Gherman Pântea
Encyclopedia
Gherman V. Pântea (ˈɡerman ˈpɨnte̯a; surname also spelled Pîntea; , German Vasilievich Pyntya; , Herman Vasilyovich Pyntya or Pintia; May 13, 1894 – February 1, 1968) was a Bessarabia
n-born soldier, civil servant and political figure, active in the Russian Empire
and Romania
. As an officer of the Imperial Russian Army
during most of World War I
, he helped organize the committees of Bessarabian soldiers, oscillating between loyalty to the Russian Provisional Government
and the cause of Bessarabian emancipation. Pântea was subsequently Military Director of the Moldavian Democratic Republic
, answering to President
Ion Inculeţ
. He personally created a Bessarabian defense force
, tasked with combating Bolshevik
subversion and Russian intimidation, but faced defeat after the October Revolution
.
With some hesitance, Gherman Pântea endorsed the Republic's union with Romania
, and affiliated with Romania's National Liberal Party
. Having parallel careers as teacher, lawyer and journalist, Pântea remained a presence in Romanian political life, as member of Parliament
, negotiator of détente
with the Soviet Union
, and three times Mayor of Chişinău
. He was however mistrusted for his defense of arrested Bolsheviks, his critique of centralized government
, and his alleged corruption. During World War II
, Pântea was Mayor of Odessa under a Romanian occupation. He intervened to save Jews from the 1941 Massacre
and the subsequent deportations to camps in Transnistria. He had a tumultuous relationship with Ion Antonescu
, the Romanian dictator, and was kept in check by the occupation authority. His administration managed to set in motion a plan for Odessa
, and helped the city overcome devastation through the adoption of free trade
, but also created various controversies.
Pântea was for long suspected of war crimes, and spent much of his post-war life as a clandestine. He was eventually apprehended, and became a political prisoner
of the Romanian communist regime
. In 1956, he managed to have the war crimes verdict overturned but, albeit rehabilitated
in part, continued to be harassed by the communist apparatus until the 1960s.
and lower-middle-class origins, Gherman Pântea was born on May 13, 1894, in the northern Bessarabian village of Zăicani
; he was one of several children born to lawyer Vasile Pântea and his wife Ioana. They were of the Eastern Orthodox
religion, and Gherman was a practicing Romanian Orthodox
until late in life. The boy had trouble adapting himself to the requirements of living in what was then Russia's Bessarabia Governorate
: although he was studious and completed primary school with honors, he had difficulty learning the official Russian language
. He finished secondary school in Glodeni
, before leaving for Akkerman
, where he attended Russian normal school
and witnessed the start of World War I. He frequently sailed to Odessa, the Black Sea
port which was to fascinate him for the rest of his life.
In June 1915, shortly after completing his studies, Pântea was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army, and relocated to Kiev
, where he attended a Junker School
. He was again in Odessa, where Bessarabian-born officer Emanoil Catelli
was giving standard Romanian language
classes to Russian officers, and became close friends with his new teacher. (Some sources represent Pântea as a graduate of Odessa University
.) Upon graduation from the Junker School, the young Podporuchik was dispatched to the Romanian front, to function as a translator between the Russian Ninth Army and their colleagues in the Romanian Land Forces
. He also fought with valor during battles against the German Army, and twice received the Order of St. George
.
Russia's February Revolution
caught Pântea entrenched with his men somewhere near the town of Roman
. The news, he later wrote, was a wake-up call for the Bessarabian Romanians in foreign lands, since it offered the prospect of self-determination at home. As the Provisional Government took hold of military matters, Pântea became President of the Ninth Army's Soviet
, and also helped organize the Bessarabian soldiers into a single political body. Similar actions were being taken by other nationally-minded Bessarabian officers. Some—Catelli, Anton Crihan
, Constantin Osoianu
, Ion Păscăluţă
, Andrei Scobioală
—were active on Bessarabia's borders, while others addressed Bessarabian units in places such as Novorossiya
(Elefterie Sinicliu
) or Crimea
(Grigore Turcuman
).
Here was the nucleus for a single military and political unit of the Bessarabian, or "Moldavian", national movement, which sought to gain control of Chişinău
(the informal Bessarabian capital). At the time, tensions were sparked between Podporuchik Pântea's Roman organization and the inner-Bessarabian faction which demanded a social revolution
, namely the Chişinău Soviet of Workers and Soldiers; he also had to struggle with Bessarabian apathy, communist
gains, and territorial claims stated by the neighboring Ukrainian People's Republic
. Through Pântea and Scobioală, the Roman group communicated directly with a civilian network formed by the Bessarabian expatriates of Iaşi
, who endorsed the effort to consolidate political unity. On behalf of the Roman leadership, Pântea made a journey to Odessa, where he contacted the eastern committee formed by Catelli and the others (May 1917). At the time, Odessa Bessarabians were forming their "Moldavian Cohorts
", armed units which were supposed to challenge the Chişinău Soviet.
, formed by revolutionary Russians loyal to the Chişinău Soviet. This authority gave formal backing to its Moldavian equivalent, supporting its struggle for self-determination and even discussing a merger, but discreetly tried to combat Bessarabian Romanian influence in all other fields. A truce was agreed upon between Pântea and the Russian Committee representative Levenzon, which even allowed both organisms to share office space in the same building.
During September, after clashes with some of the radicalized peasants hampered propaganda efforts in the countryside, and Ukrainian or Russian pressures increased, the Moldavian Committee began issuing its own political newspaper. Known as Soldatul Moldovan ("The Moldavian Soldier"), it had poet Gheorghe (Iorgu) Tudor
as manager and Pântea as one of three editors. Pântea carried from Iaşi a large bag of propaganda literature, in Cyrillic letters
—Vasile Harea of Cuvânt Moldovenesc
paper, who witnessed the event, described Pântea as "a rather affected young man, with a nervous gaze, ambitious and conceiving of all sorts of schemes".
At around the same time, the Moldavian Central Committee took steps to create a Bessarabian national force within Russia's Army, with Vasile Cijevschi
as Commander. The request was presented to the Stavka
(supreme command of the Russian forces) in Mogilev
. It provided an ambiguous response, and Pântea led a delegation to request further clarification. On their way through Kiev, the Bessarabian envoys chanced upon Romania's own delegates to Russia: Dinu Brătianu
and Constantin Iancovescu. The two missions shared a train carriage, and the time they shared prompted Stavka staff to suspect a conspiracy. The Bessarabians tried to mend the situation, and Pântea had interviews with Commander Nikolay Dukhonin
and Russian Premier
Alexander Kerensky
. Pântea later wrote that Kerensky was the most welcoming, allowing the gradual creation of a single Bessarabian army (and even promising to transfer the Odessa 40th Regiment its jurisdiction), but forbidding any unilateral Bessarabian decision on this matter.
Before and after the October Revolution
overturned the Provisional Government and brought the Bolshevik
(communist) movement to power in Russia, Gherman Pântea played a game of intricate diplomacy. According to Ion Constantin, he was good at seizing political opportunities "in those murky, troubled times, subject to fast and radical changes to the map of East-Central Europe
". By early October 1917, Pântea was realizing that Kerensky and the Provisional Government could lose the battle. In a bid to discover the other side's intentions regarding Bessarabia, he traveled to Petrograd and met Bolshevik ideologue Vladimir Lenin
. As Pântea later stated, Lenin declared himself for revolutionary self-determination in the national issue—some researchers regard this claim as an urban legend, with which Bessarabian intellectuals tried to convince communists that Lenin himself validated their national aspirations.
. A dispute endures about the initiative to convene the Congress, since both Pântea and Ştefan Holban claimed to have had the idea first. In order to ensure attendance, Pântea (or Holban) appealed to a ruse, issuing a telegram which misleadingly suggested that the Russian Provisional Government was backing the Congress. Pântea was subsequently designated Vice President of the Bessarabian soldiers' assembly; Cijevschi was President.
The new organization enraged Kerensky: just before Lenin ousted him from power, the Prime Minister issued a warrant for Pântea's arrest; by then, the Bessarabians had received recognition from the Menshevik
s, the Bundistn and various other political groups. In the confusion that followed Lenin's arrival to power, Pântea still recognized the Russian Constituent Assembly
, and ran in the Russian parliamentary election
. He was included on a Bessarabian Peasants' Party
list headed by Ion Inculeţ
and Pantelimon Erhan
. The election itself was chaotic, and its results were never officially counted.
When Sfatul Ţării came into existence, Pântea was involved in other political maneuvering, helping to topple Ion Pelivan
, the designated President of the Assembly. In doing so, Pântea gave approval to the vocal demands of non-Romanian or pro-Russian delegates, who were scandalized by Pelivan's stated Romanian nationalism. Like Crihan and Ion Buzdugan
, and eventually Pelivan himself, he transferred his support to Inculeţ, who was widely perceived as moderate and committed to the ideals of the February Revolution. Pântea himself was designated a Sfatul Ţării member, representing both the Soldiers' Congress and Bălţi Country. His first address, in Russian, spoke about the opportunity for reform, and promised that the assembly could turn Bessarabia into "a rose" and a model to follow. Pântea was active as legislator within Sfatul Ţării, where he served on the Commission for Schools and the Commission for Liquidation
. Additionally, he was a delegate to the Congress of Schoolteachers, where he campaigned for the teaching of Romanian in all Bessarabian schools. From 1918 to 1925, he edited the Russian-language regional daily Golos.
When Bessarabian deputies created the autonomous Moldavian Democratic Republic
, Pântea was integrated on the governing Moldavian Directorate: he had in his care the General Directorate for War and Navy, initially as Locum
for Teodor Cojocaru
, and then as de facto Director. His main task was the creation of a "Moldavian" armed force
, which integrated Cohorts, guarded over the unruly withdrawal of Russian forces, and established friendly contacts with the French Army
. The Director witnessed with growing alarm as some components of his army were coming under Bolshevik influence. Such was the case of Chişinău Garrison, which was maneuvered by Ilie Cătărău
, a mysterious adventurer and political radical. After Cătărău openly questioned Sfatul Ţării authority over his troops, Pântea took a singular measure: together with a rogue unit of Amur Cossacks
, he surprised Cătărău on New Year's Eve, arresting and deporting him into the Ukraine. Between the two distinct phases of this incident, the Republic's army was sworn in during a ceremony attended by Moldavian President
Inculeţ.
Bolshevik agitation, endorsed from a distance by Lenin's Russian Soviet Republic
, peaked over the early days of 1918. The withdrawing Russians were sacking the region, and Bolshevik factions such as Front-Ordel stood to gain the upper hand in Chişinău, Cotiujeni
and the Budjak
. Pântea instituted a state of emergency
, and attempted to introduce more severe sanctions for insubordination. The Bolshevik groups resorted to intimidating acts in the capital, kidnapping some of the Sfatul Ţării deputies and attacking the Romanian-organized Volunteer Corps in Russia
. In his addresses to Sfatul, Pântea began identifying the Republic's enemy as exclusively "non-Moldavian", but noted that the Bessarabian army behaved "like a flock of rams", with no leadership and morale. On January 9, 1918, the Director was himself a victim of a Bolshevik maneuver, being apprehended by the Front Ordel and only released, together with soldiers of the Volunteer Corps, when the Bessarabian army intervened in force.
Facing the threats of Russian Civil War
expansion into the Republic and communization in his own ranks, Pântea became a major contributor to the accelerated political process of union with Romania
. In January 1918, he welcomed the Romanian Land Forces and General Ernest Broşteanu, who had a mandate to reinstate order, and who arrived in Chişinău alongside the French military envoy Henri Mathias Berthelot
. There followed a common offensive against the Bolshevik insurgents, part of the larger Western intervention in the Civil War
. In the end, the Bolsheviks retreated to Tighina
, and the Russian Soviet government broke diplomatic contacts with Romania
(see Odessa Soviet Republic
).
Later that month, the Moldavian Republic proclaimed itself an independent state, with Daniel Ciugureanu
as the new head of government. The administration was reorganized, and Pântea lost his position to Colonel Constantin Brăescu, the Minister of War. President Inculeţ compensated for the loss of prestige, raising Gherman Pântea to the rank of Major
and making him Knight of the Moldavian Order of St. Vladimir.
By then, Romanian intervention posed a fundamental dilemma, since the political class became undecided about whether to cement Bessarabian statehood or look forward to a union. Inconclusiveness touched the Bessarabian army. Its new uniforms, on the Romanian model, led Bessarabians to assume that it was a branch of the Romanian Land Forces; the monogram
R.M., for Republica Moldovenească ("Moldavian Republic"), was commonly misread as standing for "Greater Romania
" (România Mare). Pântea himself appeared undecided about the situation, and, in a letter to pro-Russian officer Anatol Popa (later shot by the Romanian military), argued: "I promise you that I'll be defending republican Bessarabia next to Russia, even if it costs me my life [...]. I gave the order for all the Moldavian army to take action; when it turned out that the Romanians were arriving with too great a force, I changed that order. The Romanians hold on tight [...]. I fear greatly that the Romanians are here to steal away our Bessarabia." This correspondence remains a problematic aspect of Pântea' career. While some take it to imply double dealing or at least an ideological ambiguity, Ion Constantin suggests that it may have been in fact a ruse. Years later, Pântea referred to Broşteanu's intervention as misguided and sanguinary, because it carried out summary executions of suspected rebels, encouraged denunciations, and stained the unionists' international reputation.
The union was effected on March 27, 1918, when a Sfatul Ţării majority voted in favor. The 86 yea votes, which carried the day, included Pântea's. He also voted in favor of a Romanian-wide land reform
, an additional condition to the union. Contrary to later Bolshevik allegations, he and the other pro-union voters did not receive land property in exchange for their loyalty.
