Pan Halippa
Encyclopedia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
n and later Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n journalist and politician. One of the most important promoters of Romanian nationalism in Bessarabia and of this province's union with Romania, he was president of Sfatul Ţării
Sfatul Tarii
Sfatul Țării was, in 1917-1918, the National Assembly of the Governorate of Bessarabia of the disintegrating Russian Empire, which proclaimed the independent Moldavian Democratic Republic in December 1917, and then union with Romania in April 1918.-Russian participation in World War I:In August...
, which voted union in 1918. He then occupied ministerial posts in several governments, following which he underwent political persecution at the hands of the Communist régime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
and was later incarcerated in Sighet prison
Sighet prison
The Sighet prison, located in the town of Sighetu Marmaţiei, Maramureş county, Romania, was used by the communist regime to hold political prisoners...
.
Biography
Halippa was born to the poor peasants Nicolae and Paraschiva Halippa in CuboltaCubolta
Cubolta is a commune in Sîngerei district, Moldova. It is composed of two villages, Cubolta and Mărăşeşti....
, then in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and now in Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
's Raionul Sîngerei
Raionul Sîngerei
Sîngerei is a district in the north of Moldova, with the administrative center at Sîngerei.The other major city is Biruinţa. As of 1 January 2011, its population was 93,400.Between 1944 and 1991, Sîngerei district was called Lazovsky District.-History:...
. He attended primary school in his native village and then took courses at the Yedintsy
Edinet
Edineț is a town in the north of Moldova. It is the administrative center of the eponymous district. The town is located 201 km north of the national capital, Chișinău. It is located at . The town administers also two suburban villages, Alexăndreni and Gordineştii Noi...
Spiritual School and the Kishinev
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
Theological Seminary. After graduating from seminary in 1904, he enrolled in the Faculty of Physics and Medicine of the University of Yuryev (today University of Tartu
University of Tartu
The University of Tartu is a classical university in the city of Tartu, Estonia. University of Tartu is the national university of Estonia; it is the biggest and highest-ranked university in Estonia...
), but a year later the Russian Revolution of 1905
Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
broke out and he was forced to quit university. Back in Kishinev, he became involved with young Romanian intellectuals, working on Revista Basarabia
Basarabia (newspaper)
Basarabia was the first Romanian language newspaper to be published in Bessarabian guberniya of the Russian Empire in 1906-1907.-History:It was written with the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet and published twice weekly...
, the first Romanian-language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
publication in Bessarabia in that period. In its pages he printed the revolutionary hymn "Deşteaptă-te, române!
Desteapta-te, române!
"Deșteaptă-te, române" is Romania's national anthem....
", which caused the Tsarist authorities to seek his arrest.
Taking refuge in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, he enrolled in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Iaşi, where he took classes from 1908 to 1912. At this time he worked on the magazine Viaţa românească, in which he published "Scrisori din Basarabia" ("Letters from Bessarabia"). In 1908, he published Pilde şi novele ("Proverbs and Novels") in Kishinev (using the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
), the first Bessarabian fiction novel, while in 1912 "Basarabia, schiţă geografică" ("Bessarabia, Geographic Sketch") appeared. Returning to Kishinev in 1913, he published, together with Nicolae Alexandri
Nicolae Alexandri
Nicolae N. Alexandri was a Bessarabian politician.- Biography :Nicolae N. Alexandri graduated from Saint Petersburg State University. He was the first editor in chief of Cuvânt moldovenesc....
and with the assistance of Vasile Stroescu, the newspaper Cuvânt moldovenesc
Cuvânt moldovenesc
- History :The first edition was printed on June 5, 1914 and last on January 7, 1919. The first editor in chief was Nicolae Alexandri, rempalced on April 2, 1917 by Pan Halippa. Among the authors were: Simion Murafa, Ion Pelivan, M. Ciachir, Gh. Stîrcea, T. Inculeţ...
, which he directed after April 1917. He wrote unceasingly in favour of union with Romania.
Halippa's political activity intensified as the 1910s wore on and in 1917 he founded the Moldovan National Party. The year 1918 found him at the head of the unionist wave, for which he was elected first vice-president, then president of Sfatul Ţării, the assembly which voted for the union of Bessarabia with Romania on 27 March 1918. He also took parts in the assemblies at Cernăuţi
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...
and Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania...
, where, respectively, the acts of union of Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
and Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
with Romania were proclaimed.
After 1918 he held a number of government posts: Minister and Secretary of State for Bessarabia (1919-1920), Minister of Public Works (1927), Minister of Public Works and Communications (1930) interim Minister of Work, Health and Social Protection (1930), Minister Secretary of State (1928-1930, 1932, 1932-1933), senator
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
and deputy
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
in parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
(1918-1934). He was a member of the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
after its founding in 1926.
Throughout his time in office, Halippa sought to further Bessarabia's cultural development. He founded the Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
Popular University (1917), the Moldovan Conservatory, the Society of Bessarabian Writers and Journalists and the Luceafărul Editorial Society and Bookstore in Chişinău (1940). In 1932 he edited and headed the magazine Viaţa Basarabiei ("Bessarabian Life") and the eponymous daily newspaper. In 1918 Halippa was chosen corresponding member of the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
; removed in 1948, he was restored to its ranks posthumously in 1990.
In 1950 he was arrested and imprisoned without trial at Sighet prison
Sighet prison
The Sighet prison, located in the town of Sighetu Marmaţiei, Maramureş county, Romania, was used by the communist regime to hold political prisoners...
, in Sighetu Marmaţiei
Sighetu Marmatiei
Sighetu Marmației , formerly Sighet, is a city in Maramureş County near the Iza River, in north-western Romania. It administers five villages: Iapa, Lazu Baciului, Șugău, Valea Cufundoasă and Valea Hotarului.-Geography:...
. Two years later he was handed over to the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
, taken to Kishinev, tried and sentenced to 25 years' hard labour in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Brought back to Romania, he was held at Aiud
Aiud
Aiud is a city located in Alba county, Transylvania, Romania. The city has a population of 28,934 people. It has the status of municipality and is the second-largest city in the county, after county seat Alba Iulia. The Aiud administrative region is 142.2 square kilometres in area.- Administration...
until 1957. He died in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1979 at the age of 95 and is buried in the cemetery of Cernica Monastery.
Married to the teacher Eleonora Circău, he had one son. His Chişinău home is preserved as a monument today.
Works
Halippa wrote over 280 poems, articles, sketches, translations and memorials, managing to edit a single volume of poetry during his lifetime: Flori de pârloagă ("Flowers of a Fallow Field", 1921, Iaşi), prefaced by Mihail SadoveanuMihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting republican head of state under the communist regime . One of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as...
. He also wrote a few historical studies: Bessarabiâ do prisoedineniâ k Rossii ("Besarabia before Annexation to Russia") (Russian, 1914); Basarabia sub împăratul Aleksandr I
Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
(1812-1825) ("Bessarabia under Emperor Aleksandr I"), B. P. Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Hasdeu is considered to have been able to understand 26 languages .-Life:...
(1939). Posthumous works include Povestea vieţii mele ("The Story of My Life", Patrimoniu, Chişinău, 1990) and a volume of newspaper writings (2001). He also collaborated on the work Testament pentru urmaşi ("Last Will", 1991).