhstan occurred regularly, with the largest ones on 12–13 June 1941, and 5–6 July 1949, accounting from MSSR alone for 18,392 and 35,796 deportees respectively. Other forms of Soviet persecution of the population included political arrests or, in 8,360 cases, execution.


title: Moldova

text: In 1946, as a result of a severe drought and excessive delivery quota obligations and requisitions imposed by the Soviet government, the southwestern part of the USSR suffered from a major famine. In 1946–1947, at least 216,000 deaths and about 350,000 cases of dystrophy were accounted by historians in the Moldavian SSR alone. Similar events occurred in the 1930s in the Moldavian ASSR. In 1944–53, there were several anti-Soviet resistance groups in Moldova; however the NKVD and later MGB managed to eventually arrest, execute or deport their members.


title: Moldova

text: In the postwar period, the Soviet government organized the immigration of working age Russian speakers (mostly Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians), into the new Soviet republic, especially into urbanized areas, partly to compensate for the demographic loss caused by the war and the emigration of 1940 and 1944. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Moldavian SSR received substantial allocations from the budget of the USSR to develop industrial and scientific facilities and housing. In 1971, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted a decision "About the measures for further development of the city of Kishinev" (modern Chișinău), that allotted more than one billion roubles (approximately 6.8 billion in 2018 US dollars) from the USSR budget for building projects.


title: Moldova

text: The Soviet government conducted a campaign to promote a Moldovan ethnic identity distinct from that of the Romanians, based on a theory developed during the existence of the Moldavian ASSR. Official Soviet policy asserted that the language spoken by Moldovans was distinct from the Romanian language (see Moldovenism). To distinguish the two, during the Soviet period, Moldovan was written in the Cyrillic alphabet, in contrast with Romanian, which since 1860 had been written in the Latin alphabet.


title: Moldova

text: All independent organizations were severely reprimanded, with the National Patriotic Front leaders being sentenced in 1972 to long prison terms. The Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova is assessing the activity of the communist totalitarian regime.


title: Moldova

text: In the 1980s, amid political conditions created by glasnost and perestroika, a Democratic Movement of Moldova was formed, which in 1989 became known as the nationalist Popular Front of Moldova (FPM). Along with several other Soviet republics, from 1988 onwards, Moldova started to move towards independence. On 27 August 1989, the FPM organized a mass demonstration in Chișinău that became known as the Grand National Assembly. The assembly pressured the authorities of the Moldavian SSR to adopt a language law on 31 August 1989 that proclaimed the Moldovan language written in the Latin script to be the state language of the MSSR. Its identity with the Romanian language was also established. In 1989, as opposition to the Communist Party grew, there were major riots in November.


title: Moldova

text: The first democratic elections for the local parliament were held in February and March 1990. Mircea Snegur was elected as Speaker of the Parliament, and Mircea Druc as Prime Minister. On 23 June 1990, the Parliament adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of the "Soviet Socialist Republic Moldova", which, among other things, stipulated the supremacy of Moldovan laws over those of the Soviet Union. After the failure of the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, Moldova declared its independence on 27 August 1991.


title: Moldova

text: On 21 December of the same year, Moldova, along with most of the other Soviet republics, signed the constitutive act that formed the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Moldova received official recognition on 25 December. On 26 December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Declaring itself a neutral state, Moldova did not join the military branch of the CIS. Three months later, on 2 March 1992, the country gained formal recognition as an independent state at the United Nations. In 1994, Moldova became a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, and a member of the Council of Europe on 29 June 1995.


title: Moldova

text: In the region east of the Dniester river, Transnistria, which includes a large proportion of predominantly russophone East Slavs of Ukrainian (28%) and Russian (26%) descent (altogether 54% as of 1989), an independent Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on 16 August 1990, with its capital in Tiraspol. The motives behind this move were fear of the rise of nationalism in Moldova. In the winter of 1991–1992, clashes occurred between Transnistrian forces, supported by elements of the 14th Guards Army, and the Moldovan police. Between 2 March and 26 July 1992, the conflict escalated into a military engagement. It was a brief war between Moldovan and separatist Transnistrian forces, with Russia intervening militarily on Transnistria's side. It ended with a ceasefire and the establishment of a security zone policed by a three-way peacekeeping force of Russian, Transnistrian, and Moldovan personnel.


title: Moldova

text: On 2 January 1992, Moldova introduced a market economy, liberalizing prices, which resulted in rapid inflation. From 1992 to 2001, the country suffered a serious economic crisis, leaving most of the population below the poverty line. In 1993, the Government of Moldova introduced a new national currency, the Moldovan leu, to replace the temporary cupon. The economy of Moldova began to change in 2001; and until 2008, the country saw a steady annual growth between 5% and 10%. The early 2000s also saw a considerable growth of emigration of Moldovans looking for work (mostly illegally) in Russia (especially the Moscow region), Italy, Portugal, Spain, and other countries; remittances from Moldovans abroad account for almost 38% of Moldova's GDP, the second-highest percentage in the world, after Tajikistan (45%).


title: Moldova

text: In the 1994 parliamentary elections, the Democratic Agrarian Party gained a majority of the seats, setting a turning point in Moldovan politics. With the nationalist Popular Front now in a parliamentary minority, new measures aiming to moderate the ethnic tensions in the country could be adopted. Plans for a union with Romania were abandoned, and the new Constitution gave autonomy to the breakaway Transnistria and Gagauzia. On 23 December 1994, the Parliament of Moldova adopted a "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia", and in 1995, the latter was constituted.


title: Moldova

text: After winning the 1996 presidential elections, on 15 January 1997, Petru Lucinschi, the former First Secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party in 1989–91, became the country's second president (1997–2001), succeeding Mircea Snegur (1991–1996). In 2000, the Constitution was amended, transforming Moldova into a parliamentary republic, with the president being chosen through indirect election rather than direct popular vote.


title: Moldova

text: Winning 49.9% of the vote, the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (reinstituted in 1993 after being outlawed in 1991), gained 71 of the 101 MPs, and on 4 April 2001, elected Vladimir Voronin as the country's third president (re-elected in 2005). The country became the first post-Soviet state where a non-reformed Communist Party returned to power. New governments were formed by Vasile Tarlev (19 April 2001 – 31 March 2008), and Zinaida Greceanîi (31 March 2008 – 14 September 2009). In 2001–2003, relations between Moldova and Russia improved, but then temporarily deteriorated in 2003–2006, in the wake of the failure of the Kozak memorandum, culminating in the 2006 wine exports crisis. The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova managed to stay in power for eight years.


title: Moldova

text: In the April 2009 parliamentary elections, the Communist Party won 49.48% of the votes, followed by the Liberal Party with 13.14% of the votes, the Liberal Democratic Party with 12.43%, and the Alliance "Moldova Noastră" with 9.77%. The controversial results of this election sparked the April 2009 Moldovan parliamentary election protests.


title: Moldova

text: In August 2009, four Moldovan parties (Liberal Democratic Party, Liberal Party, Democratic Party, and Our Moldova Alliance) agreed to create the Alliance For European Integration that pushed the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova into opposition. On 28 August 2009, this coalition chose a new parliament speaker (Mihai Ghimpu) in a vote that was boycotted by Communist legislators. Vladimir Voronin, who had been President of Moldova since 2001, eventually resigned on 11 September 2009, but the Parliament failed to elect a new president. The acting president Mihai Ghimpu instituted the Commission for constitutional reform in Moldova to adopt a new version of the Constitution of Moldova. After the constitutional referendum aimed to approve the reform failed in September 2010, the parliament was dissolved again and a new parliamentary election was scheduled for 28 November 2010. On 30 December 2010, Marian Lupu was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament and the acting President of the Republic of Moldova. In March 2012, Nicolae Timofti was elected as president of Moldova in a parliamentary vote, becoming the first full-time president since Vladimir Voronin, a Communist, resigned in September 2009. Before the election of Timofti, Moldova had had three acting presidents in three years. After the Alliance for European Integration lost a no confidence vote, the Pro-European Coalition was formed on 30 May 2013.


title: Moldova

text: In November 2014, Moldova's central bank took control of "Banca de Economii", the country's largest lender, and two smaller institutions, "Banca Sociala" and "Unibank". Investigations into activities at these three banks uncovered large-scale fraud by means of fraudulent loans to business entities controlled by a Moldovan-Israeli business oligarch, Ilan Shor, of funds worth about 1 billion U.S. dollars. The large scale of the fraud compared to the size of the Moldovan economy is cited as tilting the country's politics in favour of the pro-Russian Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova. In 2015, Shor was still at large, after a period of house arrest.


title: Moldova

text: Following a period of political instability and massive public protests, a new government led by Pavel Filip was invested in January 2016. Concerns over statewide corruption, the independence of the judiciary system, and the nontransparency of the banking system were expressed. Germany's broadcaster Deutsche Welle also raised concerns about the alleged influence of Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc over the Filip government.


title: Moldova

text: In the December 2016 presidential election, Socialist, pro-Russian Igor Dodon was elected as the new president of the republic.