. In March 1919, he was at Tarutino
, where a mass of Black Sea Germans
ultimately voted to endorse the Sfatul Ţării resolution. He subsequently accompanied a deputation of Black Sea Germans to Bucharest
, capital of Greater Romania, and, with them, was received by King
Ferdinand I
. His rank in the Bessarabian army was recognized by the Romanian military reserve force
, which integrated him as Major.
Pântea was in Romania for a while, taking his license degree from the University of Iaşi Faculty of Law (September 1919). Later investigation into his career resulted in allegations that Pântea never did attend class, and that his diploma was abusively released by Rector A. C. Cuza
(answering the special request of Romanian Premier
Ion I. C. Brătianu
). Whether or not this is true, Pântea is known to have been enlisted with the Bessarabian bar association
as of 1919. Late in the year, he began publishing another Russian-language daily, Bessarabia, which went under in short while and was revived by Vasile Bârcă
in 1923. This venture drew suspicions from the Romanian authorities, who organized a search of the premises and, reputedly, discovered communist propaganda.
Loyal to Inculeţ, Gherman Pântea followed the former Moldavian President into Romania's National Liberal Party
(PNL), and became deputy leader of the group's Bessarabian section. This affiliation got him elected into the Romanian Assembly of Deputies
(lower chamber of Parliament
), the first of ten consecutive terms. Pântea was nevertheless considered suspect by the Romanian establishment, who believed him a man of left-wing sympathies and a promoter of communist literature. He was attorney for the group of Bessarabian communists, led by Pavel Tcacenco
, who had agitated against the Romanian state. The pro bono
activity was largely successful: Tcancenco and other three men were found guilt of edition and sentenced to death in absentia
; 65 detainees were acquitted; 39 others were set free after trial de novo
. This implied placing himself against the PNL government, particularly since Pântea reported to the world on the alleged the abuse of power by Romanian administrators in Bessarabia. His intervention in Parliament prompted the Interior Ministry (headed by Nicolae L. Lupu
) to sack the leadership of Siguranţa police in Chişinău.
In 1922, from Tighina, Gherman Pântea began issuing another Russian daily. Titled Yuzhnaya Bessarabia or Iujnaia Besarabia ("Southern Bessarabia"), it survived until April 1923. He first had a stint as Mayor of Chişinău
, beginning and ending in 1923, when he outlined plans to improve education and the urban landscape of peripheral quarters. In October 1923, he was elected one of four Vice Presidents of the Assembly of Deputies, the first of two such assignments he would receive in his career.
of the PNL, he played a part in negotiations to restore contacts with the Russian government. He was in Paris
, meeting with the Romanian communist Christian Rakovsky
, who was the Soviet Ambassador to France. They discussed the litigious issue of Bessarabia, which the Bolsheviks still refused to recognize as part of Romania: Pântea was supposed to convince them that the union had been a legitimate affair, and, according to Pântea, Rakovsky showed himself unusually receptive. With a delegation which included Constantin Langa-Răşcanu
, Mircea Djuvara, Petru Cazacu
and Anton Crihan
, Pântea represented Romania in bilateral talks with a delegation from the Soviet Union
, headed by diplomat Nikolay Krestinsky. These negotiations took place in Vienna
during late March 1924. In conversation with Krestinsky, Pântea even transmitted the government's offer to renounce claims to the Romanian Treasure
in Russia, in exchange for the Soviet recognition of the 1918 union.
Contacts broke down when the Soviets presented their proposal: a plebiscite in the disputed region or, alternatively, Romania's cession of the Budjak
. Pântea believed that their uncompromising stance showed the swift radicalization of Soviet foreign policy under new Bolshevik leader Joseph Stalin
, who was Rakovsky's enemy. The same year, Tcacenco returned to Romania a instigator of the "Tatarbunary Uprising
". This rebellion was quashed by the Romanian authorities, and Pântea was again defense attorney for the Bessarabian communist cell.
Pântea also received his second term as Vice President of the Assembly after the 1927 election. He still held the office in 1925, when he took part in debates to extend the scope of Jewish emancipation
. To the alarm of antisemitic groups such as the National-Christian Defense League
, he assessed that all Bessarabian Jews
had the right of naturalization
. By then, the former Military Director was also a managerial director for Chişinău's chamber of commerce
, and tried to obtain tax reductions for the Bessarabian artisans.
Gherman Pântea returned as Mayor of Chişinău, in office from 1927 to 1928. In 1930, dissatisfied with the PNL and in dispute with Inculeţ, he became a member of the dissident National Liberal Party-Brătianu
(the "Georgists"). He was notoriously critical of the PNL's party line, alleging that Inculeţ had exploited Bessarabia for the Old Kingdom
's benefit. Around the same time as Bessarabia marked its first full decade of Romanian rule, Pântea, Buzdugan, Crihan and Catelli were members of the Chişinău Union of Reserve Officers. A rough equivalent of the pre-union Assembly of the Nobility, this association stood out for demanding equal access to Romanian pensions for veterans of the Bessarabian army.
, and was returned to the lower chamber. His third and final mandate as Mayor of Chişinău was in 1932, when he began taking steps to erect a local statue of Ferdinand I. As the region suffered the consequences of the Great Depression
, he helped Chişinău's poor, using public funds to buy back their pawned
property items. As claimed by his political rivals (including historian Ştefan Ciobanu
), Pântea was corrupt and irresponsible in office, pocketing large sums of public money, and partying at Chişinău's expense on a visit to Italy
(where he was supposed to reward Pietro Badoglio
's support of the Bessarabian union). An anonymous brochure called the mayor a "Rasputin", alleging that he tole public furniture, while an antisemitic city councilor depicted him as "in cahoots" with the Bessarabian Jews.
During those years, Pântea also became an active member of the Bucharest Bessarabian Circle of Nicolae Bosie-Codreanu
, which monitored the evolution of Soviet attitudes on Romania. By then, there was a visible rapprochement
between the Romania and the Soviet Union, effected by Romania's Foreign Minister Nicolae Titulescu
and his PNL faction. The two governments had signed the London Convention for the Definition of Aggression and resumed diplomatic contacts. Renewing his attempts to obtain a definitive Romanian–Soviet agreement on Bessarabia, Pântea had informal talks with Mikhail Ostrovsky, the Soviet Envoy to Bucharest. Pântea preserved the image of a philo-Romanian Ostrovsky, who believed that Stalin would in time accept the union; the initiative, however, came to nothing, as both Ostrovsky and Titulescu were sidelined by their respective governments.
Pântea was also focusing on writing his memoirs of World War I and the union. Some of these texts were originally published by Dreptatea
daily in 1931, and were later collected into the book Unirea Basarabiei. Rolul organizaţiilor militare moldoveneşti în actul unirii ("Bessarabia's Union. The Role of Moldavian Military Units in the Act of Union"). A second edition, published in 1932, had an eulogistic foreword by Nicolae Iorga, the historian and political ally; the book also received endorsements from Pântea's former colleagues (Catilli, Cijevschi etc.). Around 1935, Pântea's account was rejected by historian Emanoil Hagi-Moscu and Epoca newspaper, who discussed Pântea's statements of loyalty toward the Russian Republic, and even alleged that the Director had been responsible for the January 1918 attack on the Transylvanian volunteers. With his own version of events supported by Iorga, Pântea sued Hagi-Moscu for slander.
Between 1934 and 1937, when he resumed his activity a lawyer, Pântea sat on Chişinău City Hall's Board of Revision. He reconciled with the PNL, but the party resented his earlier disloyalty: also in 1937, he left the PNL, never to return. In October 1937, he was an honored guest at the festive anniversary of the Moldavian Soldiers' Congress, in Chişinău. That year, he alo published the second volume of his memoirs: Unirea Basarabiei. Două decenii de la autonomia Basarabiei ("Bessarabia's Union. Two Decades since the Bessarabian Autonomy").
in Romania, confirmed when the PNL lost the December 1937 election
; in those circumstances, King Carol II
appointed the far right
's Octavian Goga
as Premier. The move alarmed the Soviets, and clashed with their popular front
policy: according to Pântea, Ambassador Ostrovsky called on him to inform Romanians that Stalin and France's Léon Blum
insisted that Goga should be deposed and Romania taken out of "the fascist camp". Pântea maintained that, on it own, Ostrovsky's warning to Carol II resulted in the formation of a new Romanian cabinet, headed by Miron Cristea
.
The new regime was an authoritarian
one, centered on Carol II, and confirmed by the 1938 Constitution of Romania
. Parliament was practically dissolved, but, as a long-time member of the Assembly, Gherman Pântea became a permanent member of the Romanian Senate
. Following Carol's administrative restructuring, he was also Councilor of the upper court in Ţinutul Nistru
. He was at odds with Grigore Cazacliu
, the King's Resident (Governor), accusing him of dishonest business practices.
During the first years of World War II
, Romania was caught between the hostile governments of Nazi Germany
and the Soviet Union (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania in World War II). In that context, the Soviets communicated an ultimatum to Romania, and occupied Bessarabia (June 1940). Pântea and his family escaped to Bucharest, where the refugee politician continued his work with the Bessarabian Circle. Later that year, German pressures resulted in the loss of Northern Transylvania
, which confirmed the break-up of Greater Romania
. By then, the Bessarabian Circle represented a 120,000-strong refugee community, having Inculeţ and Daniel Ciugureanu
as Presidents, Bosie-Codreanu and Pântea as Vice Presidents.
The major territorial losses resulted in Carol's fall from power, and inaugurated the National Legionary State
, with Ion Antonescu
as Conducător
. Initially, this regime followed Nazi policy, and prevented the more obvious displays of Bessarabian unionism, leading Pântea to exclaim: "General Antonescu [...] cannot speak out on all subjects, so hopefully he would allow us to discuss and to shout out the issue of our justice". In May, shortly after the Antonescu regime had restructured itself (see Legionary Rebellion), Pântea entered a dispute with other members of the Bessarabian Circle, and resigned from the post of Vice President.
as an Axis country
. Gherman Pântea was mobilized and dispatched to the Fourth Army
, where he was legal adviser to General Nicolae Ciupercă
. The latter asked him to review a list of 100 Bessarabian "undesirables", singled out for their left-wing opinions and facing summary execution—Ciupercă asked him to verify if any "good Romanians" were on that list, but Pântea persuaded the authorities not to carry out the order. Among those rescued were communist activists Gheorghe Stere (son of the unionist militant Constantin Stere
) and Alexandru Mîţă.
The extension of Romanian rule into a territory designated as "Transnistria" brought Pântea to high office. As Pântea later noted, Antonescu considered him a suitable Transnistria Governor, but changed his mind when Pântea questioned him in public. Consequently, he was assigned Mayorship of Odessa, taking office only after the city's violent siege came to an end. In order to appease the Germans, Odessa was formally kept out of Transnistria, and the Odessa Mayor's office remained separated from those of other Romanian administrators. Among the latter, Transnistrian Governor Gheorghe Alexianu, Gendarmerie commander Constantin Vasiliu and Army General Nicolae Ghineraru regarded Pântea with disdain or mistrust.
Instead of condoning the Romanian- and German-led mass murder of Ukrainian
and Bessarabian Jews (see Holocaust in Romania), Pântea is credited with having saved many of the potential victims—probably numbering in the thousands. On October 22, 1941, Pântea issued a proclamation in Odesskaya Gazeta, promising a return to normal, and announced freedom and equality between all Odessans. However, this statement was rendered ineffectual by events which occurred on the same day: an explosion on Marazlie Street took the life of General Ioan Glogojeanu and other Romanian officials. The Antonescu regime supposed a terrorist attack, ignoring all accounts according to which the retreating Red Army
had mined the location. Reportedly, Pântea and his Transnistrian colleague Nichita Smochină
were informed of the mining, and tried to warn their superiors not to enter the Marazile building.
Antonescu's reaction was violent, and a collective blamed was placed on the Odessa Jews, who were decimated in what became known as the "Odessa Massacre
". As a witness to this slaughter, Pântea noted that 450 Jewish people were hanged on the first day, others were randomly shot, and still others were rounded up, their fate to be determined by General Nicolae Macici. Pântea thereafter worked to persuade Macici that the killing quota imposed by Antonescu was excessive. On October 23, he and Macici asked Governor Alexianu to turn back the column of Jews sent on a death march. They registered only partial success, as some of the deportees returned: according to Pântea, all but 2,000 survived the experience. However, researchers of the events record a much higher death toll. According to them, Romanian troops randomly murdered some 20,000 or 30,000 of those sent on convoys.
The following week, the Mayor contacted socialite Alexandrina Cantacuzino and presented her with a report on the Massacre, which she was to hand over to Antonescu. This document exposed the acts of "barbarity" and the "un-Romanian" behavior of various officials; in reply, Antonescu threatened to have him shot on the spot, but later ordered an investigation into cases of abuse. Pântea's own report noted that its author was not a defender of the Jews.
during the Soviet retreat, to build a new electrical substation; once this began operating, he reopened the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater, refurbished Odessa University
(while building a close relationship with the students), and cleared for use the city's tramway lines. Businesses also reopened, benefiting from free trade
and voluntary taxation
—the city treasury, Pântea claimed, collected some 170 million Reichsmark in revenue. According to historian Mark Mazower
, the experiment was largely carried by corrupt practices, but also gave the Soviet-born Odessans a unique experience of capitalism
.
