Journalist and politician who, as vice-president and later president of Sfatul Țării, led the movement for Bessarabia’s union with Romania
Born to poor peasants in Cubolta, Bessarabia, in 1883, he graduated from the Chișinău seminary and entered the University of Yuryev, but as a Socialist Revolutionary had to quit after the 1905 revolution. Sought by the Tsarist authorities after printing the hymn “Deșteaptă-te, române!”, he took refuge in Iași and studied there in 1908–1912. From 1913 he published the newspaper Cuvânt moldovenesc in Chișinău, writing unceasingly for union, and in 1917 he founded the Moldovan National Party. He was elected first vice-president, then president of Sfatul Țării. After 1918 he served as minister for Bessarabia and in other posts and joined the National Peasants’ Party; in 1924 he accused the Romanian government of turning Bessarabia into an “inferno”. Arrested in 1950, he was sentenced in the Soviet Union to 25 years’ hard labour, was held until 1957 and died in 1979.
Also known as: Pantelimon Halippa
Activities and affiliations
- 1917–1918 Legislature and state representation
- 1905– Political and party leadership · Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR/SR)
- 1913–1917 Ideology and propaganda
- 1917– Political and party leadership
- 1919–1933 Government and administration · Romania
- 1918–1934 Legislature and state representation · Romania
Career Timeline
- 1908–1912Studies at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, University of Iași
- 1913Launches the newspaper Cuvânt moldovenesc
- 1917Founds the Moldovan National Party
- 1917–1918Vice-president, then president of Sfatul Țării
- 1919–1920Romanian Minister and Secretary of State for Bessarabia
- 1927Romanian Minister of Public Works
- 1950–1957Arrest and imprisonment (Sighet, Soviet hard labour, Aiud)