title: Moldova

text: In 2019, from 7 to 15 June, the Moldovan government went through a period of dual power in what is known as the 2019 Moldovan constitutional crisis. On 7 June, the Constitutional Court, which is largely believed to be controlled by Vladimir Plahotniuc from the Democratic Party, announced that they had temporarily removed the sitting president, Igor Dodon, from power due to his ‘inability’ to call new parliamentary elections as the parliament did not form a coalition within three months of the validation of the election results. According to Moldovan constitutional law, the president may call snap elections if no government is formed after three months. However, on 8 June, the NOW Platform DA and PAS reached an agreement with the Socialist party forming a government led by Maia Sandu as the new prime minister, pushing the Democratic Party out of power. This new government was also supported by Igor Dodon. The new coalition and Igor Dodon argued that the president may call snap elections after consulting the parliament but is not obliged to do so. Additionally, because the election results were verified on 9 March, three months should be interpreted as three calendar months, not 90 days as was the case. The former prime minister, Pavel Filip from the Democratic Party, said that new parliamentary elections would be held on 6 September and refused to recognize the new coalition, calling it an illegal government. After a week of dual government meetings, some protest, and the international community mostly supporting the new government coalition, Pavel Filip stepped down as prime minister but still called for new elections. The Constitutional court repealed the decision on 15 June, effectively ending the crisis.


title: Moldova

text: In March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government called a "national red code alert" as the number of coronavirus cases in the country rose to six on 13 March 2020. Government "banned all gatherings of over 50 people until 1 April 2020 and closed all schools and kindergartens in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus". Flights were banned to Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, the U.K., Poland, Portugal and Romania. On 17 March, Parliament declared a state of emergency for at least 60 days, suspended all international flights and closed borders with neighbours Romania and Ukraine. Moldova reported 29 cases of the disease on 17 March 2020. The country reported its first death from the disease on 18 March 2020, when the total number of cases reached 30.


title: Moldova

text: In the November 2020 presidential election, the pro-European opposition candidate Maia Sandu was elected as the new president of the republic, defeating incumbent pro-Russian president Igor Dodon and thus becoming the first female elected president of Moldova. In December 2020, Prime Minister Ion Chicu, who had led a pro-Russian government since November 2019, resigned a day before Sandu was sworn in. The parliament, dominated by pro-Russian Socialists, did not accept any Prime Minister candidate proposed by the new president. On 28 April 2021, Sandu dissolved the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova after the Constitutional Court ended Moldova's state of emergency which had been brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Parliamentary elections took place on 11 July 2021. The snap parliamentary elections resulted in a landslide win for the pro-European Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS). On 6 August 2021, the Natalia Gavrilița-led cabinet was sworn in to office with 61 votes, all from the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS).


title: Moldova

text: In February 2022 Sandu condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it "a blatant breach of international law and of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity." Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita stated on 28 February 2022 that Moldova should rapidly move to become a member of the European Union; the country submitted a formal application for EU membership on 3 March 2022, and was subsequently granted the status of candidate country by the European Council on 23 June 2022 along with Ukraine.


title: Moldova

text: On 26 April 2022, authorities from the Transnistria region said two transmitting antennas broadcasting Russian radio programs at Grigoriopol transmitter broadcasting facility near the town of Maiac in the Grigoriopol District near the Ukrainian border had been blown up and the previous evening, the premises of the Transnistrian state security service had been attacked. The Russian army has a military base and a large ammunition dump in the region. Russia has about 1,500 soldiers stationed in breakaway Transnistria. They are supposed to serve there as peacekeepers.


title: Moldova

text: On 24 May 2022, the former president of Moldova, Igor Dodon, was arrested. Dodon, leader of Moldova's main pro-Russian opposition, Socialist Party, was accused of taking bribes. Moldova's pro-Western and pro-Russian factions became increasingly divided since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.


title: Moldova

text: On 31 Oct 2022, Moldova's Interior Ministry said that debris from a Russian missile landed in the northern village of Naslavcea after a Russian fusillade was intercepted by air defenses in neighboring Ukraine. The Ministry reported no people were hurt but the windows of several residential homes were shattered. The Russian strike was targeting a Ukrainian dam on the Nistru river that runs through Moldova and Ukraine. On 5 December, another missile fell near the city of Briceni as Russia launched another wave of missile strikes against Ukraine.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova is a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic. The 1994 Constitution of Moldova sets the framework for the government of the country. A parliamentary majority of at least two-thirds is required to amend the Constitution of Moldova, which cannot be revised in times of war or national emergency. Amendments to the Constitution affecting the state's sovereignty, independence, or unity can only be made after a majority of voters support the proposal in a referendum. Furthermore, no revision can be made to limit the fundamental rights of people enumerated in the Constitution.The country's central legislative body is the unicameral Moldovan Parliament (""), which has 101 seats, and whose members are elected by popular vote on party lists every four years.


title: Moldova

text: The head of state is the President of Moldova, who between 2001 and 2015 was elected by the Moldovan Parliament, requiring the support of three-fifths of the deputies (at least 61 votes). This system was designed to decrease executive authority in favour of the legislature. Nevertheless, the Constitutional Court ruled on 4 March 2016, that this constitutional change adopted in 2000 regarding the presidential election was unconstitutional, thus reverting the election method of the president to a two-round system direct election.


title: Moldova

text: The president appoints a prime minister who functions as the head of government, and who in turn assembles a cabinet, both subject to parliamentary approval.


title: Moldova

text: The 1994 constitution also establishes an independent Constitutional Court, composed of six judges (two appointed by the President, two by Parliament, and two by the Supreme Council of Magistrature), serving six-year terms, during which they are irremovable and not subordinate to any power. The court is invested with the power of judicial review over all acts of parliament, over presidential decrees, and over international treaties signed by the country.


title: Moldova

text: On 19 December 2016, Moldovan MPs approved raising the retirement age to 63 years from the current level of 57 for women and 62 for men, a reform that is part of a 3-year-old assistance program agreed with the International Monetary Fund. The retirement age will be lifted gradually by a few months every year until it is fully in effect in 2028.


title: Moldova

text: Life expectancy in the ex-Soviet country (which is among Europe's poorest) is 67.5 years for men and 75.5 years for women. In a country with a population of 3.5 million, of which 1 million are abroad, there are more than 700,000 pensioners.


title: Moldova

text: After achieving independence from the Soviet Union, Moldova's foreign policy was designed with a view to establishing relations with other European countries, neutrality, and European Union integration. In 1995 the country was admitted to the Council of Europe.


title: Moldova

text: In addition to its participation in NATO's Partnership for Peace programme, Moldova is also a member state of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the North Atlantic Cooperation Council, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Francophonie and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.


title: Moldova

text: In 2005, Moldova and the European Union established an action plan that sought to improve cooperation between Moldova and the union. At the end of 2005, the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) was established at the joint request of the presidents of Moldova and Ukraine. EUBAM assists the Moldovan and Ukrainian governments in approximating their border and customs procedures to EU standards and offers support in both countries' fight against cross-border crime.


title: Moldova

text: After the 1990–1992 War of Transnistria, Moldova sought a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Transnistria region by working with Romania, Ukraine, and Russia, calling for international mediation, and co-operating with the OSCE and UN fact-finding and observer missions. The foreign minister of Moldova, Andrei Stratan, repeatedly stated that the Russian troops stationed in the breakaway region were there against the will of the Moldovan government and called on them to leave "completely and unconditionally". In 2012, a security zone incident resulted in the death of a civilian, raising tensions with Russia.


title: Moldova

text: In September 2010, the European Parliament approved a grant of €90 million to Moldova. The money was to supplement US$570 million in International Monetary Fund loans, World Bank and other bilateral support already granted to Moldova. In April 2010, Romania offered Moldova development aid worth of €100 million while the number of scholarships for Moldovan students doubled to 5,000. According to a lending agreement signed in February 2010, Poland provided US$15 million as a component of its support for Moldova in its European integration efforts. The first joint meeting of the Governments of Romania and Moldova, held in March 2012, concluded with several bilateral agreements in various fields. The European orientation "has been the policy of Moldova in recent years and this is the policy that must continue," Nicolae Timofti told lawmakers before his election.


title: Moldova

text: On 29 November 2013, at a summit in Vilnius, Moldova signed an association agreement with the European Union dedicated to the European Union's 'Eastern Partnership' with ex-Soviet countries. The ex-Romanian President Traian Băsescu stated that Romania will make all efforts for Moldova to join the EU as soon as possible. Likewise, Traian Băsescu declared that the unification of Moldova with Romania is the next national project for Romania, as more than 75% of the population speaks Romanian.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova signed the Association Agreement with the European Union in Brussels on 27 June 2014. The signing came after the accord was drafted in Vilnius in November 2013.


title: Moldova

text: Religious leaders play a role in shaping foreign policy. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Government has frequently used its connections with the Russian Orthodox Church to block and stymie the integration of former Soviet states like Moldova into the West.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova signed the membership application to join the EU on 3 March 2022. On 23 June 2022, Moldova was officially granted candidate status by EU leaders.


title: Moldova

text: The Moldovan armed forces consists of the Ground Forces and Air Force. Moldova has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union. On 30 October 1992, Moldova ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment and provides for the destruction of weapons in excess of those limits. The country acceded to the provisions of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in October 1994 in Washington, D.C. It does not have nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological weapons. Moldova joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Partnership for Peace on 16 March 1994.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova is committed to a number of international and regional control of arms regulations such as the UN Firearms Protocol, Stability Pact Regional Implementation Plan, the UN Programme of Action (PoA) and the OSCE Documents on Stockpiles of Conventional Ammunition.


title: Moldova

text: Since declaring independence in 1991, Moldova has participated in UN peacekeeping missions in Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Sudan and Georgia.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova signed a military agreement with Romania to strengthen regional security. The agreement is part of Moldova's strategy to reform its military and cooperate with its neighbours.


title: Moldova

text: On 12 November 2014, the US donated to Moldovan Armed Forces 39 Humvees and 10 trailers, with a value of US$700,000, to the 22nd Peacekeeping Battalion of the Moldovan National Army to "increase the capability of Moldovan peacekeeping contingents."