Liberal enterprise coexisted with the minute regulation of social life: in Russia, Pântea's resolutions on this subject are remembered as farcical and unwittingly humorous. One of them limited children's use of bicycles and roller skates
, under the pain of court-martial
for their parents. The cultural projects he promoted doubled as a propaganda effort: the new authorities staged shows which suggested that Odessa was, and would remain, part of a new Greater Romania. During 1943, he renamed Avchinnikov Street after Octavian Goga
, and turned a lodging once visited by Goga into a hotel for Romanian writers on vacation to "Romanian Odessa".
Some of the Russian locals played along, in a bit to ensure cultural survival. Among the latter was actor Vasily Vronsky (Vasile Vronschi), who knew Pântea from Chişinău, and who received permission to establish the Russian-language Vronsky Theater; granted Romanian citizenship, he gave speeches denouncing Soviet agitprop
.
During January 1942, there was another planned exodus of Jews from Odessa. Pântea, whose official reports described the claim of "Jewish instigation" as a canard, was reportedly alarmed by the decision. Mostly in vain, he tried persuading Alexianu to reduce the number of Odessa Jews delivered to Berezivka
concentration camp—the Mayor hoped to at least obtain the return of Jews who were artisans, teachers or Crimean Karaites
. His own membership of the Eviction Bureau remains a contended issue: Pântea categorically denied it (a negation that is backed by Ion Constantin, and reflected in various primary sources); nevertheless, one archive document refers to him as one of ten supervisors of the 1942 deportation. He also took measures against squatting
in formerly Jewish houses, but, historian and former Soviet partisan
Yitzhak Arad
argues, meant to "keep those apartments for the Romanian administration [...] and to sell a certain number of the apartments to turn a profit."
In time, Mayor Pântea found a middle ground between the various political factors, and selected his own administrative team from Bessarabian and Soviet clerks. In addition to Vice Mayor Vidraşcu, it included old unionist combatants (Vladimir Chiorescu
, Elefterie Sinicliu
) alongside local notabilities (Dr. M. Zaevloshin, architect Vladimir Cundert). Reportedly, City Hall did not exercise political repression against known communists, who were merely required to register on a special list. The Romanian Mayor was also careful to preserve contacts with the two most powerful forces battling each other for control, namely the Germans and the Soviet partisans. His intervention saved the life of Yelena Rudenko, sister of Soviet General Fyodor Tolbukhin
, who had fallen severely ill at the family home in Odessa.
Alexianu was especially weary of the Mayor's connections, and, in December 1941, inquired Pântea about his alleged employment of political suspects, which Pântea categorically denied. In 1942, government authority began an erratic investigation into the presence of former Komsomol
ists among Odessa's public sector employees. Allegations regarding Pântea's complicity in acts of corruption prompted surveillance from Romanian Special Intelligence. Its subsequent reports accused the Mayor and some in his staff of keeping company with covert communists, and of trading on the black market of Chişinău. Later, sources adverse to Pântea claimed that he was the main beneficiary of trade in Moldovan wine
and used goods, and that he had vested interest in aiding the Jews, who were his business partners.
By late 1942, Pântea was also irritating the Romanian commandants when he protested against General Vasiliu's decision to requisition Odessa's trolleybus
es and have them moved to Craiova
. Pântea however carried on with his plans for Odessa's development. In October 1943, on the 2-year anniversary of the occupation, he issued, by means of Molva gazette, a new address to the city's residents, in which he listed his contributions. A few weeks later, he began employing laborers from the neighboring Reichskommissariat Ukraine
for public works in Odessa.
moved closer to Romania, Alexianu's bureaucracy was replaced with a defensive military structure, headed by General Gheorghe Potopeanu. Pântea considered his own position redundant, and asked to be recalled, but Antonescu ordered him to continue with his mandate. He was still at his post when Potopeanu relinquished his command to the Germans, and protested when Potopeanu decided to hand over to the Nazis all property requisitioned from the Soviet locals. There was a growing personal animosity between Potopeanu and Pântea, which probably began when the General tried to sell the Mayor an overpriced used car. During March, Pântea himself relinquished City Hall property to the Germans. After farewell ceremonies at the University and in the factories, he and his wife Lucia left to join the retreating Romanian troops.
The Pânteas were in Bucharest during King Michael's Coup
(August 23, 1944), with which Romania effectively changed sides in the war by toppling Antonescu. Their house on Argentina Street was damaged in the subsequent Nazi air raid
, and the family moved with politician Petre Ghiaţă, in Colentina
. On August 24, Gheorghe Potopeanu, who had emerged as Finance Minister
, demanded Pântea's arrest as a potential turncoat; and since the transition found him Pântea among the accused, it was assumed that he was one of Antonescu's war criminals.
The post-Antonescu government of Constantin Sănătescu
proceeded to include him Pântea a list of war criminals, even though the Soviet partners did not describe him as such. When the Red Army entered Bucharest in September, Potopeanu himself was arrested at his Ministry desk, and taken into Soviet custody. During that time, Pântea obeyed the new laws and handed down to the state all property he had acquired while in office as Mayor. By January 1945, when the Sănătescu list was published, Pântea turned fugitive: for a while, he lived in Craiova, where his brother Constantin resided; later, he was in Sibiu
, living under the assumed name of Lozont (or Lozony) Cernescu.
Like Antonescu and Potopeanu, Pântea faced a trial in front of the People's Tribunal
. In the end, he was acquitted, since Yelena Rudenko and Tolbukhin informed the Romanian state about Pântea's honorable conduct, and since the Allied Commission
recommended his release. Pântea was arrested on several other occasions, but, singularly among Romanians prosecuted for war crimes, he was acquitted each time. Although his rivals in the Transnistrian administration were by then destroying evidence of his more positive role, Pântea preserved certified copies
as a precautionary measure.
vindicated his 1918 deportation on Pântea's orders, and began circulating serious allegations against his rival. Published in the Romanian press, these resulted in a national manhunt for Pântea. Fearing a political retribution, the latter made himself lost in Sibiu, where he lived with false papers until December 1949. He was making short visits to Bucharest with forged identity papers and the alias George Mincu, and kept contacts with Anton Crihan
, who was preparing for a defection to Yugoslavia
.
Meanwhile, Soviet occupation
gave way to a satellite Romanian communist regime
. Pântea was tracked down by famed Commissar Eugen Alimănescu and handed down to the Securitate
(that is, the communist secret police). He was interrogated by Securitate commandant Alexandru Nicolschi
, and confronted with allegations made against him by Gheorghe Stere and Alexandru Mîţă, whose lives Pântea had helped save. Pântea was sent to Jilava prison, and kept without trial for three years; in late 1952, a Military Tribunal sentenced him to a further 10-years hard labor
, as a "war criminal" and "enemy of the working class
". His first year after the verdict was spent under heavy regime, at Aiud prison
, but Pântea was later moved into other infamously tough detention facilities: Gherla
and Ocnele Mari
. In November 1954, he was dispatched to a milder prison, at Craiova, and then sent to Poarta Albă
, a labor camp on the Danube – Black Sea Canal.
In October 1955, Gherman Pântea was included in an amnesty decreed by the Romanian communist authorities, as the early sign of a reluctant liberalization
. In January of the next year, he was even partially rehabilitated
during a trial de novo
for some 800 sentenced war criminals. After gathering evidence and testimonials from Soviet nationals, he took his case to the Supreme Tribunal
, which concluded that his sentencing as a "war criminal" was illegal (while finding little evidence that his were crimes "against the working class"). However, the Securitate still kept a file on Pântea, keeping him and his family under constant surveillance. At a time when repression was organized against the Bessarabian refugees, its staff gathered data according to which Pântea was capable of organizing Bessarabian resistance in Romania-proper. With noted help from the Soviet KGB
and a female Soviet envoy (codenamed Valeria), the secret police began re-investigating Pântea's various activities in politics. The Securitate archives also show that Securitate men approached the former Bessarabian Director with an offer to become their informant, but register Pântea's blunt refusal, even after intimidation.
, his contacts with the exiled Crihan or underground PNL-ists such as Aurelian Bentoiu, and his hopes for an American intervention
. Consequently, through a decision signed by Nicolschi in 1960, he and his wife were stripped of their pensions. Officially, the Pânteas stood accused of illegally trading in gold coins; a brutal police inquiry followed, and Lucia Pântea's arm was fractured in the process, but the prosecution was stopped in its tracks by the Great National Assembly
. Gherman and brother Constantin were again picked up in April 1961, and detained in the prison of Craiova together with other 5 "reactionary
elements" from Bessarabia—in 1962, all were sentenced to 1 year in jail.
Around 1964, as Romania embraced (nominally anti-Soviet) national communism
, Pântea began hoping that communist censorship
would revisit the Bessarabian dispute from a traditional viewpoint. In this context, he corresponded with official historian Andrei Oţetea, praising his "courage and clarity" in exposing the hidden side of Marxist historiography
. He himself began writing new memoirs for the Bucharest Institute of History, and, on May Day
1965, began receiving a state pension honoring his "outstanding contributions in service to the working class during the years 1919–1926". By 1967, Pântea made a final return to the public sphere, openly restating his version of historical events. He spoke on the subject at the funeral of fellow Bessarabian refugee Ion Buzdugan
, at the parastas of Gurie Grosu
, and again at a commemoration for Alexe Mateevici, reportedly causing panic among his public (most of whom were by then the survivors of communist jails). The Pântea family moved back to Bucharest, at the old home on Argentina Street.
Gherman Pântea died on February 1, 1968, in unusual circumstances: he had been absent from home for almost two days, and the family was informed that he had collapsed in the street, minutes after being spotted at a Piaţa Amzei diner; medical investigation showed that he was not suffering from any life-threatening condition. The funeral was at Bucharest's Bellu cemetery, on February 4. The ceremony, which included an Orthodox service by priest Vasile Ţepordei, doubled as a quiet political rally: it brought together the community of Bessarabian refugees, who regarded Pântea as their hero, and was closely monitored by the Securitate. The funeral orations were delivered by, among others, Father Ţepordei, Sinicliu, and the Bessarabian community elder Pan Halippa
.
. Here, in keeping up with Soviet historiography of the late Stalin period, he is mainly depicted as a criminal figure who takes absurd decisions. In contrast, the Bessarabian folklorist Tatiana Găluşcă-Crâşmaru composed the 1968 poem Lui Gh. Pântea, vechi luptător ("To Gh. Pântea, and Old Combatant"), which depicts the Moldavian Republic's Director as a hero of the entire Romanian people. Between these images is one proposed by the Bessarabian expatriate and Romanian historian Alexandru I. Gonţa, according to whom Pântea is a relevant but second-rate figure in the history of Bessarabian unionism (this view, first made public in 1973, is hotly contested by other authors and activists).
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989
, as Romania's participation in the Holocaust was being acknowledged, various commentators contrasted Gherman Pântea's behavior with that of other Transnistria administrators. According to Romanian-born Israel
i historian Jean Ancel, Pântea's protest against Antonescu's orders is compatible with the work of his Cernăuţi colleague Traian Popovici
, known for defending Bukovina Jews from planned extermination. In 2008, a similar point was made by writer Boris Marian in the Jewish community
magazine Realitatea Evreiască: "The Romanian Mayor of Odessa was shocked by the cruelty with which the orders coming in from Bucharest were being executed. His name was Gherman Pântea and he was a normal man. Like Mayor Traian Popovici of Cernăuţi, Gh. Pântea wished above all to fulfill his duty as a human being."
On the commemoration of the Odessa Massacre
in 2011, Romanian filmmaker Florin Iepan produced the documentary Odessa, which gives evidence about the scale of murder. In an earlier interview, Iepan mentioned that Pântea was "an interesting character" and "a rather luminous figure in that context of bitterness and violence." During debates with the public, held after the film's release, Iepan also quoted Pântea's report to Antonescu as proof that some Romanian officials knew about (and, in this case, deplored) the killings in the city.
However, Pântea's own testimonies on the Holocaust subject have various ambiguities and omissions. Mark Mazower
notes that, in writing his reports, Pântea never realized the level of Antonescu's involvement in the 1941 Massacre. Before the official recognition of Holocaust crimes
, the Odessa Mayor's accounts were being cited against themselves by those who tried to minimize Romanian involvement. In reaction, Jewish community historian Teodor Wexler argued that the attempt was missing its target: "Gherman Pântea's letter [is] of an unrestrained tragicalness", confirming "once and for all the historical responsibility of those who dictated the undertaking of the Holocaust in Romania."
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in 1991, most of Bessarabia returned to independence, as the Republic of Moldova. As of that moment, Pântea's name continues to be a subject of contention in the debates over Moldovan nationhood
: a hero to the pro-unionists, he is largely ignored by the Moldovenists
. This was noted in 2010 by unionist politician Mircea Druc
, who assessed that, other than a commemorative plaque in Chişinău, there was little left to attest Pântea's significance to the Moldovan Republic. Nicolae Costin
, who was Mayor of Chişinău
between 1990 and 1994, reportedly sought to revive Pântea's urban projects (continued, after another long hiatus, by Dorin Chirtoacă
).
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-born soldier, civil servant and political figure, active 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 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...
. As an officer of the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
during most of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he helped organize the committees of Bessarabian soldiers, oscillating between loyalty to the Russian Provisional Government
Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...
and the cause of Bessarabian emancipation. Pântea was subsequently Military Director of the Moldavian Democratic Republic
Moldavian Democratic Republic
The Moldavian Democratic Republic , a.k.a. Moldavian Republic, was the state proclaimed on by Sfatul Ţării of Bessarabia, elected in October-November 1917 in the wake of the February Revolution and disintegration of the political power in the Russian Empire.Sfatul Ţării was its legislative body,...
