From the introduction: "While studying Romanian history in 1987, 1 came across the Bessarabian question
for the first time. I was intrigued by the mysterious manuscripts from Marx
published by the Romanians in 1964. The coincidental fact that these manuscripts
are kept in Amsterdam in the archives of the International Institute of Social
History no more than fifty kilometers from my home further triggered interest in
the Bessarabian question. In the next year, I completed a Master's thesis on the
Bessarabian question in the Department of the History of International Relations at
Utrecht University unaware that the subject would soon become a hot topic in
international politics with the disintegration of the Soviet Empire".
Author(s): Meurs, Wim van
Publisher: East European Monographs/Columbia University Press
Year: 1994
Language: English
City: New York
Tags: Bessarabia, Romania, Soviet Moldavia, Historiography, Transnistria, Nationalism
Charts, Maps, and Tab Ies ............................................................................... v
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... vii
Introduction ................................................................................................. l
l. Soviet Historiography ................................................................................ 5
The Writing of History in the Soviet Union ............................................ 6
The Early Years .......................................................................... 7
Stalinist Historiography ............................................................... 9
History and Destalinization ........................................................ 15
Politics and History ............................................................................ 19
Western Perceptions of Soviet Historiography .............................. 19
Poli tical Functions .................................................................... 21
Soviet Historians ................................................................................ 25
Historians and Politician ........................................................... 25
The Soviet Historian as an Intellectual. ........................................ 27
ldeology and Language .............................................................. 31
Summary ................................................................................. 32
2. A Short History of Bessarabia ................................................................... 33
Bessarabia and Bukovina ..................................................................... 34
The Geto-Dacians, the Romans, and the Slavs ....................................... 35
The Moldavian Principality and the Sultan ............................................ 38
The Ottoman Empire ................................................................. 39
The Cossacks and the Russians ................................................... .41
Bessarabia and the Russian Empire ....................................................... 43
The Danubian Principalities and the Great Powers ....................... .43
The Russian Annexation of Bessarabia ........................................ .45
The Unification of the Danubian Principalities ............................ .48
Romania and the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 ......................... 50
Revolution in Bessarabia ..................................................................... 52
The Revolution of 1905 ................................................. , ........... 53
The First World War ................................................................. 54
The February Revolution ........................................................... 55
The Sfatul Ţării ........................................................................
The October Revolution .................... ···· ···· · ····· ····· · ··· · ····· · ···· · ··· .61
U ·ri · ......................... 66
n1 1cat1on ......... · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
72
The Greater Roman ian State ...................... ·.········································
The Paris Peace Conference ........................................................
72
Local Resistance and Soviet Interference ................ · ··· · ··· · ·········· · .74
The Moldavian Autonomous Republic .................... ···· ··· · · ········ · .78
Diplomacy in the Interwar Years ................................................. 79
The Second World War ....................................................................... rs
The Soviet Ultimatum ...............................................................
.
The Moldavian Union Republic ................................................... 87
Operation Barbarossa ............................ ·· · . . · ·· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ··!
Peace Negotiations ....................................................................
.
Current Events ·····:···························································:::::::::::::::::: ! The Moldav1an Popular Front. ............ ······················
Towards an Independent Moldav ia ..................... ······················ ... 98
. R bl. . ........................... 105
3. The Moldav1an epu ic............................................. 105
Nationalities Policy ........................................................................... 106
Soviet Nationalities Policy and the Minorities ............................ .
The Moldavian Nation ·························:·············· ..................... l l
The Population of Bessarabia and Buko ma before 1918 ... . ......... 11
The Minorities in Bessarabia and Bukovma and the Romaman
State ......................................................................................
l ;i
Toe Population of the Moldavian Republic .......... ···················· ... 1
Soviet Language Policy and Russification ........................................... 124
The Moldavian Language ................. ·· · · · ·· ·· ·· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·· · · · · · · · · · · · · . 126
Leftbankers versus Bessarabians ............ · ... ·. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · .131
Linguistic Russification ............................................................