title: Moldova

text: According to Amnesty International, as of 2004 "Torture and other ill-treatment in police detention remained widespread; the state failed to carry out prompt and impartial investigations and police officers sometimes evaded penalties. Political dissidents from Ilașcu Group were released from arbitrary detention in the break-away Transdinester region only after an order of the European Court of Human Rights." In 2009, when Moldova experienced its most serious civil unrest in a decade, several civilians, including Valeriu Boboc, were killed and many more injured.


title: Moldova

text: According to Human Rights Report of the United States Department of State, released in April 2011, "In contrast to the previous year, there were no reports of killings by security forces. During the year reports of government exercising undue influence over the media substantially decreased." But "Transnistrian authorities continued to harass independent media and opposition lawmakers; restrict freedom of association, movement, and religion; and discriminate against Romanian speakers." Moldova "has made noteworthy progress on religious freedom since the era of the Soviet Union, but it can still take further steps to foster diversity," said the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Heiner Bielefeldt, in Chișinău, in September 2011. Moldova improved its legislation by enacting the "Law on Preventing and Combating Family Violence", in 2008.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova is divided into 32 districts ("raioane", singular "raion"), three municipalities and two autonomous regions (Gagauzia and the Left Bank of the Dniester). The final status of Transnistria is disputed, as the central government does not control that territory. 10 other cities, including Comrat and Tiraspol, the administrative seats of the two autonomous territories, also have municipality status.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova has 66 cities (towns), including 13 with municipality status, and 916 communes. Another 700 villages are too small to have a separate administration and are administratively part of either cities (41 of them) or communes (659). This makes for a total of 1,682 localities in Moldova, two of which are uninhabited.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova lies between latitudes 45° and 49° N, and mostly between meridians 26° and 30° E (a small area lies east of 30°). The total land area is


title: Moldova

text: The largest part of the country (around 88% of the area) lies in Bessarabia region, between Prut and Dniester rivers, while a narrow strip in the east is located in Transnistria (east of the Dniester). The western border of Moldova is formed by the Prut river, which joins the Danube before flowing into the Black Sea. Moldova has access to the Danube for only about , and Giurgiulești is the only Moldovan port on the Danube. In the east, the Dniester is the main river, flowing through the country from north to south, receiving the waters of Răut, Bîc, Ichel, Botna. Ialpug flows into one of the Danube limans, while Cogâlnic into the Black Sea chain of limans.


title: Moldova

text: The country is landlocked, though it is close to the Black Sea; at its closest point it is separated from the Dniester Liman, an estuary of the Black Sea, by only 3 km of Ukrainian territory. While most of the country is hilly, elevations never exceed – the highest point being the Bălănești Hill. Moldova's hills are part of the Moldavian Plateau, which geologically originate from the Carpathian Mountains. Its subdivisions in Moldova include the Dniester Hills (Northern Moldavian Hills and Dniester Ridge), the Moldavian Plain (Middle Prut Valley and Bălți Steppe), and the Central Moldavian Plateau (Ciuluc-Soloneț Hills, Cornești Hills—Codri Massive, "Codri" meaning "forests"—Lower Dniester Hills, Lower Prut Valley, and Tigheci Hills). In the south, the country has a small flatland, the Bugeac Plain. The territory of Moldova east of the river Dniester is split between parts of the Podolian Plateau, and parts of the Eurasian Steppe.


title: Moldova

text: The country's main cities are the capital Chișinău, in the centre of the country, Tiraspol (in the eastern region of Transnistria), Bălți (in the north) and Bender (in the south-east). Comrat is the administrative centre of Gagauzia.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova has a climate which is moderately continental; its proximity to the Black Sea leads to the climate being mildly cold in the autumn and winter and relatively cool in the spring and summer.


title: Moldova

text: The summers are warm and long, with temperatures averaging about and the winters are relatively mild and dry, with January temperatures averaging . Annual rainfall, which ranges from around in the north to in the south, can vary greatly; long dry spells are not unusual. The heaviest rainfall occurs in early summer and again in October; heavy showers and thunderstorms are common. Because of the irregular terrain, heavy summer rains often cause erosion and river silting.


title: Moldova

text: The highest temperature ever recorded in Moldova was on 21 July 2007 in Camenca. The lowest temperature ever recorded was on 20 January 1963 in Brătușeni, Edineț county.


title: Moldova

text: Phytogeographically, Moldova is split between the East European Plain and the Pontic–Caspian steppe of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. It is home to three terrestrial ecoregions: Central European mixed forests, East European forest steppe, and Pontic steppe. Forests currently cover only 11% of Moldova, though the state is making efforts to increase their range. It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 2.2/10, ranking it 158th globally out of 172 countries. Game animals, such as red deer, roe deer and wild boar can be found in these wooded areas.


title: Moldova

text: The environment of Moldova suffered extreme degradation during the Soviet period, when industrial and agricultural development proceeded without regard for environmental protection. Excessive use of pesticides resulted in heavily polluted topsoil, and industries lacked emission controls. Founded in 1990, the Ecological Movement of Moldova, a national, non-governmental, nonprofit organization which is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature has been working to restore Moldova's damaged natural environment. The movement is national representative of the Center "Naturopa" of the Council of Europe and United Nations Environment Programme of the United Nations.


title: Moldova

text: Once possessing a range from the British Isles through Central Asia over the Bering Strait into Alaska and Canada's Yukon as well as the Northwest Territories, saigas survived in Moldova and Romania into the late 18th century. Deforestation, demographic pressure, as well as excessive hunting eradicated the native saiga herds which is currently threatened with extinction. They were considered a characteristic animal of Scythia in antiquity. Historian Strabo referred to the saigas as the "kolos", describing it as "between the deer and ram in size" which (understandably but wrongly) was believed to drink through its nose.


title: Moldova

text: Another animal which was extinct in Moldova since the 18th century until recently was the European Wood Bison or wisent. The species was reintroduced with the arrival of three European bison from Białowieża Forest in Poland several days before Moldova's Independence Day on 27 August 2005. Moldova is currently interested in expanding their wisent population, and began talks with Belarus in 2019 regarding a bison exchange program between the two countries.


title: Moldova

text: After the breakup of the USSR in 1991, energy shortages, political uncertainty, trade obstacles and weak administrative capacity contributed to the decline of Moldova's economy. As a part of an ambitious economic liberalization effort, Moldova introduced a convertible currency, liberalized all prices, stopped issuing preferential credits to state enterprises, backed steady land privatization, removed export controls, and liberalized interest rates. The government entered into agreements with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to promote growth.


title: Moldova

text: The economy subsequently declined from 1991 to 1999. Since 2000, however, the country's GDP (PPP) grew significantly:


title: Moldova

text: Although estimates point to possible modest overvaluation of the real exchange rate, external competitiveness appears broadly adequate as reflected in strong sustained export performance. However, the near-term economic outlook is weak. Main risks to the near-term outlook relate to serious vulnerabilities and governance issues in the banking sector, policy slippages in the run up to the elections, intensification of geopolitical tensions in the region, and a further slowdown in activity in main trading partners.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova remains highly vulnerable to fluctuations in remittances from workers abroad (which constitute 24 percent of GDP), exports to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and European Union (EU) (88 per cent of total exports), and donor support (about 10 per cent of government spending). The main transmission channels through which adverse exogenous shocks could impact the Moldovan economy are remittances (also due to potentially returning migrants), external trade, and capital flows.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova largely achieved the main objectives of the combined ECF/EFF (IMF financial credit) supported program. The economy recovered from the drought-related contraction in 2012.


title: Moldova

text: The gross average monthly salary in the Republic of Moldova has registered a steady positive growth after 1999, being 5906 lei or 298 euros in 2018.


title: Moldova

text: Corporate governance in the banking sector is a major concern. In line with FSAP recommendations, significant weaknesses in the legal and regulatory frameworks must be urgently addressed to ensure stability and soundness of the financial sector. Moldova has achieved a substantial degree of fiscal consolidation in recent years, but this trend is now reversing. Resisting pre-election pressures for selective spending increases and returning to the path of fiscal consolidation would reduce reliance on exceptionally high donor support. Structural fiscal reforms would help safeguard sustainability. Monetary policy has been successful in maintaining inflation within the NBM's target range. The implementation of structural reforms outlined in the National Development Strategy (NDS) Moldova 2020—especially in the business environment, physical infrastructure, and human resources development areas—would help boost potential growth and reduce poverty. Moldova's remarkable recovery from the severe recession of 2009 was largely the result of sound macroeconomic and financial policies and structural reforms. Despite a small contraction in 2012, Moldova's economic performance was among the strongest in the region during 2010–13. Economic activity grew cumulatively by about 24 percent; consumer price inflation was brought under control; and real wages increased cumulatively by about 13 percent. This expansion was made possible by adequate macroeconomic stabilization measures and ambitious structural reforms implemented in the wake of the crisis under a Fund-supported program. In November 2013, Moldova initialed an Association Agreement with the EU which includes provisions establishing a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA).


title: Moldova

text: A political crisis in early 2013 led to policy slippages in the fiscal and financial areas. The political crisis that broke out in early 2013 was resolved with the appointment of a government supported by a pro-European center-right/center coalition in May 2013. However, delays in policy implementation prevented completion of the final reviews under the ECF/EFF arrangements.