, answering to President
President of Moldova
The President of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova.-Description of the post:According to the Article 77 of the Constitution of Moldova , the President of Moldova is the head of the State and represents the State and is the guarantor of national sovereignty, independence, of...
Ion Inculeţ
Ion Inculet
Ion C. Inculeț was a Bessarabian politician and the president of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Also, he was a minister in Romania.-Early career:...
. He personally created a Bessarabian defense force
Military of Moldova
The Moldovan Armed Forces consist of the Ground Forces and Air and Air Defense Forces.- History :Moldova has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union...
, tasked with combating Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
subversion and Russian intimidation, but faced defeat after the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
.
With some hesitance, Gherman Pântea endorsed the Republic's union with Romania
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
On , the Sfatul Ţării, or National Council, of Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania.-Governorate of Bessarabia:The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires provided for Russian annexation of the eastern half of the territory of the Principality...
, and affiliated with Romania's National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
. Having parallel careers as teacher, lawyer and journalist, Pântea remained a presence in Romanian political life, as member of 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...
, negotiator of détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, and three times Mayor of Chişinău
Mayor of Chişinău
The Mayor of Chişinău is head of the executive branch of Chişinău City Council.- History :The first mayor of Chişinău was Anghel Nour in 1817. In 1941, the office was abolished. After the Soviet era and the re-establishment of the office in 1990, Nicolae Costin became the first democratically...
. He was however mistrusted for his defense of arrested Bolsheviks, his critique of centralized government
Centralized government
A centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
, and his alleged corruption. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Pântea was Mayor of Odessa under a Romanian occupation. He intervened to save Jews from the 1941 Massacre
Odessa massacre
The Odessa massacre was the extermination of Jews in Odessa and surrounding towns in Transnistria during the autumn of 1941 and the winter of 1942 in a series of massacres and killings during the Holocaust by Romanian forces, under German control, encouragement and instruction...
and the subsequent deportations to camps in Transnistria. He had a tumultuous relationship with Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
, the Romanian dictator, and was kept in check by the occupation authority. His administration managed to set in motion a plan for Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, and helped the city overcome devastation through the adoption of free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
, but also created various controversies.
Pântea was for long suspected of war crimes, and spent much of his post-war life as a clandestine. He was eventually apprehended, and became a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
of the Romanian communist regime
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...
. In 1956, he managed to have the war crimes verdict overturned but, albeit rehabilitated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
in part, continued to be harassed by the communist apparatus until the 1960s.
Early years and World War I service
Much of Gherman Pântea's life remain mysterious, inaccessible to researchers, and, according to historian Ion Constantin, "a permanent crossover of myth and reality." Of ethnic RomanianRomanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
and lower-middle-class origins, Gherman Pântea was born on May 13, 1894, in the northern Bessarabian village of Zăicani
Zăicani
Zăicani is a commune in Rîşcani district, Moldova. It is composed of a single village, Zăicani....
; he was one of several children born to lawyer Vasile Pântea and his wife Ioana. They were of the Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
religion, and Gherman was a practicing Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
until late in life. The boy had trouble adapting himself to the requirements of living in what was then Russia's Bessarabia Governorate
Bessarabia Governorate
Bessarabia was an oblast and later a guberniya in the Russian Empire. It was the eastern part of the Principality of Moldavia annexed by Russia by the Treaty of Bucharest following the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812...
: although he was studious and completed primary school with honors, he had difficulty learning the official Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. He finished secondary school in Glodeni
Glodeni
Glodeni is a city in the northeast of Moldova; it is the seat of Glodeni District. Its population is 10,146. One village, Stîrcea, is administered by the city.-Twin Towns - Sister Cities:Glodeni is twinned with: Botoşani, Romania Sharhorod, Ukraine...
, before leaving for Akkerman
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi is a city situated on the right bank of the Dniester Liman in the Odessa Oblast of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Bessarabia...
, where he attended Russian normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
and witnessed the start of World War I. He frequently sailed to Odessa, the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
port which was to fascinate him for the rest of his life.
In June 1915, shortly after completing his studies, Pântea was drafted into the Imperial Russian Army, and relocated to Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, where he attended a Junker School
Junker (Russia)
Junker has several meanings in the Imperial Russia. The word is from the German language, where it means "young lord".*Junker was a military rank for junior officers of dvoryan descent since 1902....
. He was again in Odessa, where Bessarabian-born officer Emanoil Catelli
Emanoil Catelli
Emanoil Catelli was a Moldovan politician.-Biography:The parents of Emanoil Catelli were Grigore and Anastasia Catelli. In 1917, Emanoil Catelli was the founder of the Moldovan Progressive Party. Emanoil Catelli served as minister of agriculture in the Petru Cazacu Cabinet...
was giving standard 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...
classes to Russian officers, and became close friends with his new teacher. (Some sources represent Pântea as a graduate of Odessa University
Odessa University
The I. I. Mechnikov Odessa National University , located in Odessa, Ukraine, is one of the country's major universities. It was founded in 1865, by an edict of Czar Alexander II of Russia, reorganizing the Richelieu Lyceum of Odessa into the new Imperial Novorossiya University. In the Soviet...
.) Upon graduation from the Junker School, the young Podporuchik was dispatched to the Romanian front, to function as a translator between the Russian Ninth Army and their colleagues in the Romanian Land Forces
Romanian Land Forces
The Romanian Land Forces is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the force.The Romanian Land Forces were founded on...
. He also fought with valor during battles against the German Army, and twice received the Order of St. George
Order of St. George
The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George (also known as Order of St. George the Triumphant, Russian: Военный орден Св...
.
Russia's February Revolution
February Revolution
The February Revolution of 1917 was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Centered around the then capital Petrograd in March . Its immediate result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire...
caught Pântea entrenched with his men somewhere near the town of Roman
Roman, Romania
Roman is a mid-sized city, having the title of municipality, located in the central part of Moldavia, a traditional region of Romania. It is located 46 km east of Piatra Neamţ, in the Neamţ County at the confluence of Siret and Moldova rivers....
. The news, he later wrote, was a wake-up call for the Bessarabian Romanians in foreign lands, since it offered the prospect of self-determination at home. As the Provisional Government took hold of military matters, Pântea became President of the Ninth Army's Soviet
Soviet (council)
Soviet was a name used for several Russian political organizations. Examples include the Czar's Council of Ministers, which was called the “Soviet of Ministers”; a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia; and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union....
, and also helped organize the Bessarabian soldiers into a single political body. Similar actions were being taken by other nationally-minded Bessarabian officers. Some—Catelli, Anton Crihan
Anton Crihan
Anton Crihan was a Bessarabian politician.- Biography :Anton Crihan served as Member of the Moldovan Parliament , Parliament of Romania, and Government of Romania...
, Constantin Osoianu
Constantin Osoianu
Constantin Osoianu was a Bessarabian politician.- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2...
, Ion Păscăluţă
Ion Păscăluţă
- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2*Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Ţării şi actualele autorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 , June 27, 2008 - External links :* *...
, Andrei Scobioală
Andrei Scobioală
-Bibliography:*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2*Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Ţării şi actualele autorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 , June 27, 2008 -External links:**-Notes:...
—were active on Bessarabia's borders, while others addressed Bessarabian units in places such as Novorossiya
Novorossiya
Novorossiya is a historic area of lands which established itself solidly after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire, but was introduced with the establishment of Novorossiysk Governorate with the capital in Kremenchuk in the mid 18th century. Until that time in both Polish...
(Elefterie Sinicliu
Elefterie Sinicliu
- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2*Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Ţării şi actualele authorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 , June 27, 2008 - External links :* *...
) or Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
(Grigore Turcuman
Grigore Turcuman
Grigore Turcuman was a Bessarabian politician.- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2...
).
Here was the nucleus for a single military and political unit of the Bessarabian, or "Moldavian", national movement, which sought to gain control of 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...
(the informal Bessarabian capital). At the time, tensions were sparked between Podporuchik Pântea's Roman organization and the inner-Bessarabian faction which demanded a social revolution
Social revolution
The term social revolution may have different connotations depending on the speaker.In the Trotskyist movement, the term "social revolution" refers to an upheaval in which existing property relations are smashed...
, namely the Chişinău Soviet of Workers and Soldiers; he also had to struggle with Bessarabian apathy, communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
gains, and territorial claims stated by the neighboring Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...
. Through Pântea and Scobioală, the Roman group communicated directly with a civilian network formed by the Bessarabian expatriates of 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...
, who endorsed the effort to consolidate political unity. On behalf of the Roman leadership, Pântea made a journey to Odessa, where he contacted the eastern committee formed by Catelli and the others (May 1917). At the time, Odessa Bessarabians were forming their "Moldavian Cohorts
Cohort (military unit)
A cohort was the basic tactical unit of a Roman legion following the reforms of Gaius Marius in 107 BC.-Legionary cohort:...
", armed units which were supposed to challenge the Chişinău Soviet.
Moldavian Central Committee
Eventually, in June 1917, Gherman Pântea and two other Ninth Army soldiers—Petre Vărzaru, Ion Mitrean—were mandated by their colleagues to leave for Chişinău and organize the national movement locally. The youngest of all activists involved in the project, Pântea was elected head of the resulting Moldavian Central Committee of the Soldiers and Officers' Union. Pântea, Vărzaru and Mitrean benefited from some Russian support, after Commander Alexander Shcherbachov gave them a free pass and an indefinite leave from the Romanian front. However, their Central Committee met a new rival in the parallel Military Revolutionary CommitteeMilitary Revolutionary Committee
The Military Revolutionary Committee also known as the Milrevcom was the name for military organs under the soviets during the period of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War. The most notable ones were those of the Petrograd Soviet, the Moscow Soviet, and at Stavka.These committees were...
, formed by revolutionary Russians loyal to the Chişinău Soviet. This authority gave formal backing to its Moldavian equivalent, supporting its struggle for self-determination and even discussing a merger, but discreetly tried to combat Bessarabian Romanian influence in all other fields. A truce was agreed upon between Pântea and the Russian Committee representative Levenzon, which even allowed both organisms to share office space in the same building.
During September, after clashes with some of the radicalized peasants hampered propaganda efforts in the countryside, and Ukrainian or Russian pressures increased, the Moldavian Committee began issuing its own political newspaper. Known as Soldatul Moldovan ("The Moldavian Soldier"), it had poet Gheorghe (Iorgu) Tudor
Gheorghe Tudor
- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2*Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Ţării şi actualele autorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 , June 27, 2008...
as manager and Pântea as one of three editors. Pântea carried from Iaşi a large bag of propaganda literature, in Cyrillic letters
Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
The Romanian Cyrillic alphabet was used to write the Romanian language before 1860–1862, when it was officially replaced by a Latin-based Romanian alphabet. Cyrillic remained in occasional use until circa 1920...
—Vasile Harea of 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...
paper, who witnessed the event, described Pântea as "a rather affected young man, with a nervous gaze, ambitious and conceiving of all sorts of schemes".
At around the same time, the Moldavian Central Committee took steps to create a Bessarabian national force within Russia's Army, with Vasile Cijevschi
Vasile Cijevschi
- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2*Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Ţării şi actualele autorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 , June 27, 2008 - External links :* *...
as Commander. The request was presented to the Stavka
Stavka
Stavka was the term used to refer to a command element of the armed forces from the time of the Kievan Rus′, more formally during the history of Imperial Russia as administrative staff and General Headquarters during late 19th Century Imperial Russian armed forces and those of the Soviet Union...
(supreme command of the Russian forces) in Mogilev
Mogilev
Mogilev is a city in eastern Belarus, about 76 km from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and 105 km from the border with Russia's Bryansk Oblast. It has more than 367,788 inhabitants...
. It provided an ambiguous response, and Pântea led a delegation to request further clarification. On their way through Kiev, the Bessarabian envoys chanced upon Romania's own delegates to Russia: Dinu Brătianu
Dinu Bratianu
Dinu Brătianu , born Constantin I. C. Brătianu, was a Romanian politician, who led the National Liberal Party starting with 1934.-Early career:...
and Constantin Iancovescu. The two missions shared a train carriage, and the time they shared prompted Stavka staff to suspect a conspiracy. The Bessarabians tried to mend the situation, and Pântea had interviews with Commander Nikolay Dukhonin
Nikolay Dukhonin
Nikolay Nikolayevich Dukhonin was a Russian general, the last commander-in-chief of the Russian Imperial Army.-Biography:...
and Russian Premier
Prime Minister of Russia
The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation The use of the term "Prime Minister" is strictly informal and is not allowed for by the Russian Constitution and other laws....
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Kerensky
Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...
. Pântea later wrote that Kerensky was the most welcoming, allowing the gradual creation of a single Bessarabian army (and even promising to transfer the Odessa 40th Regiment its jurisdiction), but forbidding any unilateral Bessarabian decision on this matter.
Before and after the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
overturned the Provisional Government and brought the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
(communist) movement to power in Russia, Gherman Pântea played a game of intricate diplomacy. According to Ion Constantin, he was good at seizing political opportunities "in those murky, troubled times, subject to fast and radical changes to the map of East-Central Europe
East-Central Europe
East-Central Europe – a term defining the countries located between German-speaking countries and Russia. Those lands are described as situated “between two”: between two worlds, between two stages, between two futures...
". By early October 1917, Pântea was realizing that Kerensky and the Provisional Government could lose the battle. In a bid to discover the other side's intentions regarding Bessarabia, he traveled to Petrograd and met Bolshevik ideologue Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
. As Pântea later stated, Lenin declared himself for revolutionary self-determination in the national issue—some researchers regard this claim as an urban legend, with which Bessarabian intellectuals tried to convince communists that Lenin himself validated their national aspirations.