133
Poli tical and Cultural Participation ........... ··· · ··· · · ··· ····· ··· · ····· · ······ ···· · ... 136
Soviet Central Politics and Local Elites ...................................... 136
Political Participation in Soviet Moldavia ................................... 138
Cultural Participation in Soviet Moldavia ................................... 142
Summary ················································································
144
. 8 .
· h
...................... 147
4. Moldav1an 1stonograp Y ·•············ .. :···············:·············· ·
148
Politics and History in the Moldav1an Republic ................................... .
Politica! Functionality and Historical Myths ............................... 148
Institutionalization and Professionalization ................................. 150
Affiliation, Ideology, and Language .......................................... 15:
Amateurs and Apparatchiks, 1917-1940 .............................................. 15
R d B b. . ........................... 155
e essara 1a .......... · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
57
Rakovskij's Brochure on the Bessarabian Question ...................... 1
The Moldavian Scientific Committee ......................................... 163
lnfighting at the Historical Front, 1940-1949 ...................................... 166
The lmpossible Ultimatum of 1940 ........................................... 167
The Years of the War .............................................................. 171
Historical Science in the Moldavian Un ion Republic ................... 173
The Next Generation of Historians ............................................ 178
The Soviet Synthesis of Moldavian History ......................................... 180
A First Stalinist Synthesis ........................................................ 181
Destalinization, Destruction, and Reconstruction ......................... 185
A New Synthesis ..................................................................... 191
Romanian Exiles, Bourgeois Nationalists, and Other
Renegades .............................................................................. 199
The Twilight of Moldavi an Historiography ................................ 203
5. History and Politics in Romania .............................................................. 205
Nationalist and Communist ldeologies ................................................ 206
The Romanian National Ideology .............................................. 206
The Autonomous Course of the 1960s ....................................... 209
The Debate on Romania's National Communism ........................ 218
History-Writing in Romania .............................................................. 223
The Nationalist School, Iorga and Brătianu ................................ 224
The Communist School, Roller and Constantinescu-Iaşi .............. 227
The National-Communist School, Giurescu and Oţetea ................ 230
The Bessarabian Question ................................................................. 235
Marx and the Romanians .......................................................... 235
The Bessarabian Question Revived, 1964-1989 ........................... 242
Conclusion ............................................................................. 257
6. Soviet Questions ................................................................................... 259
Soviet Rule and Moldavi an Statehood ................................................ 260
Establishing Soviet Rute .......................................................... 264
Moldavian Statehood ............................................................... 269
Revolution in Bessarabia ................................................................... 273
Alexander Puskin, the Decembrists, and the Greek Revolution ..... 277
The Moldavian Narodniki ........................................................ 282
Social Democratic Organizations and Ideas ................................ 284
The 1905 Revolution ............................................................... 287
The Three Revolts in Bessarabia ............................................... 289
Th
The Heroes of the Great Patriotic War ....................................... 294
e Ultimatum ................................................................................ 296
The Ultimatum Exposed .......................................................... 298
Th
The Soviets Take Up the Gauntlet... .......................................... 300
e Cultural Heritage ....................................................................... 307
The Progressive Boyar, Dimitrie Cantemir ................................. 308
Moldavian Metropolitans and Chroniclers ................................... 318
The National Poet, Mihail Eminescu .......................................... 322
Romanian and Moldavian Literators .......................................... 325
7. Romanian Questions ............................................................................... 332299
Nicolae Titulescu and Roman ian Foreign Policy ................................. ·
The Romanian Rehabilitation of Nicolae Titulescu ...................... 330
The Reply from Chişinău ......................................................... 336
Titulescu as the Figurehead of Romanian Foreign Policy ............. 341
The Second World War ..................................................................... 342
The Rehabilitation of Marshall Antonescu .................................. 343
The Offensive of the Soviet Historians ....................................... 346
The Rehabilitation ofluliu Maniu ............................................ · 351
The Sfatul Ţării ......................................................... · · · · · · · ·. · · · ·· · ·· · · · · · 354
Conclusions .................................................... · · ·. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 361
Appendix .................................................................................................. 367
Explanation and Chronology ..................................................... 367