title: Moldova

text: Despite a sharp decline in poverty in recent years, Moldova remains one of the poorest countries in Europe and structural reforms are needed to promote sustainable growth. Based on the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) regional poverty line of US$5/day (PPP), 55 percent of the population was poor in 2011. While this was significantly lower than 94 percent in 2002, Moldova's poverty rate is still more than double the ECA average of 25 percent. The NDS—Moldova (National Development System) 2020, which was published in November 2012, focuses on several critical areas to boost economic development and reduce poverty. These include education, infrastructure, financial sector, business climate, energy consumption, pension system, and judicial framework. Following the regional financial crisis in 1998, Moldova has made significant progress towards achieving and retaining macroeconomic and financial stabilization. It has, furthermore, implemented many structural and institutional reforms that are indispensable for the efficient functioning of a market economy. These efforts have helped maintain macroeconomic and financial stability under difficult external circumstances, enabled the resumption of economic growth and contributed to establishing an environment conducive to the economy's further growth and development in the medium term.


title: Moldova

text: The government's goal of EU integration has resulted in some market-oriented progress. Moldova experienced better than expected economic growth in 2013 due to increased agriculture production, to economic policies adopted by the Moldovan government since 2009, and to the receipt of EU trade preferences connecting Moldovan products to the world's largest market. Moldova has signed the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the European Union during summer 2014. Moldova has also achieved a Free Visa Regime with the EU which represents the biggest achievement of Moldovan diplomacy since independence. Still, growth has been hampered by high prices for Russian natural gas, a Russian import ban on Moldovan wine, increased foreign scrutiny of Moldovan agricultural products, and by Moldova's large external debt. Over the longer term, Moldova's economy remains vulnerable to political uncertainty, weak administrative capacity, vested bureaucratic interests, corruption, higher fuel prices, Russian pressure, and the separatist regime in Moldova's Transnistria region.


title: Moldova

text: According to IMF World Economic Outlook April 2014, the Moldovan GDP (PPP) per capita is 3,927 International Dollars, excluding grey economy and tax evasion.


title: Moldova

text: With few natural energy resources, Moldova imports almost all of its energy supplies from Russia and Ukraine. Moldova's dependence on Russian energy is underscored by a growing US$5 billion debt to Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom, largely the result of unreimbursed natural gas consumption in the separatist Transnistria region. In August 2013, work began on a new pipeline between Moldova and Romania that may eventually break Russia's monopoly on Moldova's gas supplies. Moldova is a partner country of the EU INOGATE energy programme, which has four key topics: enhancing energy security, convergence of member state energy markets on the basis of EU internal energy market principles, supporting sustainable energy development, and attracting investment for energy projects of common and regional interest.


title: Moldova

text: The country has a well-established wine industry. It has a vineyard area of , of which are used for commercial production. Most of the country's wine production is made for export. Many families have their own recipes and grape varieties that have been passed down through the generations. There are 3 historical wine regions: Valul lui Traian (south west), Stefan Voda (south east) and Codru (center), destined for the production of wines with protected geographic indication. Mileștii Mici is the home of the largest wine cellar in the world. It stretches for (though only is in use) and holds almost 2 million bottles of wine


title: Moldova

text: Moldova's rich soil and temperate continental climate (with warm summers and mild winters) have made the country one of the most productive agricultural regions since ancient times, and a major supplier of agricultural products in southeastern Europe. In agriculture, the economic reform started with the land cadastre reform.


title: Moldova

text: The main means of transportation in Moldova are railways and a highway system ( overall, including of paved surfaces). The sole international air gateway of Moldova is the Chișinău International Airport. The Giurgiulești terminal on the Danube is compatible with small seagoing vessels. Shipping on the lower Prut and Nistru rivers plays only a modest role in the country's transportation system.


title: Moldova

text: The first million mobile telephone users were registered in September 2005. The number of mobile telephone users in Moldova increased by 47.3% in the first quarter of 2008 against the last year and exceeded 2.89 million.


title: Moldova

text: In September 2009, Moldova was the first country in the world to launch high-definition voice services (HD voice) for mobile phones, and the first country in Europe to launch 14.4 Mbit/s mobile broadband on a national scale, with over 40% population coverage.


title: Moldova

text: As of the 2014 census, Moldovans were the largest ethnic group of Moldova (75.1% of the population). In addition, 7.0% of the population declared themselves Romanians, amid the controversy over ethnic and linguistic identity in Moldova. Although historical, the polarization based on ethnolinguistic criteria of the majority ethnic group reappeared with the national revival movement of the late 1980s, and, so far, there is no consensus regarding the mainstream identity in the Republic of Moldova (Moldovan or Romanian).


title: Moldova

text: The country also has important minority ethnic communities, as shown in the table below. Gagauz, 4.4% of the population, are Christian Turkic people. Greeks, Armenians, Poles, Ukrainians, although not numerous, were present as early as the 17th century, and have contributed cultural marks. The 19th century saw the arrival of many more Ukrainians from Podolia and Galicia, as well as new communities, such as Lipovans, Russians, Bulgarians, and Germans. Most of Moldova's Jewish population emigrated between 1979 and 2004.


title: Moldova

text: According to the 2014 census preliminary data, 2,998,235 inhabitants lived in Moldova (within the areas controlled by the central government), an 11.3% decrease from the figure recorded at the 2004 census. It is estimated that, as of 2022, 43.2% of the total population live in urban areas, and that the urbanization rate is 0.09%.


title: Moldova

text: According to the last census in Transnistria (October 2015), the population of the region was 475,373, a 14.47% decrease from the figure recorded at the 2004 census. The urbanization rate was 69.9%. By ethnic composition, the population of Transnistria was distributed as follows: Russians - 29.1%, Moldovans - 28.6%, Ukrainians - 22.9%, Bulgarians - 2.4%, Gagauzians - 1.1%, Belarusians - 0.5%, Transnistrian - 0.2%, other nationalities - 1.4%. About 14% of the population did not declare their nationality. Also, for the first time, the population had the option to identify as "Transnistrian".


title: Moldova

text: The 1991 Declaration of Independence names the official language Romanian. The Constitution of 1994 stated that the national language of the Republic of Moldova was Moldovan, and its writing is based on the Latin alphabet.


title: Moldova

text: In 2013, the Constitutional Court of Moldova ruled that the name "Romanian", as used in the Declaration of Independence to identify the official language, prevails over the name "Moldovan", given in Article 13 of the Constitution.


title: Moldova

text: At the 2014 census (which did not include data from the Transnistrian region), 54.7% of the population named Moldovan whereas 24.0% named Romanian as their first language in daily use. Although only 4.1% are ethnic Russians, Russian is still used as the main language by 14.5% of the total population. Around 50% of ethnic Ukrainians, 33% of Gagauz, 33% of Bulgarians, and 5.7% of Moldovans declared Russian as their daily use language.


title: Moldova

text: Historically Russian was taught in schools as the first foreign language, because of the relationship with the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. In the 21st century, the primary foreign language taught in the schools is English. In 2013 more than 60% of schoolchildren took it as their first foreign language. This was followed by French, taken by less than 50% of students. Since 1996, the Republic of Moldova has been a full member of La Francophonie. German was the third-ranked choice.


title: Moldova

text: The Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova (the Moldovan Orthodox Church), autonomous and subordinated to the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Metropolis of Bessarabia (the Bessarabian Orthodox Church), autonomous and subordinated to the Romanian Orthodox Church, both claim to be the national church of the country. For the 2004 census, Orthodox Christians, who make up 93.3% of Moldova's population, were not required to declare the particular of the two main churches they belong to. As of 2020, the U.S. Department of State estimated that 90% of the Orthodox adherents belong to the Moldovan Orthodox Church. More than 2.0% of the population is Protestant including a growing number of Jehovah's Witnesses, 0.9% belongs to other religions, 1.0% is non-religious, 0.4% is atheist, and 2.2% did not answer the religion question at the census.


title: Moldova

text: There are 16 state and 15 private institutions of higher education in Moldova, with a total of 126,100 students, including 104,300 in the state institutions and 21,700 in the private ones. The number of students per 10,000 inhabitants in Moldova has been constantly growing since the collapse of the Soviet Union, reaching 217 in 2000–2001, and 351 in 2005–2006.


title: Moldova

text: The National Library of Moldova was founded in 1832. The Moldova State University and the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, the main scientific organizations of Moldova, were established in 1946. The Republic of Moldova was ranked 64th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 58th in 2019.


title: Moldova

text: , Romania allocates 5,000 scholarships in high schools and universities for Moldovan students. Likewise, more than half of preschool children in Moldova benefit from Romania funded program to renovate and equip kindergartens. Almost all the population is literate: the literacy rate of the population aged 15 and over is estimated at 99.4% ().


title: Moldova

text: The CIA World Factbook lists widespread crime and underground economic activity among major issues in Moldova. Human trafficking of Moldovan women and children to other parts of Europe is a serious problem.


title: Moldova

text: In 2014, US$1 billion disappeared from three of Moldova's leading banks. In two days, loans worth US$1 billion were transferred in to United Kingdom and Hong Kong-registered companies whose ultimate owners are unknown. Banks are administered by the National Bank of Moldova, so this loss was covered from state reserves.


title: Moldova

text: The total fertility rate (TFR) in Moldova was estimated in 2015 at 1.56 children/woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1. In 2012, the average age of women at first birth was 23.9 years, with 75.2% of births being to women under 30, and 22.4% of births being to unmarried women. The maternal mortality rate was 41 deaths/100,000 live births (in 2010) and the infant mortality rate was 12.59 deaths/1,000 live births (in 2015). The life expectancy in 2015 was estimated at 70.42 years (66.55 years male, 74.54 years female).


title: Moldova

text: Public expenditure on health was 4.2% of the GDP and private expenditure on health 3.2%. There are about 264 physicians per 100,000 people. Health expenditure was US$138 (PPP) per capita in 2004.