Sfatul Ţării and Moldavian Directorate
Meanwhile, Pântea's Committee organized a Moldavian Soldiers' Congress, which was to form the basis for a Bessarabian legislature, Sfatul ŢăriiSfatul 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...
. A dispute endures about the initiative to convene the Congress, since both Pântea and Ştefan Holban claimed to have had the idea first. In order to ensure attendance, Pântea (or Holban) appealed to a ruse, issuing a telegram which misleadingly suggested that the Russian Provisional Government was backing the Congress. Pântea was subsequently designated Vice President of the Bessarabian soldiers' assembly; Cijevschi was President.
The new organization enraged Kerensky: just before Lenin ousted him from power, the Prime Minister issued a warrant for Pântea's arrest; by then, the Bessarabians had received recognition from the Menshevik
Menshevik
The Mensheviks were a faction of the Russian revolutionary movement that emerged in 1904 after a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, both members of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party. The dispute originated at the Second Congress of that party, ostensibly over minor issues...
s, the Bundistn and various other political groups. In the confusion that followed Lenin's arrival to power, Pântea still recognized the Russian Constituent Assembly
Russian Constituent Assembly
The All Russian Constituent Assembly was a constitutional body convened in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. It is generally reckoned as the first democratically elected legislative body of any kind in Russian history. It met for 13 hours, from 4 p.m...
, and ran in the Russian parliamentary election
Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917
The elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly that were organised as a result of events in the Russian Revolution of 1917 were held on November 25, 1917 , around 2 months after they were originally meant to occur...
. He was included on a Bessarabian Peasants' Party
Bessarabian Peasants' Party
The Bessarabian Peasants' Party was an agrarian political party active in Romania, founded in Chişinău, Bessarabia, on 23 August 1918.- Overview :...
list headed by Ion Inculeţ
Ion Inculet
Ion C. Inculeț was a Bessarabian politician and the president of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Also, he was a minister in Romania.-Early career:...
and Pantelimon Erhan
Pantelimon Erhan
Pantelimon Erhan was a Moldovan politician and prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic .-Biography:Pantelimon Erhan was born in 1884 in Tănătari, Căuşeni District...
. The election itself was chaotic, and its results were never officially counted.
When Sfatul Ţării came into existence, Pântea was involved in other political maneuvering, helping to topple Ion Pelivan
Ion Pelivan
Ion Gheorghe Pelivan was a Moldovan politician.- Biography :In 1898, Ion Pelivan graduated from the Teological Seminary in Chişinău and in 1903 he graduated from Dorpat University...
, the designated President of the Assembly. In doing so, Pântea gave approval to the vocal demands of non-Romanian or pro-Russian delegates, who were scandalized by Pelivan's stated Romanian nationalism. Like Crihan and Ion Buzdugan
Ion Buzdugan
Ion Buzdugan was a Bessarabian politician.- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2...
, and eventually Pelivan himself, he transferred his support to Inculeţ, who was widely perceived as moderate and committed to the ideals of the February Revolution. Pântea himself was designated a Sfatul Ţării member, representing both the Soldiers' Congress and Bălţi Country. His first address, in Russian, spoke about the opportunity for reform, and promised that the assembly could turn Bessarabia into "a rose" and a model to follow. Pântea was active as legislator within Sfatul Ţării, where he served on the Commission for Schools and the Commission for Liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
. Additionally, he was a delegate to the Congress of Schoolteachers, where he campaigned for the teaching of Romanian in all Bessarabian schools. From 1918 to 1925, he edited the Russian-language regional daily Golos.
When Bessarabian deputies created the autonomous Moldavian Democratic Republic
Moldavian Democratic Republic
The Moldavian Democratic Republic , a.k.a. Moldavian Republic, was the state proclaimed on by Sfatul Ţării of Bessarabia, elected in October-November 1917 in the wake of the February Revolution and disintegration of the political power in the Russian Empire.Sfatul Ţării was its legislative body,...
, Pântea was integrated on the governing Moldavian Directorate: he had in his care the General Directorate for War and Navy, initially as Locum
Locum
Locum, short for the Latin phrase locum tenens , is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another. For example, a locum doctor is a doctor who works in the place of the regular doctor when that doctor is absent, or when a hospital/practice is short-staffed...
for Teodor Cojocaru
Teodor Cojocaru
Teodor Cojocaru was a Moldovan mylitary and politician.- Biography :He served as Director General for Armed Forces in Pantelimon Erhan Cabinet. Also he served as member of the Sfatul Ţării and Romanian Parliament, and mayor of Chişinău .- External links :* -Notes:...
, and then as de facto Director. His main task was the creation of a "Moldavian" armed force
Military of Moldova
The Moldovan Armed Forces consist of the Ground Forces and Air and Air Defense Forces.- History :Moldova has accepted all relevant arms control obligations of the former Soviet Union...
, which integrated Cohorts, guarded over the unruly withdrawal of Russian forces, and established friendly contacts with the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
. The Director witnessed with growing alarm as some components of his army were coming under Bolshevik influence. Such was the case of Chişinău Garrison, which was maneuvered by Ilie Cătărău
Ilie Cătărău
Ilie Cătărău was a Bessarabian-born political adventurer, soldier and spy, who spent parts of his life in Romania. Leading a secretive life, he is widely held to have been the main perpetrator of two bomb attacks, which sought to exacerbate tensions between Romania and Austria-Hungary in...
, a mysterious adventurer and political radical. After Cătărău openly questioned Sfatul Ţării authority over his troops, Pântea took a singular measure: together with a rogue unit of Amur Cossacks
Amur Cossacks
The Amur Cossack Host , a Cossack host created in the Amur region and Primorye in the 1850s on the basis of the Cossacks relocated from the Transbaikal region and freed miners of Nerchinsk region....
, he surprised Cătărău on New Year's Eve, arresting and deporting him into the Ukraine. Between the two distinct phases of this incident, the Republic's army was sworn in during a ceremony attended by Moldavian President
President of Moldova
The President of the Republic of Moldova is the head of state of Moldova.-Description of the post:According to the Article 77 of the Constitution of Moldova , the President of Moldova is the head of the State and represents the State and is the guarantor of national sovereignty, independence, of...
Inculeţ.
Union with Romania
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
, peaked over the early days of 1918. The withdrawing Russians were sacking the region, and Bolshevik factions such as Front-Ordel stood to gain the upper hand in Chişinău, Cotiujeni
Cotiujeni
Cotiujeni is a commune in Briceni district, Moldova. It is composed of a single village, Cotiujeni....
and the Budjak
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia...
. Pântea instituted a state of emergency
State of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
, and attempted to introduce more severe sanctions for insubordination. The Bolshevik groups resorted to intimidating acts in the capital, kidnapping some of the Sfatul Ţării deputies and attacking the Romanian-organized Volunteer Corps in Russia
Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia
The Romanian Volunteer Corps in Russia , or Volunteer Corps of Transylvanians-Bukovinans , was a military formation of World War I, created from ethnic Romanian prisoners of war held by Russia...
. In his addresses to Sfatul, Pântea began identifying the Republic's enemy as exclusively "non-Moldavian", but noted that the Bessarabian army behaved "like a flock of rams", with no leadership and morale. On January 9, 1918, the Director was himself a victim of a Bolshevik maneuver, being apprehended by the Front Ordel and only released, together with soldiers of the Volunteer Corps, when the Bessarabian army intervened in force.
Facing the threats of Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
expansion into the Republic and communization in his own ranks, Pântea became a major contributor to the accelerated political process of union with Romania
Union of Bessarabia with Romania
On , the Sfatul Ţării, or National Council, of Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania.-Governorate of Bessarabia:The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires provided for Russian annexation of the eastern half of the territory of the Principality...
. In January 1918, he welcomed the Romanian Land Forces and General Ernest Broşteanu, who had a mandate to reinstate order, and who arrived in Chişinău alongside the French military envoy Henri Mathias Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot was a French general during World War I. He served as chief of staff under Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief.-Biography:...
. There followed a common offensive against the Bolshevik insurgents, part of the larger Western intervention in the Civil War
Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War
The Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched in 1918 during World War I which continued into the Russian Civil War. Its operations included forces from 14 nations and were conducted over a vast territory...
. In the end, the Bolsheviks retreated to Tighina
Tighina
Bender or Bendery, also known as Tighina is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Transnistria Republic since 1992...
, and the Russian Soviet government broke diplomatic contacts with Romania
Romania–Russia relations
Romania–Russia relations are the foreign relations between Romania and Russia. Romania has an embassy in Moscow and 2 consulate-general . Russia has an embassy in Bucharest and a consulate-general in Constanţa...
(see Odessa Soviet Republic
Odessa Soviet Republic
Odessa Soviet Republic was a short-lived Soviet republic formed out of parts the Kherson and Bessarabia Governorates of the former Russian Empire....
).
Later that month, the Moldavian Republic proclaimed itself an independent state, with Daniel Ciugureanu
Daniel Ciugureanu
Daniel Ciugureanu was a Moldovan politician and the prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1918. Hw was also a minister in several Romanian governments....
as the new head of government. The administration was reorganized, and Pântea lost his position to Colonel Constantin Brăescu, the Minister of War. President Inculeţ compensated for the loss of prestige, raising Gherman Pântea to the rank of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
and making him Knight of the Moldavian Order of St. Vladimir.
By then, Romanian intervention posed a fundamental dilemma, since the political class became undecided about whether to cement Bessarabian statehood or look forward to a union. Inconclusiveness touched the Bessarabian army. Its new uniforms, on the Romanian model, led Bessarabians to assume that it was a branch of the Romanian Land Forces; the monogram
Monogram
A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series of uncombined initials is properly referred to as a...
R.M., for Republica Moldovenească ("Moldavian Republic"), was commonly misread as standing for "Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
" (România Mare). Pântea himself appeared undecided about the situation, and, in a letter to pro-Russian officer Anatol Popa (later shot by the Romanian military), argued: "I promise you that I'll be defending republican Bessarabia next to Russia, even if it costs me my life [...]. I gave the order for all the Moldavian army to take action; when it turned out that the Romanians were arriving with too great a force, I changed that order. The Romanians hold on tight [...]. I fear greatly that the Romanians are here to steal away our Bessarabia." This correspondence remains a problematic aspect of Pântea' career. While some take it to imply double dealing or at least an ideological ambiguity, Ion Constantin suggests that it may have been in fact a ruse. Years later, Pântea referred to Broşteanu's intervention as misguided and sanguinary, because it carried out summary executions of suspected rebels, encouraged denunciations, and stained the unionists' international reputation.
The union was effected on March 27, 1918, when a Sfatul Ţării majority voted in favor. The 86 yea votes, which carried the day, included Pântea's. He also voted in favor of a Romanian-wide land reform
Land reform in Romania
Four major land reforms have taken place in Romania: in 1864, 1921, 1945 and 1991. The first sought to undo the feudal structure that had persisted after the unification of the Danubian Principalities in 1859; the second, more drastic reform, tried to resolve lingering peasant discontent and create...
, an additional condition to the union. Contrary to later Bolshevik allegations, he and the other pro-union voters did not receive land property in exchange for their loyalty.
Lawyer, journalist and PNL politician
Over the following period, Pântea campaigned internally for further recognition of the assembly's decision, approaching the reluctant communities of Black Sea GermansBlack Sea Germans
The Black Sea Germans are ethnic Germans who left their homeland in the 18th and 19th centuries, and settled in territories off the north coast of the Black Sea, mostly in southern Ukraine...
. In March 1919, he was at Tarutino
Tarutyne
Tarutyne is a town in southwestern Ukraine. It is the seat of the Tarutynskyi Raion of Odessa Oblast and is in the historical region of Budjak in southern Bessarabia....
, where a mass of Black Sea Germans
Black Sea Germans
The Black Sea Germans are ethnic Germans who left their homeland in the 18th and 19th centuries, and settled in territories off the north coast of the Black Sea, mostly in southern Ukraine...
ultimately voted to endorse the Sfatul Ţării resolution. He subsequently accompanied a deputation of Black Sea Germans to 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....
, capital of Greater Romania, and, with them, was received by King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand was the King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death.-Early life:Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern, was a son of Leopold, Prince of...
. His rank in the Bessarabian army was recognized by the Romanian military reserve force
Military reserve force
A military reserve force is a military organization composed of citizens of a country who combine a military role or career with a civilian career. They are not normally kept under arms and their main role is to be available to fight when a nation mobilizes for total war or to defend against invasion...
, which integrated him as Major.
Pântea was in Romania for a while, taking his license degree from the University of Iaşi Faculty of Law (September 1919). Later investigation into his career resulted in allegations that Pântea never did attend class, and that his diploma was abusively released by Rector A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza was a Romanian far right politician and theorist.-Early life:Born in Iaşi, after attending secondary school in his native city and in Dresden, Cuza studied law at the University of Paris, the Universität unter den Linden, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles...
(answering the special request of Romanian Premier
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
Ion I. C. Brătianu
Ion I. C. Bratianu
Ion I. C. Brătianu was a Romanian politician, leader of the National Liberal Party , the Prime Minister of Romania for five terms, and Foreign Minister on several occasions; he was the eldest son of statesman and PNL leader Ion Brătianu, the brother of Vintilă and Dinu Brătianu, and the father of...
