Anatol Petrencu (born 22 May 1954, Căuşeni) is a politician, historian and academic from the Republic of Moldova. In 1990-1992 he was the dean of the Faculty of History of the State University of Moldova, and between 1998 and 2006 he was president of the Association of Historians of Moldova. Between 2006 and 2010 he was the president of the European Action Movement party. Since October 2010 he has been the director of the Institute of Social History "ProMemoria".^[1] Vice President of the Liberal Party.^[2]

Anatol Petrencu, the PhD in historical sciences, university professor, was born on 22 May 1954 in Căuşeni. He carried out his compulsory military service in the Soviet army (1972–1974). He graduated from Moldova State University in 1980 and between 1982 and 1985 he studied at Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He has been working for Moldova State University since 1985. He did doctoral studies at the Institute of International Economic and Political Research of the Academy of Sciences of the Russian Federation. In 1986 he passed his Masters' thesis with the theme "Romanian-Italian relations in the 70s - the first half of the 80s", and in 1998 he became a PhD in historical sciences with the work "Romania's Policy on Bessarabia, 1940-1944". In 1990-1992 he was the dean of the Faculty of History of the MSU, and between 1998 -2006 he was president of the Association of Historians of Moldova. Between 2006 and 2010 he was the president of the European Action Movement (Romanian: Mişcarea Acţiunea Europeană). Anatol Petrencu is a member of the Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova.^[3] Since October 2010 he has been the director of the Institute of Social History "ProMemoria".

In March 2011 the European Action Movement party merged with the Liberal Party.^[4]

Pro-Russian media in Moldova and elsewhere considers Petrencu a Holocaust denier,^[5] due to his positive views on Ion Antonescu and his anti-Soviet stance.^[6] Petrencu claims that Antonescu and the Romanian Army liberated Bessarabia from Soviet occupation and that the introduction of the history of the Holocaust as a school subject is a mistake.^[7]

• Profesorul şi istoricul Anatol Petrencu 50 de ani (Le professeur et historien Anatol Petrencu a 50 ans). In: Cugetul, 2004, 2, p. 75-76.