title: Moldova

text: Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the country has seen a decrease in spending on health care and, as a result, the tuberculosis incidence rate in the country has grown. According to a 2009 study, Moldova was struggling with one of the highest incidence rates of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the world.


title: Moldova

text: Emigration is a mass phenomenon in Moldova and has a major impact on the country's demographics and economy. The Moldovan Intelligence and Security Service has estimated that 600,000 to one million Moldovan citizens (almost 25% of the population) are working abroad.


title: Moldova

text: Moldova's cultural tradition has been influenced primarily by the Romanian origins of its majority population, the roots of which go back to the second century AD, the period of Roman colonization in Dacia. Located geographically at the crossroads of Latin, Slavic and other cultures, Moldova has enriched its own culture adopting and maintaining traditions of neighbouring regions and of other influential sources. The largest ethnic group, which had come to identify itself widely as "Moldovan" by the 14th century, played a significant role in the shaping of classical Romanian culture. The culture has been also influenced by the Byzantine culture, the neighbouring Magyar and Slavic populations, and later by the Ottoman Turks. A strong Western European influence in Moldovan literature and arts was prevalent in the 19th century. During the periods 1812-1917 and 1944–89, Moldovans were influenced by Russian and Soviet administrative control as well and by ethnic Russian immigration.


title: Moldova

text: The country's cultural heritage was marked by numerous churches and monasteries built by the Moldavian ruler Stephen the Great in the 15th century, by the works of the later renaissance Metropolitans Varlaam and Dosoftei, and those of scholars such as Grigore Ureche, Miron Costin, Nicolae Milescu, Dimitrie Cantemir and Ion Neculce. In the 19th century, Moldavians from the territories of the medieval Principality of Moldavia, divided into Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Western Moldavia (after 1859, Romania), made a significant contribution to the formation of the modern Romanian culture. Among these were many Bessarabians, such as Alexandru Donici, Alexandru Hâjdeu, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Constantin Stamati, Constantin Stamati-Ciurea, Costache Negruzzi, Alecu Russo, Constantin Stere.


title: Moldova

text: Mihai Eminescu, a late Romantic poet, and Ion Creangă, a writer, are the most influential Romanian language artists, considered national writers both in Romania and Moldova.


title: Moldova

text: In October 1939, "Radio Basarabia", a local station of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company, was the first radio station opened in Chișinău. Television in Moldova was introduced in April 1958, within the framework of Soviet television. Through cable, Moldovan viewers can receive a large number of Russian channels, a few Romanian channels, and several Russian language versions of international channels in addition to several local channels. One Russian and two local channels are aired. Infotag is the state news agency.


title: Moldova

text: Moldovan cuisine is similar to neighbouring Romania, and has been influenced by elements of Russian, Turkish, and Ukrainian cuisine. Main dishes include beef, pork, potatoes, cabbage, and a variety of cereals. Popular alcoholic beverages are "divin" (Moldovan brandy), beer, and wine—of which the country is known for making high-quality offerings.


title: Moldova

text: Traditional Moldovan dishes include plăcinte (sweet and savoury pastries with fillings such as local cheese, cabbage, potatoes, apples, sour cherries and others), mămăligă, sarmale, and a chicken soup called zeamă.


title: Moldova

text: Total recorded adult alcohol consumption is approximately evenly split between spirits, beer and wine. Notably, Moldova is the country with the highest alcohol consumption per capita in world, at of pure alcohol imbibed in 2016.


title: Moldova

text: In the field of pop music, Moldova has produced the band O-Zone, who came to prominence in 2003, with their hit song "Dragostea Din Tei", which topped multiple notable single charts. Moldova has been participating in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2005. Another popular band from Moldova is Zdob și Zdub that represented the country in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing sixth, also in 2021, with a similar result.


title: Moldova

text: In May 2007, Natalia Barbu represented Moldova in Helsinki at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with her entry "Fight". Natalia squeezed into the final by a very small margin. She took tenth place with 109 points.


title: Moldova

text: The band SunStroke Project with Olia Tira represented the country in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with their hit song "Run Away". Their performance gained international notoriety as an internet meme due to the pelvic thrusting and dancing of Sergey Stepanov, the band saxophonist. He has been dubbed "Epic Sax Guy". SunStroke Project featured again in the 2017 Eurovision entry "Hey Mama" which got third place.


title: Moldova

text: In 2015 a new musical project by the name of Carla's Dreams has risen in popularity around Moldova. Carla's Dreams reached the top charts in multiple countries in Europe with the release of their song "Sub Pielea Mea" in 2016. The song received a lot of airplay and reached number one place on the charts in Moldova as well as Russia. The group is still active and released their latest album in 2017. The theme of the musical group is "Anonymous" as they perform with painted faces, hoodies and sunglasses. The identity of the group members is still unknown.


title: Moldova

text: Among most prominent classical musicians in Moldova are Maria Bieșu, one of the leading world's sopranos and the winner of the Japan International Competition; pianist Mark Zeltser, winner of the USSR National Competition, Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition in Paris and Busoni Competition in Bolzano, Italy.


title: Moldova

text: Most retail businesses close on New Year's Day and Independence Day, but remain open on all other holidays. Christmas is celebrated either on 7 January, the traditional date in Old Calendarists Eastern Orthodox Churches, or on 25 December, with both dates being recognized as public holidays.


title: Moldova

text: On 1 March features "mărțișor" gifting, which is a tradition that females are gifted with a type of talisman that is given for good luck.


title: Moldova

text: Association football is the most popular team sport in Moldova. The governing body is the Moldovan Football Federation, which belongs to UEFA. The Moldova national football team played its first match in 1994, but never qualified to the UEFA European Championship. The most successful football club is Sheriff Tiraspol, the first and only Moldovan club to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League and the Europa League. Other winners of the Moldovan National Division include Zimbru Chișinău, Dacia Chișinău, FC Tiraspol and Milsami Orhei.


title: Moldova

text: "Trîntă" (a form of wrestling) is the national sport in Moldova. Rugby union is popular as well. More than 10,000 supporters turn out for home internationals. Since 2004, playing numbers at all levels have more than doubled to 3,200. Despite the hardships and deprivations the national team are ranked 34th in the world. The most prestigious cycling race is the Moldova President's Cup, which was first run in 2004. In chess, the Republic of Moldova has several international masters, among which can be mentioned Viorel Iordăchescu, Dmitry Svetushkin, and Viorel Bologan.


title: Moldova

text: Radu Albot is one of the most successful Moldovan tennis players, with ATP singles (2019 Delray Beach Open) and doubles (2015 Istanbul Open) titles.