). Whether or not this is true, Pântea is known to have been enlisted with the Bessarabian bar association
Bar association
A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...
as of 1919. Late in the year, he began publishing another Russian-language daily, Bessarabia, which went under in short while and was revived by Vasile Bârcă
Vasile Bârcă
Vasile Bârcă was a Moldovan politician.- External links :* -Notes:...
in 1923. This venture drew suspicions from the Romanian authorities, who organized a search of the premises and, reputedly, discovered communist propaganda.
Loyal to Inculeţ, Gherman Pântea followed the former Moldavian President into Romania's National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
(PNL), and became deputy leader of the group's Bessarabian section. This affiliation got him elected into the Romanian Assembly of Deputies
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...
(lower chamber of 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...
), the first of ten consecutive terms. Pântea was nevertheless considered suspect by the Romanian establishment, who believed him a man of left-wing sympathies and a promoter of communist literature. He was attorney for the group of Bessarabian communists, led by Pavel Tcacenco
Pavel Tcacenco
Pavel Tcacenco or Tkachenko was a Russian-born Romanian communist activist, a leading member of the communist movements of Bessarabia and Romania in the 1920s.-Early life and the Russian Revolution:...
, who had agitated against the Romanian state. The pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
activity was largely successful: Tcancenco and other three men were found guilt of edition and sentenced to death in absentia
In absentia
In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use, it usually means a trial at which the defendant is not physically present. The phrase is not ordinarily a mere observation, but suggests recognition of violation to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings in a criminal trial.In...
; 65 detainees were acquitted; 39 others were set free after trial de novo
Trial de novo
In law, the expression trial de novo means a "new trial" by a different tribunal...
. This implied placing himself against the PNL government, particularly since Pântea reported to the world on the alleged the abuse of power by Romanian administrators in Bessarabia. His intervention in Parliament prompted the Interior Ministry (headed by Nicolae L. Lupu
Nicolae L. Lupu
Dr. Nicolae Lupu was a Romanian politician and medical doctor, active in the National Peasants' Party....
) to sack the leadership of Siguranţa police in Chişinău.
In 1922, from Tighina, Gherman Pântea began issuing another Russian daily. Titled Yuzhnaya Bessarabia or Iujnaia Besarabia ("Southern Bessarabia"), it survived until April 1923. He first had a stint as Mayor of Chişinău
Mayor of Chişinău
The Mayor of Chişinău is head of the executive branch of Chişinău City Council.- History :The first mayor of Chişinău was Anghel Nour in 1817. In 1941, the office was abolished. After the Soviet era and the re-establishment of the office in 1990, Nicolae Costin became the first democratically...
, beginning and ending in 1923, when he outlined plans to improve education and the urban landscape of peripheral quarters. In October 1923, he was elected one of four Vice Presidents of the Assembly of Deputies, the first of two such assignments he would receive in his career.
Diplomatic missions and Georgist dissidence
In summer 1923, mandated by Foreign Affairs Minister Ion G. DucaIon G. Duca
Ion Gheorghe Duca was prime minister of Romania from November 14 to December 30, 1933, when he was assassinated for his efforts to suppress the fascist Iron Guard movement.-Life and political career:...
of the PNL, he played a part in negotiations to restore contacts with the Russian government. He was in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, meeting with the Romanian communist Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky
Christian Rakovsky was a Bulgarian socialist revolutionary, a Bolshevik politician and Soviet diplomat; he was also noted as a journalist, physician, and essayist...
, who was the Soviet Ambassador to France. They discussed the litigious issue of Bessarabia, which the Bolsheviks still refused to recognize as part of Romania: Pântea was supposed to convince them that the union had been a legitimate affair, and, according to Pântea, Rakovsky showed himself unusually receptive. With a delegation which included Constantin Langa-Răşcanu
Constantin Langa-Rascanu
Constantin Langa-Răşcanu was a Romanian diplomat. He was the head of the Romanian delegation at the Vienna meeting with the delegation of the Soviet Union headed by N. N. Krestinsky....
, Mircea Djuvara, Petru Cazacu
Petru Cazacu
Petru Cazacu was a Moldovan politician.- Biography :He served as the prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1918.-External links:* -Notes:...
and Anton Crihan
Anton Crihan
Anton Crihan was a Bessarabian politician.- Biography :Anton Crihan served as Member of the Moldovan Parliament , Parliament of Romania, and Government of Romania...
, Pântea represented Romania in bilateral talks with a delegation from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, headed by diplomat Nikolay Krestinsky. These negotiations took place in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
during late March 1924. In conversation with Krestinsky, Pântea even transmitted the government's offer to renounce claims to the Romanian Treasure
Romanian Treasure
The Romanian Treasure is a collection of valuable objects the Romanian government sent to Russia for safekeeping during World War I. It was only partially returned .-Historical background:...
in Russia, in exchange for the Soviet recognition of the 1918 union.
Contacts broke down when the Soviets presented their proposal: a plebiscite in the disputed region or, alternatively, Romania's cession of the Budjak
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia...
. Pântea believed that their uncompromising stance showed the swift radicalization of Soviet foreign policy under new Bolshevik leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, who was Rakovsky's enemy. The same year, Tcacenco returned to Romania a instigator of the "Tatarbunary Uprising
Tatarbunary Uprising
The Tatarbunary Uprising was a Bolshevik-inspired peasant revolt that took place on 15–18 September 1924, in and around the town of Tatarbunary in Budjak , then part of Greater Romania, now part of Odessa Oblast, Ukraine...
". This rebellion was quashed by the Romanian authorities, and Pântea was again defense attorney for the Bessarabian communist cell.
Pântea also received his second term as Vice President of the Assembly after the 1927 election. He still held the office in 1925, when he took part in debates to extend the scope of Jewish emancipation
Jewish Emancipation
Jewish emancipation was the external and internal process of freeing the Jewish people of Europe, including recognition of their rights as equal citizens, and the formal granting of citizenship as individuals; it occurred gradually between the late 18th century and the early 20th century...
. To the alarm of antisemitic groups such as the National-Christian Defense League
National-Christian Defense League
The National-Christian Defense League was a virulently anti-Semitic political party of Romania formed by A. C. Cuza.-Origins:The group had its roots in the National Christian Union, formed in 1922 by Cuza and the famed physiologist Nicolae Paulescu. This group, which used the swastika as its...
, he assessed that all Bessarabian Jews
Bessarabian Jews
-Early history:Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had the knowledge of the Levantine commerce and relationships...
had the right of naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
. By then, the former Military Director was also a managerial director for Chişinău's chamber of commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...
, and tried to obtain tax reductions for the Bessarabian artisans.
Gherman Pântea returned as Mayor of Chişinău, in office from 1927 to 1928. In 1930, dissatisfied with the PNL and in dispute with Inculeţ, he became a member of the dissident National Liberal Party-Brătianu
National Liberal Party-Bratianu
The National Liberal Party-Brătianu was a right-wing political party in Romania, formed as a splinter group from the main liberal faction, the National Liberals. For its symbol, PNL-Brătianu chose three vertical bars, placed at equal distance from each other...
(the "Georgists"). He was notoriously critical of the PNL's party line, alleging that Inculeţ had exploited Bessarabia for the Old Kingdom
Romanian Old Kingdom
The Romanian Old Kingdom is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Danubian Principalities—Wallachia and Moldavia...
's benefit. Around the same time as Bessarabia marked its first full decade of Romanian rule, Pântea, Buzdugan, Crihan and Catelli were members of the Chişinău Union of Reserve Officers. A rough equivalent of the pre-union Assembly of the Nobility, this association stood out for demanding equal access to Romanian pensions for veterans of the Bessarabian army.
Early 1930s
The Georgist party failed to register much success, and Pântea left it before the 1931 election; he joined the "National Union" list of incumbent Prime Minister Nicolae IorgaNicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party , he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies' Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and briefly as Prime Minister...
, and was returned to the lower chamber. His third and final mandate as Mayor of Chişinău was in 1932, when he began taking steps to erect a local statue of Ferdinand I. As the region suffered the consequences of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, he helped Chişinău's poor, using public funds to buy back their pawned
Pawnbroker
A pawnbroker is an individual or business that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral...
property items. As claimed by his political rivals (including historian Ştefan Ciobanu
Ştefan Ciobanu (politician)
Ştefan Ciobanu was a Bessarabian politician and historian. He served as Minister of Education .- Biography :...
), Pântea was corrupt and irresponsible in office, pocketing large sums of public money, and partying at Chişinău's expense on a visit to Italy
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
(where he was supposed to reward Pietro Badoglio
Pietro Badoglio
Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino was an Italian soldier and politician...
's support of the Bessarabian union). An anonymous brochure called the mayor a "Rasputin", alleging that he tole public furniture, while an antisemitic city councilor depicted him as "in cahoots" with the Bessarabian Jews.
During those years, Pântea also became an active member of the Bucharest Bessarabian Circle of Nicolae Bosie-Codreanu
Nicolae Bosie-Codreanu
- Biography :He served as Member of the Moldovan Parliament . After , he served in Pantelimon Erhan Cabinet as Director General for Railroads .- Bibliography :...
, which monitored the evolution of Soviet attitudes on Romania. By then, there was a visible rapprochement
Rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
between the Romania and the Soviet Union, effected by Romania's Foreign Minister Nicolae Titulescu
Nicolae Titulescu
Nicolae Titulescu was a well-known Romanian diplomat, at various times government minister, finance and foreign minister, and for two terms President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations . He was a member of the Freemasonry.-Early years:...
and his PNL faction. The two governments had signed the London Convention for the Definition of Aggression and resumed diplomatic contacts. Renewing his attempts to obtain a definitive Romanian–Soviet agreement on Bessarabia, Pântea had informal talks with Mikhail Ostrovsky, the Soviet Envoy to Bucharest. Pântea preserved the image of a philo-Romanian Ostrovsky, who believed that Stalin would in time accept the union; the initiative, however, came to nothing, as both Ostrovsky and Titulescu were sidelined by their respective governments.
Pântea was also focusing on writing his memoirs of World War I and the union. Some of these texts were originally published by Dreptatea
Dreptatea
Dreptatea was a Romanian newspaper that appeared between 17 October 1927 and 17 July 1947, as a newspaper of the National Peasants' Party. It was re-founded on February 5, 1990 as a publication of the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party ....
daily in 1931, and were later collected into the book Unirea Basarabiei. Rolul organizaţiilor militare moldoveneşti în actul unirii ("Bessarabia's Union. The Role of Moldavian Military Units in the Act of Union"). A second edition, published in 1932, had an eulogistic foreword by Nicolae Iorga, the historian and political ally; the book also received endorsements from Pântea's former colleagues (Catilli, Cijevschi etc.). Around 1935, Pântea's account was rejected by historian Emanoil Hagi-Moscu and Epoca newspaper, who discussed Pântea's statements of loyalty toward the Russian Republic, and even alleged that the Director had been responsible for the January 1918 attack on the Transylvanian volunteers. With his own version of events supported by Iorga, Pântea sued Hagi-Moscu for slander.
Between 1934 and 1937, when he resumed his activity a lawyer, Pântea sat on Chişinău City Hall's Board of Revision. He reconciled with the PNL, but the party resented his earlier disloyalty: also in 1937, he left the PNL, never to return. In October 1937, he was an honored guest at the festive anniversary of the Moldavian Soldiers' Congress, in Chişinău. That year, he alo published the second volume of his memoirs: Unirea Basarabiei. Două decenii de la autonomia Basarabiei ("Bessarabia's Union. Two Decades since the Bessarabian Autonomy").
Carol II's regime and the loss of Bessarabia
Pântea witnessed the rise of fascismFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in Romania, confirmed when the PNL lost the December 1937 election
Romanian general election, 1937
General elections were held in Romania on 20 and 22 December 1937. It was Romania's last election before King Carol II dissolved Parliament and instituted a royal dictatorship the following February. By the next elections under the 1923 Constitution, Romania had passed through two dictatorships and...
; in those circumstances, King Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
appointed the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
's Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
as Premier. The move alarmed the Soviets, and clashed with their popular front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
policy: according to Pântea, Ambassador Ostrovsky called on him to inform Romanians that Stalin and France's Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
insisted that Goga should be deposed and Romania taken out of "the fascist camp". Pântea maintained that, on it own, Ostrovsky's warning to Carol II resulted in the formation of a new Romanian cabinet, headed by Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea, was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric and politician....
.
The new regime was an authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
one, centered on Carol II, and confirmed by the 1938 Constitution of Romania
1938 Constitution of Romania
The 1938 Constitution of Romania was the fundamental law that established the authoritarian monarchic regime of King Carol II. It was drafted by a university professor, Istrate Micescu, based on suggestions given by the king, and made public on February 20, 1938. Four days later, voters were...
. Parliament was practically dissolved, but, as a long-time member of the Assembly, Gherman Pântea became a permanent member of the Romanian Senate
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...
. Following Carol's administrative restructuring, he was also Councilor of the upper court in Ţinutul Nistru
Tinutul Nistru
Ţinutul Nistru was one of the ten ţinuturi of Romania, founded in 1938 after King Carol II initiated an institutional reform by modifying the 1923 Constitution and the law of territorial administration. It comprised most of Bessarabia , and its name was derived from the Dniester River. Its capital...
. He was at odds with Grigore Cazacliu
Grigore Cazacliu
Grigore Cazacliu was a Bessarabian politician.- Biography :He served as Member of the Moldovan Parliament . He was born Cuşelăuca and died in Bucharest.- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E...
, the King's Resident (Governor), accusing him of dishonest business practices.
During the first years of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Romania was caught between the hostile governments of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and the Soviet Union (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Romania in World War II). In that context, the Soviets communicated an ultimatum to Romania, and occupied Bessarabia (June 1940). Pântea and his family escaped to Bucharest, where the refugee politician continued his work with the Bessarabian Circle. Later that year, German pressures resulted in the loss of Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...
, which confirmed the break-up of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
. By then, the Bessarabian Circle represented a 120,000-strong refugee community, having Inculeţ and Daniel Ciugureanu
Daniel Ciugureanu
Daniel Ciugureanu was a Moldovan politician and the prime minister of the Moldavian Democratic Republic in 1918. Hw was also a minister in several Romanian governments....
as Presidents, Bosie-Codreanu and Pântea as Vice Presidents.
The major territorial losses resulted in Carol's fall from power, and inaugurated the National Legionary State
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
, with Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
as Conducător
Conducator
Conducător was the title used officially in two instances by Romanian politicians, and earlier by Carol II.-History:...
. Initially, this regime followed Nazi policy, and prevented the more obvious displays of Bessarabian unionism, leading Pântea to exclaim: "General Antonescu [...] cannot speak out on all subjects, so hopefully he would allow us to discuss and to shout out the issue of our justice". In May, shortly after the Antonescu regime had restructured itself (see Legionary Rebellion), Pântea entered a dispute with other members of the Bessarabian Circle, and resigned from the post of Vice President.
Odessa Massacre
On June 22, 1941, a little more than a year into the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, Romania partook in the surprise attack on Soviet territoryOperation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
as an Axis country
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
. Gherman Pântea was mobilized and dispatched to the Fourth Army
Fourth Army (Romania)
The Fourth Army was a field army of the Romanian Land Forces active from the 19th century to the 1990s.-History:The Fourth Army fought in the Romanian Campaign of World War I, under the command of General Prezan...
, where he was legal adviser to General Nicolae Ciupercă
Nicolae Ciuperca
Nicolae Ciupercă was a Romanian General during World War II. He served as Minister of Defence in 1938, and General Officer Commanding 4th Army, Odessa in 1941. He retired in 1941, but was captured and put in prison in 1948. On May 25th, 1950, he died in Jilava prison. -References:...
. The latter asked him to review a list of 100 Bessarabian "undesirables", singled out for their left-wing opinions and facing summary execution—Ciupercă asked him to verify if any "good Romanians" were on that list, but Pântea persuaded the authorities not to carry out the order. Among those rescued were communist activists Gheorghe Stere (son of the unionist militant Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...
) and Alexandru Mîţă.
The extension of Romanian rule into a territory designated as "Transnistria" brought Pântea to high office. As Pântea later noted, Antonescu considered him a suitable Transnistria Governor, but changed his mind when Pântea questioned him in public. Consequently, he was assigned Mayorship of Odessa, taking office only after the city's violent siege came to an end. In order to appease the Germans, Odessa was formally kept out of Transnistria, and the Odessa Mayor's office remained separated from those of other Romanian administrators. Among the latter, Transnistrian Governor Gheorghe Alexianu, Gendarmerie commander Constantin Vasiliu and Army General Nicolae Ghineraru regarded Pântea with disdain or mistrust.
Instead of condoning the Romanian- and German-led mass murder of Ukrainian
History of the Jews in Ukraine
Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of Kievan Rus' and developed many of the most distinctive modern Jewish theological and cultural traditions. While at times they flourished, at other times they faced periods of persecution and antisemitic discriminatory...
and Bessarabian Jews (see Holocaust in Romania), Pântea is credited with having saved many of the potential victims—probably numbering in the thousands. On October 22, 1941, Pântea issued a proclamation in Odesskaya Gazeta, promising a return to normal, and announced freedom and equality between all Odessans. However, this statement was rendered ineffectual by events which occurred on the same day: an explosion on Marazlie Street took the life of General Ioan Glogojeanu and other Romanian officials. The Antonescu regime supposed a terrorist attack, ignoring all accounts according to which the retreating Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
had mined the location. Reportedly, Pântea and his Transnistrian colleague Nichita Smochină
Nichita Smochină
Nichita P. Smochină was a Transnistrian-born activist, scholar and political figure, especially noted for campaigning on behalf of ethnic Romanians in the Soviet Union. He was first active in the Russian Empire, serving with distinction in World War I, then in the Ukrainian People's Republic,...
were informed of the mining, and tried to warn their superiors not to enter the Marazile building.
Antonescu's reaction was violent, and a collective blamed was placed on the Odessa Jews, who were decimated in what became known as the "Odessa Massacre
Odessa massacre
The Odessa massacre was the extermination of Jews in Odessa and surrounding towns in Transnistria during the autumn of 1941 and the winter of 1942 in a series of massacres and killings during the Holocaust by Romanian forces, under German control, encouragement and instruction...
". As a witness to this slaughter, Pântea noted that 450 Jewish people were hanged on the first day, others were randomly shot, and still others were rounded up, their fate to be determined by General Nicolae Macici. Pântea thereafter worked to persuade Macici that the killing quota imposed by Antonescu was excessive. On October 23, he and Macici asked Governor Alexianu to turn back the column of Jews sent on a death march. They registered only partial success, as some of the deportees returned: according to Pântea, all but 2,000 survived the experience. However, researchers of the events record a much higher death toll. According to them, Romanian troops randomly murdered some 20,000 or 30,000 of those sent on convoys.
The following week, the Mayor contacted socialite Alexandrina Cantacuzino and presented her with a report on the Massacre, which she was to hand over to Antonescu. This document exposed the acts of "barbarity" and the "un-Romanian" behavior of various officials; in reply, Antonescu threatened to have him shot on the spot, but later ordered an investigation into cases of abuse. Pântea's own report noted that its author was not a defender of the Jews.
Plan for Odessa
In parallel, Pântea also maintained Odessa a functional metropolis, with adequate food and electricity supplies, and, when compared to the rest of Transnistria, city life flourished under most of his mandate. He assigned engineer Lisenko, who had flooded the Odessa power stationPower station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
during the Soviet retreat, to build a new electrical substation; once this began operating, he reopened the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater, refurbished Odessa University
Odessa University
The I. I. Mechnikov Odessa National University , located in Odessa, Ukraine, is one of the country's major universities. It was founded in 1865, by an edict of Czar Alexander II of Russia, reorganizing the Richelieu Lyceum of Odessa into the new Imperial Novorossiya University. In the Soviet...
(while building a close relationship with the students), and cleared for use the city's tramway lines. Businesses also reopened, benefiting from free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
and voluntary taxation
Voluntary taxation
Voluntary taxation is a theory that states that taxation, naturally a coercive act, should be a voluntary act instead. The idea states that instead of people being forced to pay taxes by their government they should have the option to pay taxes. In this theory people control how much they pay and...
—the city treasury, Pântea claimed, collected some 170 million Reichsmark in revenue. According to historian Mark Mazower
Mark Mazower
Mark A. Mazower is a British historian. His expertise is Greece, the Balkans and, more generally, 20th century Europe. He is currently a professor of history at Columbia University in New York City.-Career:...
, the experiment was largely carried by corrupt practices, but also gave the Soviet-born Odessans a unique experience of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
.
Liberal enterprise coexisted with the minute regulation of social life: in Russia, Pântea's resolutions on this subject are remembered as farcical and unwittingly humorous. One of them limited children's use of bicycles and roller skates
Roller skates
Roller skates are devices worn on the feet to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. A first basic type of roller skate consists of a boot with four wheels with ball bearings, arranged in the same configuration as the wheels of a typical car.-History:...
, under the pain of court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
for their parents. The cultural projects he promoted doubled as a propaganda effort: the new authorities staged shows which suggested that Odessa was, and would remain, part of a new Greater Romania. During 1943, he renamed Avchinnikov Street after Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
, and turned a lodging once visited by Goga into a hotel for Romanian writers on vacation to "Romanian Odessa".
Some of the Russian locals played along, in a bit to ensure cultural survival. Among the latter was actor Vasily Vronsky (Vasile Vronschi), who knew Pântea from Chişinău, and who received permission to establish the Russian-language Vronsky Theater; granted Romanian citizenship, he gave speeches denouncing Soviet agitprop
Agitprop
Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....
.
During January 1942, there was another planned exodus of Jews from Odessa. Pântea, whose official reports described the claim of "Jewish instigation" as a canard, was reportedly alarmed by the decision. Mostly in vain, he tried persuading Alexianu to reduce the number of Odessa Jews delivered to Berezivka
Berezivka
Berezívka is a town in Odessa Oblast, Ukraine. Population is 9,481 ....
concentration camp—the Mayor hoped to at least obtain the return of Jews who were artisans, teachers or Crimean Karaites
Crimean Karaites
The Crimean Karaites , also known as Karaim and Qarays, are a community of ethnic Turkic adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe...
. His own membership of the Eviction Bureau remains a contended issue: Pântea categorically denied it (a negation that is backed by Ion Constantin, and reflected in various primary sources); nevertheless, one archive document refers to him as one of ten supervisors of the 1942 deportation. He also took measures against squatting
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
in formerly Jewish houses, but, historian and former Soviet partisan
Soviet partisans
The Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....
Yitzhak Arad
Yitzhak Arad
Yitzhak Arad , is an Israeli historian, retired IDF brigadier general and a former Soviet partisan who has served as director of Yad Vashem from 1972 to 1993...
argues, meant to "keep those apartments for the Romanian administration [...] and to sell a certain number of the apartments to turn a profit."
In time, Mayor Pântea found a middle ground between the various political factors, and selected his own administrative team from Bessarabian and Soviet clerks. In addition to Vice Mayor Vidraşcu, it included old unionist combatants (Vladimir Chiorescu
Vladimir Chiorescu
- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2*Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Ţării şi actualele autorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 , June 27, 2008 - External links :* *...
, Elefterie Sinicliu
Elefterie Sinicliu
- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2*Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Ţării şi actualele authorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 , June 27, 2008 - External links :* *...
) alongside local notabilities (Dr. M. Zaevloshin, architect Vladimir Cundert). Reportedly, City Hall did not exercise political repression against known communists, who were merely required to register on a special list. The Romanian Mayor was also careful to preserve contacts with the two most powerful forces battling each other for control, namely the Germans and the Soviet partisans. His intervention saved the life of Yelena Rudenko, sister of Soviet General Fyodor Tolbukhin
Fyodor Tolbukhin
Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin was a Soviet military commander.-Biography:Tolbukhin was born into a peasant family in the province of Yaroslavl, north-east of Moscow. He volunteered for the Imperial Army in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I. He was steadily promoted, advancing from private to...
, who had fallen severely ill at the family home in Odessa.
Alexianu was especially weary of the Mayor's connections, and, in December 1941, inquired Pântea about his alleged employment of political suspects, which Pântea categorically denied. In 1942, government authority began an erratic investigation into the presence of former Komsomol
Komsomol
The Communist Union of Youth , usually known as Komsomol , was the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The Komsomol in its earliest form was established in urban centers in 1918. During the early years, it was a Russian organization, known as the Russian Communist Union of...
ists among Odessa's public sector employees. Allegations regarding Pântea's complicity in acts of corruption prompted surveillance from Romanian Special Intelligence. Its subsequent reports accused the Mayor and some in his staff of keeping company with covert communists, and of trading on the black market of Chişinău. Later, sources adverse to Pântea claimed that he was the main beneficiary of trade in Moldovan wine
Moldovan wine
With a production of 124,200 tons of wine , Moldova has a well established wine industry. It has a vineyard area of of which are used for commercial production. The remaining are vineyards planted in villages around the houses used to make home-made wine, or "vin de casa"...
and used goods, and that he had vested interest in aiding the Jews, who were his business partners.
By late 1942, Pântea was also irritating the Romanian commandants when he protested against General Vasiliu's decision to requisition Odessa's trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
es and have them moved to Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
. Pântea however carried on with his plans for Odessa's development. In October 1943, on the 2-year anniversary of the occupation, he issued, by means of Molva gazette, a new address to the city's residents, in which he listed his contributions. A few weeks later, he began employing laborers from the neighboring Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Reichskommissariat Ukraine
Reichskommissariat Ukraine , literally "Reich Commissariat of Ukraine", was the civilian occupation regime of much of German-occupied Ukraine during World War II. Between September 1941 and March 1944, the Reichskommissariat was administered by Reichskommissar Erich Koch as a colony...
for public works in Odessa.
1945 prosecution
During January 1944, as the Eastern FrontEastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
moved closer to Romania, Alexianu's bureaucracy was replaced with a defensive military structure, headed by General Gheorghe Potopeanu. Pântea considered his own position redundant, and asked to be recalled, but Antonescu ordered him to continue with his mandate. He was still at his post when Potopeanu relinquished his command to the Germans, and protested when Potopeanu decided to hand over to the Nazis all property requisitioned from the Soviet locals. There was a growing personal animosity between Potopeanu and Pântea, which probably began when the General tried to sell the Mayor an overpriced used car. During March, Pântea himself relinquished City Hall property to the Germans. After farewell ceremonies at the University and in the factories, he and his wife Lucia left to join the retreating Romanian troops.
The Pânteas were in Bucharest during King Michael's Coup
King Michael's Coup
King Michael's Coup refers to the coup d'etat led by King Michael of Romania in 1944 against the pro-Nazi Romanian faction of Ion Antonescu, after the Axis front in Northeastern Romania collapsed under the Soviet offensive.-The coup:...
(August 23, 1944), with which Romania effectively changed sides in the war by toppling Antonescu. Their house on Argentina Street was damaged in the subsequent Nazi air raid
Bombing of Bucharest in World War II
The Bucharest World War II bombings were primarily Allied bombings of railroad targets and those of the Oil Campaign of World War II, but included a bombing by Nazi Germany after the royal coup. Bucharest stored and distributed much of Ploiești's refined oil products....