title: Moldova

text: Athletes from Moldova have won European medals in athletics, biathlon, football, and gymnastics; world medals in archery, judo, swimming, and taekwondo; as well as Olympic medals in boxing, canoeing, shooting, weightlifting, and wrestling. Moldova made its Olympic debut at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Olympic medalists include Sergei Mureiko, Oleg Moldovan, Vitalie Grușac, Veaceslav Gojan, and Serghei Tarnovschi. Nicolae Juravschi represented the Soviet Union at the 1988 Seoul Games, winning two medals.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 2022 action-adventure comedy film based on the video game series published by Sega, and the sequel to "Sonic the Hedgehog" (2020). Directed by Jeff Fowler and written by Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington, the film stars Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally and Lee Majdoub reprising their roles with Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba and Shemar Moore joining the cast. After settling in Green Hills, Sonic wants to prove himself as a hero, but his big test comes when the evil Doctor Robotnik returns, alongside his new rival, Knuckles the Echidna.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Following the success of the first film, Paramount Pictures announced the sequel in May 2020, with Fowler returning as director, while Casey and Josh Miller returned as writers, and Schwartz, Carrey and the rest of the cast reprised their roles. Filming took place from March to June 2021 in Vancouver and Hawaii.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" was theatrically released in several markets on March 30, 2022, and in the United States on April 8, by Paramount Pictures and Sega Sammy Group. The film was praised for the action sequences, visuals, humor, animated characters, and the cast's performances, although its screenplay, runtime and pacing drew criticism. Many critics considered the film an improvement over its predecessor. It grossed $402.7 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing video game film in the United States and the fourth highest-grossing video game film of all time. A third film is scheduled for a December 20, 2024 release, while a spin-off miniseries starring Knuckles is in development and is scheduled to be released in 2023.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Roughly eight months after defeating Dr. Robotnik, Sonic attempts to help the public as a vigilante-hero to little success. Tom advises Sonic to remain patient for the day his powers will be needed before he and Maddie depart for Rachel's wedding in Hawaii.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Sonic plans to have fun while home alone but is attacked by Robotnik, who has escaped the mushroom planet with the help of Knuckles. To honor his ancestors, Knuckles demands the location of the legendary Master Emerald, an ancient relic that grants its users immense power and the ability to change reality to their will.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Sonic is rescued by Miles "Tails" Prower, an anthropomorphic two-tailed fox who idolizes him and comes to warn him about Knuckles. Sonic convinces Tails to help him find the Master Emerald, while Robotnik reunites with his assistant Stone and, scheming to steal the emerald, offers to help Knuckles. Sonic and Tails follow clues to Siberia on a map Longclaw gave Sonic before sending him to Earth, where they find a compass within an old temple. Robotnik and Knuckles track them and chase Sonic and Tails down a mountain. Knuckles reveals that he lost his father and his whole tribe the same day Sonic lost Longclaw. Despite this brief moment of sympathy, Knuckles and Robotnik steal the compass, though Knuckles begins to question Robotnik's sense of loyalty and honor when he mocks Sonic for choosing to save a wounded Tails instead of the compass.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Tom saves Sonic and Tails by using a ring to teleport them to the wedding. Rachel's fiancé Randall and his wedding guests reveal themselves as undercover agents of the Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N. for short) and capture Sonic, Tails, and Tom, who are then saved by Maddie and a vengeful Rachel, the latter of whom reconciles with Randall. Robotnik and Knuckles find a large water temple containing the Master Emerald.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Blaming himself for Tails' injuries, Sonic decides to face Robotnik and Knuckles all by himself and goes to the temple, where he fights with Knuckles to keep him from taking the Master Emerald. Seeing this as an opportunity, Robotnik uses the distraction to seize and fuse himself with the emerald, which explodes and sinks the temple into the water. With no use left for Knuckles, Robotnik betrays him and leaves him along with Sonic behind for dead. Working together, Sonic and Knuckles are able to escape just as Tails rescues them in a biplane.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In Green Hills, Robotnik uses his new abilities to create a giant robot resembling himself. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles work together to fight the robot and its accompanying drones and to reclaim the Master Emerald; however, it breaks, splitting into the seven Chaos Emeralds. Tom and Maddie save Sonic, who uses the Chaos Emeralds to transform into Super Sonic. He destroys the robot, presumably killing Robotnik, before dispersing the Emeralds and reverting to normal. Knuckles fixes the Master Emerald from the remaining shards and makes a pact to protect it from evil with Sonic and Tails. The three start an idyllic life with the Wachowskis.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In April 2020, Marsden had expressed interest in a sequel featuring several characters from the video games, including Tails, who appeared in a mid-credits scene in the first film. Director Jeff Fowler also expressed interest in developing a sequel that focused on Sonic and Tails' friendship and further developed Dr. Robotnik. Later that month, Schwartz said that he felt it made sense for Paramount Pictures not to have announced a sequel by that point due to the COVID-19 pandemic, also adding that he was interested in a sequel featuring Tails and a more game-accurate portrayal of Robotnik. Later that month, "Sonic the Hedgehog" co-writer Pat Casey revealed that there had been talks about a sequel, though the film had not been greenlit by Paramount by that point. He also said that Carrey was interested in wearing a fatsuit in a sequel to more closely resemble Robotnik's video game appearance.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In May, Paramount Pictures confirmed that a sequel to "Sonic the Hedgehog" was in development, with Fowler set to return as director alongside writers Casey and Josh Miller. Neal H. Mortiz, Toby Ascher, and Toru Nakahara will produce the sequel, having previously co-produced the first film alongside Takeshi Ito, while Tim Miller, Hajime Satomi, and Haruki Satomi will return from the first film as executive producers.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In December, it was confirmed by storyboard artist Fill Marc that artist Tyson Hesse, who redesigned Sonic for the first film, would be returning. The film title was announced as "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" in February 2021. In May, a synopsis of the story was released as Paramount submitted a copyright registration to the U.S. Copyright Office catalog.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: The film is inspired by the video games "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" (1992) and "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" (1994), but is not a direct adaptation of either. Fowler described the film as "a melting pot" of ideas from several "Sonic" games.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: On January 27, 2020, Jim Carrey expressed interest in starring in a sequel, feeling that his character, the villain Dr. Robotnik, could be expanded in the sequel: "I wouldn't mind going to do another one because it was so much fun, first of all, and a real challenge to try to convince people that I have a triple-digit IQ... There is so much room, you know, Robotnik has not reached his apotheosis." On March 6, 2020, "Sonic the Hedgehog" star James Marsden confirmed that he had signed on for multiple sequels.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: On January 26, 2021, Tika Sumpter announced that she would reprise her role as Maddie Wachowski. In February 2021, it was reported that Jason Momoa was in talks for the role of Knuckles the Echidna. In March 2021, it was announced that Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey would reprise their roles as Sonic and Robotnik respectively. That same month, it was confirmed that Adam Pally would reprise his role as Wade Whipple. In April 2021, James Marsden was confirmed to return as Tom Wachowski. On June 16, 2021, it was announced that Shemar Moore had joined the cast in an undisclosed role, it was later confirmed that he would play Randall, Rachel's fiancé. On August 10, 2021, it was announced that Idris Elba had officially joined the cast as the voice of Knuckles the Echidna. That same month, it was confirmed that Natasha Rothwell would reprise her role as Rachel. On September 29, 2021, it was announced that Lee Majdoub would reprise his role as Agent Stone. On December 7, 2021, Colleen O'Shaughnessey announced she would return to voice Miles "Tails" Prower.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: For the film's Japanese dub, Hololive Production-affiliated VTuber, Inugami Korone, who also serves as the Japanese brand ambassador of the "Sonic" series, would be cast to voice a character in the film.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In December 2020, it was reported that the BC Film Commission had listed that the production of the film would occur from March 15 to May 10, 2021, under the working title "Emerald Hill", a reference to the opening zone in the "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" video game. In January 2021, Tika Sumpter revealed that the film would shoot in both Vancouver and Hawaii.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Principal photography began in Vancouver on March 15, 2021, with Brandon Trost serving as cinematographer. As a way to show his gratitude to the crew, Carrey held a raffle on May 7 in order to give away a Chevrolet Blazer; the car was eventually given to a grip. Filming in Vancouver concluded on May 12, 2021. Filming wrapped in Hawaii on June 25, 2021.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Visual effects and animation for "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" was provided by Sega's Marza Animation Planet and Moving Picture Company, after previously working on the first film. John Whittington was announced as co-screenwriter on August 10, 2021. Additionally, DNEG also provided the visual effects for the mushroom planet and the cockpit of the robot, giving it a total of 185 shots used in the film from the studio.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: On December 8, 2021, Tom Holkenborg, who also composed the first film, was announced to be returning to compose the film's score. The film was supported by a single titled "Stars in the Sky", the only original song recorded for the film, by Kid Cudi. The soundtrack album was released by Paramount Music on April 8, 2022.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: On April 7, 2022, it was announced that "Up on the Green Hill from Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone - Masado and Miwasco Version -" by Dreams Come True would be used as the main theme song for the film's release in Japan. The song is the English version of the band's 2021 single "Tsugi no Se~no! De - On the Green Hill -," which is a vocal version of the theme music of Green Hill Zone from the original game. The Japanese version of the song is also used as the dub's ending theme. Band member Masato Nakamura, who composed the music for the series' first two games, also voices a character in the Japanese dub.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: The teaser poster was revealed on December 8, 2021. The next day, the first trailer was released at The Game Awards 2021. The trailer includes a reworked version of Masato Nakamura's "Emerald Hill Zone" music from the original "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" video game. Fans reacted very positively, with Elba as Knuckles attracting particular praise. Reviewers noted the difference in reaction compared to the first film's initial trailer that was released on April 30, 2019.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: During the week before Super Bowl LVI, Paramount released four TV spots showcasing new footage and the reveal of the Giant Eggman Robot. A special TV spot aired during Super Bowl LVI on February 13, 2022. The theatrical release poster excluded O'Shaughnessey's name, leading to fan outcry. Updated posters, released shortly thereafter, included her name as well as Sumpter's on the upper billing block. The second and final trailer was released on March 14, 2022. Another poster was also revealed, resembling the North American boxart for the original "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" video game.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Paramount spent less than $18 million on television spots promoting the film in the U.S., which generated 717 million impressions. On March 29, 2022, King partnered with Sega and Paramount to help create a special edition of the online game "Candy Crush Saga" in ways to promote the film. The Mill helped do the visuals for the Happy Meal advertisements.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: On March 1, 2022, Paramount cancelled the film's Russian release in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On March 14, when tickets went on sale for the United States, an early access screening dubbed a "Fan Event" was announced for April 6.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" was first theatrically released by Paramount Pictures in several international markets, including France and the Netherlands on March 30, 2022 and the United Kingdom on April 1, 2022. The film held its world premiere at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on April 5, 2022. and was theatrically released in the United States on April 8, 2022.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" was released for download and streaming on Paramount+ on May 24, 2022. The same day, EPIX added the film to their library following Paramount's pay-one-window deal with the service. It released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on August 9, 2022. Like its predecessor, the digital and Blu-ray releases come with an exclusive short film, "Sonic Drone Home", fully animated by Marza Animation Planet and written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, while directed by David Nelson and produced by Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara and Hitoshi Okuno. The short film features Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles facing off against one of Robotnik's drones in Green Hills' scrapyard. Schwartz reprises his role as Sonic, while Tails, Knuckles, and the drone named Unit are voiced by Alicyn Packard (replacing Colleen), Fred Tatasciore (replacing Idris), and Aaron Landon respectively.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" grossed $190.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $211.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $402.7 million.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" was released alongside "Ambulance" and the wide expansion of "Everything Everywhere All at Once". Several days before release, it was projected to gross at least $55 million from 4,232 theaters in its opening weekend. With its target audience aged between 16 and 25, its release coincided with the start of spring break in 15% of K–12 schools. The film made $26.8 million on its first day, including $6.25 million from Thursday night previews, doubling that of the original movie. The film went on to gross over its three-day opening weekend, surpassing the original film's three-day opening ($58 million) and "Bruce Almighty" () to become Jim Carrey's highest three-day domestic opening and Paramount's biggest three-day opening since 2014. tickets were sold in the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend. It broke the opening record for a video game movie adaptation, which was previously held by the original "Sonic the Hedgehog". Among opening audiences, males made up 61%, those aged between 18 and 34 comprised 46% of ticket sales and those below 17 comprised 32%, and the ethnic breakdown was 38% were Hispanic/Latin American, 29% Caucasian, 20% African American, and 13% Asian or other. The film also had the best pandemic-era opening for a kids' movie, the all-time seventh best April opening, the second best opening of early 2022, and the fifth best opening since 2020. In its second weekend, the film made $29.3 million, finishing second behind "". "Sonic 2" returned to the top of the box office on Easter Monday with . By its third weekend, the film surpassed the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" to become the highest-grossing video game film in North America. The film remained in the box office top ten until dropping out in its twelfth weekend.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In international regions outside North America, the film opened in 31 markets and grossed $26.1 million in its first weekend, outpacing the original film in these markets. In France, the film made $1.2 million on its first day of screening, reaching the top spot in the charts and surpassing the first film's opening day gross by 30%. In the United Kingdom, it debuted at number one in its first weekend and later retook the top spot from "Fantastic Beasts" in its fourth weekend with in four weeks. The film crossed the $300 million worldwide mark by its fifth weekend, and the $400 million threshold by its thirteenth.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 69% based on 172 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "It isn't as much fun as the little blue guy's greatest games, but if you enjoyed the first film, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" serves as a generally acceptable sequel." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale (same as the first), while those at PostTrak gave it an 87% positive score, with 74% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Amy Nicholson of "The New York Times" gave the film a positive review, saying, "Jim Carrey's reprised role as a villainous weirdo helps this fast-paced, family-friendly video-game-movie sequel maintain a refreshing silliness." Nell Minow of "Rogerebert.com" gave the film a two out of four, writing, "Yes, we know we're appropriating details from better movies. It is over-plotted, with three different storylines mixing comedy and adventure." Alex Stednan of "IGN" gave the film a seven out of ten, saying, ""Sonic the Hedgehog 2" brings all the humor and charm of its predecessor, while also being delightfully more loyal to its source material." Carlos Aguilar of "The Wrap" also gave the film a positive review, writing, "The screenplay reflects actual effort, and Jim Carrey gets to be unfettered in his performance, leading a surprisingly satisfying follow-up." Leslie Felperin of "The Guardian" gave the film a three out of four and wrote, "There's not much to spoil about "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" because there's not very much to say about it, other than it's mildly amusing and reasonably competently assembled." Brian


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: Shea of "Game Informer" gave the film a 8.5 out of 10, writing, "While Sonic the Hedgehog's unexpected positive reception could have put its sequel in a difficult spot since it comes in with higher expectations, the Jeff Fowler-directed "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" clears the higher bar, delivering a better movie in nearly every way." In a "C+" review, Ross Bonamie of "Collider" wrote, " "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" is at its most clever when it's throwing in these clever nods that will appeal to fans who have waited to see this world come to life on the screen in this way with these characters."


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: John Nugent of "Empire Magazine" gave the film a two out of five, writing, "Sonic's second outing is little more than a half-baked half-term distraction tool — though Jim Carrey's outrageously committed performance nearly saves the day." Brian Lloyd of "Entertainment.ie" gave the film a three out of five and said, "Idris Elba as Knuckles is the most galaxy-brain casting idea ever conceived of." Bob Hoose of "Plugged In" gave the film a positive review, saying, "In short, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 doesn't necessarily grab the gold ring right out the first loop-de-loop, but it won't disappoint the kids or their "fanboy" parents by the time you hit the flag-waving goal." Thomas Floyd of "The Washington Post" gave the film a two out of four and wrote, "In "Sonic the Hedgehog 2", there is no problem that its titular speed demon can't outrun. With that in mind, it's especially perplexing that this video game-inspired sequel should be, of all things, a bit sluggish." In a "C-" review, Siddhant Adlakha of "IndieWire" wrote, "It's visual soup where nothing pops or stands out. Almost nothing anyone does or says feels rooted in recognizable character traits, and despite Marsden's most sincere efforts, he finds himself once again unable to meet Sonic's eye-line (a production kerfuffle that would be funny, were it not also another reminder of VFX crunch). Then again, who can blame Marsden's character for not wanting to gaze into a soulless blue abyss?"


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" was nominated for Best Animation/Family Poster at the 2022 Golden Trailer Awards. Elba received a nomination for Outstanding Voice Performance at the 2023 Black Reel Awards.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In February 2022, Sega of America and Paramount Pictures confirmed that "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" and a "Knuckles" spin-off miniseries are in development. Elba will reprise his role as Knuckles for the series, which is set for release on the streaming service Paramount+ in 2023. "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" is scheduled for release on December 20, 2024.


title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (film)

text: In April 2022, after Carrey announced that he was considering retirement from acting, producers Moritz and Ascher confirmed that his role as Dr. Robotnik would not be recast in any sequels if he followed through with his retirement plans, though they remained hopeful that they could develop a script good enough for him to continue the role.


title: HTTP 404

text: In computer network communications, the HTTP 404, 404 not found, 404, 404 error, page not found or file not found error message is a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) standard response code, to indicate that the browser was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested. The error may also be used when a server does not wish to disclose whether it has the requested information.


title: HTTP 404

text: The website hosting server will typically generate a "404 Not Found" web page when a user attempts to follow a broken or dead link; hence the 404 error is one of the most recognizable errors encountered on the World Wide Web.


title: HTTP 404

text: When communicating via HTTP, a server is required to respond to a request, such as a web browser request for a web page, with a numeric response code and an optional, mandatory, or disallowed (based upon the status code) message. In code 404, the first digit indicates a client error, such as a mistyped Uniform Resource Locator (URL). The following two digits indicate the specific error encountered. HTTP's use of three-digit codes is similar to the use of such codes in earlier protocols such as FTP and NNTP. At the HTTP level, a 404 response code is followed by a human-readable "reason phrase". The HTTP specification suggests the phrase "Not Found" and many web servers by default issue an HTML page that includes both the 404 code and the "Not Found" phrase.


title: HTTP 404

text: A 404 error is often returned when pages have been moved or deleted. In the first case, it is better to employ URL mapping or URL redirection by returning a 301 Moved Permanently response, which can be configured in most server configuration files, or through URL rewriting; in the second case, a 410 Gone should be returned. Because these two options require special server configuration, most websites do not make use of them.


title: HTTP 404

text: 404 errors should not be confused with DNS errors, which appear when the given URL refers to a server name that does not exist. A 404 error indicates that the server itself was found, but that the server was not able to retrieve the requested page.


title: HTTP 404

text: Some websites report a "not found" error by returning a standard web page with a "200 OK" response code, falsely reporting that the page loaded properly; this is known as a "soft 404". The term "soft 404" was introduced in 2004 by Ziv Bar-Yossef "et al".


title: HTTP 404

text: Soft 404s are problematic for automated methods of discovering whether a link is broken. Some search engines, like Yahoo and Google, use automated processes to detect soft 404s. Soft 404s can occur as a result of configuration errors when using certain HTTP server software, for example with the Apache software, when an Error Document 404 (specified in a .htaccess file) is specified as an absolute path (e.g. <nowiki>http://example.com/error.html</nowiki>) rather than a relative path (/error.html). This can also be done on purpose to force some browsers (like Internet Explorer) to display a customized 404 error message rather than replacing what is served with a browser-specific "friendly" error message (in Internet Explorer, this behavior is triggered when a 404 is served and the received HTML is shorter than a certain length, and can be manually disabled by the user).


title: HTTP 404

text: There are also "soft 3XX" errors where content is returned with a status 200 but comes from a redirected page, such as when missing pages are redirected to the domain root/home page.


title: HTTP 404

text: Some proxy servers generate a 404 error when a 500-range error code would be more correct. If the proxy server is unable to satisfy a request for a page because of a problem with the remote host (such as hostname resolution failures or refused TCP connections), this should be described as a 5xx Internal Server Error, but might deliver a 404 instead. This can confuse programs that expect and act on specific responses, as they can no longer easily distinguish between an absent web server and a missing web page on a web server that is present.


title: HTTP 404

text: In July 2004, the UK telecom provider BT Group deployed the Cleanfeed content blocking system, which returns a 404 error to any request for content identified as potentially illegal by the Internet Watch Foundation. Other ISPs return a HTTP 403 "forbidden" error in the same circumstances. The practice of employing fake 404 errors as a means to conceal censorship has also been reported in Thailand and Tunisia. In Tunisia, where censorship was severe before the 2011 revolution, people became aware of the nature of the fake 404 errors and created an imaginary character named "Ammar 404" who represents "the invisible censor".


title: HTTP 404

text: The webserver software developed by Microsoft, Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS), returns a set of substatus codes with its 404 responses. The substatus codes take the form of decimal numbers appended to the 404 status code. The substatus codes are not officially recognized by IANA and are not returned by non-Microsoft servers.


title: HTTP 404

text: Microsoft's IIS 7.0, IIS 7.5, and IIS 8.0 servers define the following HTTP substatus codes to indicate a more specific cause of a 404 error:


title: HTTP 404

text: Web servers can typically be configured to display a customised 404 error page, including a more natural description, the parent site's branding, and sometimes a site map, a search form or 404-page widget. The protocol level phrase, which is hidden from the user, is rarely customized. Internet Explorer, however, will not display custom pages unless they are larger than 512 bytes, opting instead to display a "friendly" error page. Google Chrome included similar functionality, where the 404 is replaced with alternative suggestions generated by Google algorithms, if the page is under 512 bytes in size. Another problem is that if the page does not provide a favicon, and a separate custom 404-page exists, extra traffic and longer loading times will be generated on every page view.


title: HTTP 404

text: Many organizations use 404 error pages as an opportunity to inject humor into what may otherwise be a serious website. For example, Metro UK shows a polar bear on a skateboard, and the web development agency Left Logic has a simple drawing program. During the 2015 UK general election campaign the main political parties all used their 404 pages to either take aim at political opponents or show relevant policies to potential supporters. In Europe, the NotFound project, created by multiple European organizations including Missing Children Europe and Child Focus, encourages site operators to add a snippet of code to serve customized 404 error pages which provide data about missing children.


title: HTTP 404

text: While many websites send additional information in a 404 error message—such as a link to the homepage of a website or a search box—some also endeavor to find the correct web page the user wanted. Extensions are available for some content management systems (CMSs) to do this.


title: HTTP 404

text: A number of tools exist that crawl through a website to find pages that return 404 status codes. These tools can be helpful in finding links that exist within a particular website. The limitation of these tools is that they only find links within one particular website, and ignore 404s resulting from links on other websites. As a result, these tools miss out on 83% of the 404s on websites. One way around this is to find 404 errors by analyzing external links.


title: HTTP 404

text: One of the most effective ways to discover 404 errors is by using Google Search Console, Google Analytics or crawling software.


title: HTTP 404

text: Another common method is tracking traffic to 404 pages using log file analysis. This can be useful to understand more about what 404s users reached on the site. Another method of tracking traffic to 404 pages is using JavaScript-based traffic tracking tools.


title: The Holocaust

text: The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through labor in concentration camps; and in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibór, and Treblinka in occupied Poland.


title: The Holocaust

text: Germany implemented the persecution in stages. Following Adolf Hitler's appointment as chancellor on 30 January 1933, the regime built a network of concentration camps in Germany for political opponents and those deemed "undesirable", starting with Dachau on 22 March 1933. After the passing of the Enabling Act on 24 March, which gave Hitler dictatorial plenary powers, the government began isolating Jews from civil society; this included boycotting Jewish businesses in April 1933 and enacting the Nuremberg Laws in September 1935. On 9–10 November 1938, eight months after Germany annexed Austria, Jewish businesses and other buildings were ransacked or set on fire throughout Germany and Austria on what became known as "Kristallnacht" (the "Night of Broken Glass"). After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, triggering World War II, the regime set up ghettos to segregate Jews. Eventually, thousands of camps and other detention sites were established across German-occupied Europe.


title: The Holocaust

text: The segregation of Jews in ghettos culminated in the policy of extermination the Nazis called the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, discussed by senior government officials at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in January 1942. As German forces captured territories in the East, all anti-Jewish measures were radicalized. Under the coordination of the SS, with directions from the highest leadership of the Nazi Party, killings were committed within Germany itself, throughout occupied Europe, and within territories controlled by Germany's allies. Paramilitary death squads called "Einsatzgruppen", in cooperation with the German Army and local collaborators, murdered around 1.3 million Jews in mass shootings and pogroms from the summer of 1941. By mid-1942, victims were being deported from ghettos across Europe in sealed freight trains to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, they were gassed, worked or beaten to death, or killed by disease, starvation, cold, medical experiments, or during death marches. The killing continued until the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945.


title: The Holocaust

text: The Holocaust is understood as being primarily the genocide of the Jews, but during the Holocaust era (1933–1945), systematic mass-killings of other population groups occurred. These included Roma, Poles, Ukrainians, Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, and other targeted populations. Smaller groups were also victims of deadly Nazi persecution, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Black Germans, disabled people, communists, and homosexuals.


title: The Holocaust

text: The first recorded use of the term "holocaust" in its modern sense was in 1895 by "The New York Times" to describe the massacre of Armenian Christians by Ottoman forces. The term comes from the ; "hólos", "whole" + "kaustós", "burnt offering". The biblical term "shoah" (), meaning "calamity" (and also used to refer to "destruction" since the Middle Ages), became the standard Hebrew term for the murder of the European Jews. According to "Haaretz", the writer Yehuda Erez may have been the first to describe events in Germany as the "shoah". "Davar" and later "Haaretz" both used the term in September 1939.


title: The Holocaust

text: On 3 October 1941 the "American Hebrew" used the phrase "before the Holocaust", apparently to refer to the situation in France, and in May 1943 the "New York Times", discussing the Bermuda Conference, referred to the "hundreds of thousands of European Jews still surviving the Nazi Holocaust". In 1968 the Library of Congress created a new category, "Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)".


title: The Holocaust

text: The term was popularised in the United States by the NBC mini-series "Holocaust" (1978) about a fictional family of German Jews, and in November that year the President's Commission on the Holocaust was established. As non-Jewish groups began to include themselves as Holocaust victims, many Jews chose to use the Hebrew terms "Shoah" or "Churban". The Nazis used the phrase "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" ().


title: The Holocaust

text: Holocaust historians commonly define the Holocaust as the genocide of the European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1941 and 1945. Donald Niewyk and Francis Nicosia, in "The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust" (2000), favor a definition that includes the Jews, Roma, and disabled people: "the systematic, state-sponsored murder of entire groups determined by heredity".


title: The Holocaust

text: Other groups targeted after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933 include those whom the Nazis viewed as inherently inferior (some Slavic people, particularly Poles and Russians, the Roma, and the disabled), and those targeted because of their beliefs or behavior (such as Jehovah's Witnesses, communists, and homosexuals). Peter Hayes writes that the persecution of these groups was less uniform than that of the Jews. For example, the Nazis' treatment of the Slavs consisted of "enslavement and gradual attrition", while some Slavs were favored; Hayes lists Bulgarians, Croats, Slovaks, and some Ukrainians. In contrast, according to historian Dan Stone, Hitler regarded the Jews as "a "Gegenrasse": a 'counter-race' ... not really human at all".


title: The Holocaust

text: The logistics of the mass murder turned Germany into what Michael Berenbaum called a "genocidal state". Eberhard Jäckel wrote in 1986 that it was the first time a state had thrown its power behind the idea that an entire people should be wiped out. In total, 165,200 German Jews were murdered. Anyone with three or four Jewish grandparents was to be exterminated, and complex rules were devised to deal with "Mischlinge" ("mixed breeds"). Bureaucrats identified who was a Jew, confiscated property, and scheduled trains to deport them. Companies fired Jews and later used them as slave labor. Universities dismissed Jewish faculty and students. German pharmaceutical companies tested drugs on camp prisoners; other companies built the crematoria. As prisoners entered the death camps, they surrendered all personal property, which was cataloged and tagged before being sent to Germany for reuse or recycling. Through a concealed account, the German National Bank helped launder valuables stolen from the victims.


title: The Holocaust

text: At least 7,000 camp inmates were subjected to medical experiments; most died during them or as a result. The experiments, which took place at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, Natzweiler-Struthof, Neuengamme, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen, sought to uncover strategies to counteract chemical weapons, survive harsh environments, develop new vaccines and drugs and treat wounds. Many men and women were also involuntarily sterilized.


title: The Holocaust

text: After the war, 23 senior physicians and other medical personnel were charged at Nuremberg with crimes against humanity. They included the head of the German Red Cross, tenured professors, clinic directors, and biomedical researchers. The most notorious physician was Josef Mengele, an SS officer who became the Auschwitz camp doctor on 30 May 1943. Interested in genetics, and keen to experiment on twins, he would pick out subjects on the ramp from the new arrivals during "selection" (to decide who would be gassed immediately and who would be used as slave labor), shouting ""Zwillinge heraus!"" (twins step forward!). The twins would be measured, killed, and dissected. One of Mengele's assistants said in 1946 that he was told to send organs of interest to the directors of the "Anthropological Institute in Berlin-Dahlem". This is thought to refer to Mengele's academic supervisor, Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, director from October 1942 of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics in Berlin-Dahlem.


title: The Holocaust

text: Throughout the Middle Ages in Europe, Jews were subjected to antisemitism based on Christian theology, which blamed them for killing Jesus. Even after the Reformation, Catholicism and Lutheranism continued to persecute Jews, accusing them of blood libels and subjecting them to pogroms and expulsions. The second half of the 19th century saw the emergence, in the German empire and Austria-Hungary, of the "völkisch" movement, developed by such thinkers as Houston Stewart Chamberlain and Paul de Lagarde. The movement embraced a pseudo-scientific racism that viewed Jews as a race whose members were locked in mortal combat with the Aryan race for world domination. These ideas became commonplace throughout Germany; the professional classes adopted an ideology that did not see humans as racial equals with equal hereditary value. The Nazi Party (the "Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" or National Socialist German Workers' Party) originated as an offshoot of the "völkisch" movement, and it adopted that movement's antisemitism.


title: The Holocaust

text: After World War I (1914–1918), many Germans did not accept that their country had been defeated. A stab-in-the-back myth developed, insinuating that disloyal politicians, chiefly Jews and communists, had orchestrated Germany's surrender. Inflaming the anti-Jewish sentiment was the apparent over-representation of Jews in the leadership of communist revolutionary governments in Europe, such as Ernst Toller, head of a short-lived revolutionary government in Bavaria. This perception contributed to the canard of Jewish Bolshevism.


title: The Holocaust

text: Early antisemites in the Nazi Party included Dietrich Eckart, publisher of the "Völkischer Beobachter", the party's newspaper, and Alfred Rosenberg, who wrote antisemitic articles for it in the 1920s. Rosenberg's vision of a secretive Jewish conspiracy ruling the world would influence Hitler's views of Jews by making them the driving force behind communism. Central to Hitler's world view was the idea of expansion and "Lebensraum" (living space) in Eastern Europe for German Aryans, a policy of what Doris Bergen called "race and space". Open about his hatred of Jews, he subscribed to common antisemitic stereotypes. From the early 1920s onwards, he compared the Jews to germs and said they should be dealt with in the same way. He viewed Marxism as a Jewish doctrine, said he was fighting against "Jewish Marxism", and believed that Jews had created communism as part of a conspiracy to destroy Germany.