, and the family moved with politician Petre Ghiaţă, in Colentina
Colentina, Bucharest
Colentina is one of the main neighborhoods in Bucharest's 2nd district located on the north-east of the city. A local folk etymology says that the name is derived from "colea-n-tină" , this being the answer given by a spătar to Matei Basarab, who asked the former where he had defeated the Ottoman...
. On August 24, Gheorghe Potopeanu, who had emerged as Finance Minister
Ministry of Public Finance (Romania)
The Ministry of Public Finance of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania.The minister's seat is currently held by the Democratic Liberal Party's Gheorghe Ialomiţeanu.The following agencies are subordinated to the Minister:...
, demanded Pântea's arrest as a potential turncoat; and since the transition found him Pântea among the accused, it was assumed that he was one of Antonescu's war criminals.
The post-Antonescu government of Constantin Sănătescu
Constantin Sanatescu
Constantin Sănătescu was a Romanian statesman who served as the first Prime Minister of Romania after the August 23, 1944 coup, through which Romania left the Axis Powers and joined the Allies....
proceeded to include him Pântea a list of war criminals, even though the Soviet partners did not describe him as such. When the Red Army entered Bucharest in September, Potopeanu himself was arrested at his Ministry desk, and taken into Soviet custody. During that time, Pântea obeyed the new laws and handed down to the state all property he had acquired while in office as Mayor. By January 1945, when the Sănătescu list was published, Pântea turned fugitive: for a while, he lived in Craiova, where his brother Constantin resided; later, he was in Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, living under the assumed name of Lozont (or Lozony) Cernescu.
Like Antonescu and Potopeanu, Pântea faced a trial in front of the People's Tribunal
Romanian People's Tribunals
The two Romanian People's Tribunals , the Bucharest People's Tribunal and the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal were set up by the post-World War II government of Romania, overseen by the Allied Control Commission to try suspected war criminals, in line with Article 14 of the Armistice...
. In the end, he was acquitted, since Yelena Rudenko and Tolbukhin informed the Romanian state about Pântea's honorable conduct, and since the Allied Commission
Allied Commission
Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allied Powers were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Eastern Advisory Commission to make recommendations...
recommended his release. Pântea was arrested on several other occasions, but, singularly among Romanians prosecuted for war crimes, he was acquitted each time. Although his rivals in the Transnistrian administration were by then destroying evidence of his more positive role, Pântea preserved certified copies
Certified copy
A certified copy is a copy of a primary document, that has on it an endorsement or certificate that it is a true copy of the primary document...
as a precautionary measure.
Communist sentencing and rehabilitation
In 1947, Ilie CătărăuIlie Cătărău
Ilie Cătărău was a Bessarabian-born political adventurer, soldier and spy, who spent parts of his life in Romania. Leading a secretive life, he is widely held to have been the main perpetrator of two bomb attacks, which sought to exacerbate tensions between Romania and Austria-Hungary in...
vindicated his 1918 deportation on Pântea's orders, and began circulating serious allegations against his rival. Published in the Romanian press, these resulted in a national manhunt for Pântea. Fearing a political retribution, the latter made himself lost in Sibiu, where he lived with false papers until December 1949. He was making short visits to Bucharest with forged identity papers and the alias George Mincu, and kept contacts with Anton Crihan
Anton Crihan
Anton Crihan was a Bessarabian politician.- Biography :Anton Crihan served as Member of the Moldovan Parliament , Parliament of Romania, and Government of Romania...
, who was preparing for a defection to Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
.
Meanwhile, Soviet occupation
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
gave way to a satellite Romanian communist regime
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...
. Pântea was tracked down by famed Commissar Eugen Alimănescu and handed down to the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
(that is, the communist secret police). He was interrogated by Securitate commandant Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi
Alexandru Nicolschi was a Romanian communist activist, Soviet agent and officer, and Securitate chief under the Communist regime...
, and confronted with allegations made against him by Gheorghe Stere and Alexandru Mîţă, whose lives Pântea had helped save. Pântea was sent to Jilava prison, and kept without trial for three years; in late 1952, a Military Tribunal sentenced him to a further 10-years hard labor
Penal labour
Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...
, as a "war criminal" and "enemy of the working class
Enemy of the people
The term enemy of the people is a fluid designation of political or class opponents of the group using the term. The term implies that the "enemies" in question are acting against society as a whole. It is similar to the notion of "enemy of the state". The term originated in Roman times as ,...
". His first year after the verdict was spent under heavy regime, at Aiud prison
Aiud prison
Aiud prison is a prison complex in Aiud, central Transylvania, Romania.It is infamous for its political inmates, especially during the reign of Romania's by Nazi allies and later communists...
, but Pântea was later moved into other infamously tough detention facilities: Gherla
Gherla
Gherla is a city in Cluj County, Romania . It is located 45 km from Cluj-Napoca on the Someşul Mic River, and has a population of 24,083....
and Ocnele Mari
Ocnele Mari
Ocnele Mari is a town located in Vâlcea County, Romania. The town administers eight villages: Buda, Cosota, Făcăi, Gura Suhaşului, Lunca, Ocniţa, Slătioarele and Ţeica.-References:...
. In November 1954, he was dispatched to a milder prison, at Craiova, and then sent to Poarta Albă
Poarta Alba
Poarta Albă is a commune in Constanţa County, Romania. It has a population of 4,790, according to the 2002 census, of which 97% Romanians and most of the rest Turks and Tatars...
, a labor camp on the Danube – Black Sea Canal.
In October 1955, Gherman Pântea was included in an amnesty decreed by the Romanian communist authorities, as the early sign of a reluctant liberalization
Liberalization
In general, liberalization refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. In some contexts this process or concept is often, but not always, referred to as deregulation...
. In January of the next year, he was even partially rehabilitated
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
during a trial de novo
Trial de novo
In law, the expression trial de novo means a "new trial" by a different tribunal...
for some 800 sentenced war criminals. After gathering evidence and testimonials from Soviet nationals, he took his case to the Supreme Tribunal
High Court of Cassation and Justice
The High Court of Cassation and Justice is Romania's supreme court, and the court of last resort. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of cassation around the world...
, which concluded that his sentencing as a "war criminal" was illegal (while finding little evidence that his were crimes "against the working class"). However, the Securitate still kept a file on Pântea, keeping him and his family under constant surveillance. At a time when repression was organized against the Bessarabian refugees, its staff gathered data according to which Pântea was capable of organizing Bessarabian resistance in Romania-proper. With noted help from the Soviet KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
and a female Soviet envoy (codenamed Valeria), the secret police began re-investigating Pântea's various activities in politics. The Securitate archives also show that Securitate men approached the former Bessarabian Director with an offer to become their informant, but register Pântea's blunt refusal, even after intimidation.
Final years and death
Communist harassment continued over the following years. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the Securitate kept close watch on Pântea's reaction, reporting about his anti-communismAnti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
, his contacts with the exiled Crihan or underground PNL-ists such as Aurelian Bentoiu, and his hopes for an American intervention
Vin americanii!
Vin americanii! was a slogan used in Romania in the 1940s and 1950s, encapsulating the hope that an American-led invasion of Eastern Europe would topple the Soviet-backed, Communist-dominated government installed in early 1945...
. Consequently, through a decision signed by Nicolschi in 1960, he and his wife were stripped of their pensions. Officially, the Pânteas stood accused of illegally trading in gold coins; a brutal police inquiry followed, and Lucia Pântea's arm was fractured in the process, but the prosecution was stopped in its tracks by the Great National Assembly
Great National Assembly
The Great National Assembly was the legislature of the Romanian People's Republic and the Socialist Republic Romania. When Communism was overthrown in Romania in December 1989, the National Assembly was replaced by a bicameral parliament, made up of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.The Great...
. Gherman and brother Constantin were again picked up in April 1961, and detained in the prison of Craiova together with other 5 "reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
elements" from Bessarabia—in 1962, all were sentenced to 1 year in jail.
Around 1964, as Romania embraced (nominally anti-Soviet) national communism
National communism
The term National Communism describes the ethnic minority communist currents that arose in the former Russian Empire after Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik Party seized power in October 1917....
, Pântea began hoping that communist censorship
Censorship in Communist Romania
Censorship in Communist Romania was widespread and virtually every published document, be it a newspaper article or a book, had to pass the censor's approval...
would revisit the Bessarabian dispute from a traditional viewpoint. In this context, he corresponded with official historian Andrei Oţetea, praising his "courage and clarity" in exposing the hidden side of Marxist historiography
Marxist historiography
Marxist or historical materialist historiography is a school of historiography influenced by Marxism. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography are the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes....
. He himself began writing new memoirs for the Bucharest Institute of History, and, on May Day
International Workers' Day
International Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...
1965, began receiving a state pension honoring his "outstanding contributions in service to the working class during the years 1919–1926". By 1967, Pântea made a final return to the public sphere, openly restating his version of historical events. He spoke on the subject at the funeral of fellow Bessarabian refugee Ion Buzdugan
Ion Buzdugan
Ion Buzdugan was a Bessarabian politician.- Bibliography :*Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul ţării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2...
, at the parastas of Gurie Grosu
Gurie Grosu
Gurie Grosu was a Bessarabian priest and the first Metropolitan of Bessarabia.- Biography :Gurie Grosu was born on January 1, 1877 in Nimoreni and died on November 14, 1943 in Bucharest...
, and again at a commemoration for Alexe Mateevici, reportedly causing panic among his public (most of whom were by then the survivors of communist jails). The Pântea family moved back to Bucharest, at the old home on Argentina Street.
Gherman Pântea died on February 1, 1968, in unusual circumstances: he had been absent from home for almost two days, and the family was informed that he had collapsed in the street, minutes after being spotted at a Piaţa Amzei diner; medical investigation showed that he was not suffering from any life-threatening condition. The funeral was at Bucharest's Bellu cemetery, on February 4. The ceremony, which included an Orthodox service by priest Vasile Ţepordei, doubled as a quiet political rally: it brought together the community of Bessarabian refugees, who regarded Pântea as their hero, and was closely monitored by the Securitate. The funeral orations were delivered by, among others, Father Ţepordei, Sinicliu, and the Bessarabian community elder Pan Halippa
Pan Halippa
Pantelimon "Pan" Halippa was a Bessarabian and later Romanian 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, which voted union in 1918...
.
Legacy
Gherman Pântea is briefly mentioned in For Soviet Power, a 1953 war novel by Soviet author Valentin KataevValentin Kataev
Valentin Petrovich Kataev was a Russian and Soviet novelist and playwright who managed to create penetrating works discussing post-revolutionary social conditions without running afoul of the demands of official Soviet style. Kataev is credited with suggesting the idea for the Twelve Chairs to his...
. Here, in keeping up with Soviet historiography of the late Stalin period, he is mainly depicted as a criminal figure who takes absurd decisions. In contrast, the Bessarabian folklorist Tatiana Găluşcă-Crâşmaru composed the 1968 poem Lui Gh. Pântea, vechi luptător ("To Gh. Pântea, and Old Combatant"), which depicts the Moldavian Republic's Director as a hero of the entire Romanian people. Between these images is one proposed by the Bessarabian expatriate and Romanian historian Alexandru I. Gonţa, according to whom Pântea is a relevant but second-rate figure in the history of Bessarabian unionism (this view, first made public in 1973, is hotly contested by other authors and activists).
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, as Romania's participation in the Holocaust was being acknowledged, various commentators contrasted Gherman Pântea's behavior with that of other Transnistria administrators. According to Romanian-born Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i historian Jean Ancel, Pântea's protest against Antonescu's orders is compatible with the work of his Cernăuţi colleague Traian Popovici
Traian Popovici
Traian Popovici was a Romanian lawyer and mayor of Cernăuţi during World War II, known for saving 20,000 Jews of Bukovina from deportation.Popovici was born in Ruşii Mănăstioarei village of Suceava county...
, known for defending Bukovina Jews from planned extermination. In 2008, a similar point was made by writer Boris Marian in the Jewish community
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
magazine Realitatea Evreiască: "The Romanian Mayor of Odessa was shocked by the cruelty with which the orders coming in from Bucharest were being executed. His name was Gherman Pântea and he was a normal man. Like Mayor Traian Popovici of Cernăuţi, Gh. Pântea wished above all to fulfill his duty as a human being."
On the commemoration of the Odessa Massacre
Odessa massacre
The Odessa massacre was the extermination of Jews in Odessa and surrounding towns in Transnistria during the autumn of 1941 and the winter of 1942 in a series of massacres and killings during the Holocaust by Romanian forces, under German control, encouragement and instruction...
in 2011, Romanian filmmaker Florin Iepan produced the documentary Odessa, which gives evidence about the scale of murder. In an earlier interview, Iepan mentioned that Pântea was "an interesting character" and "a rather luminous figure in that context of bitterness and violence." During debates with the public, held after the film's release, Iepan also quoted Pântea's report to Antonescu as proof that some Romanian officials knew about (and, in this case, deplored) the killings in the city.
However, Pântea's own testimonies on the Holocaust subject have various ambiguities and omissions. Mark Mazower
Mark Mazower
Mark A. Mazower is a British historian. His expertise is Greece, the Balkans and, more generally, 20th century Europe. He is currently a professor of history at Columbia University in New York City.-Career:...
notes that, in writing his reports, Pântea never realized the level of Antonescu's involvement in the 1941 Massacre. Before the official recognition of Holocaust crimes
Wiesel Commission
The Wiesel Commission is the common name given to the International Commission on the Holocaust in Romania, which was established by former President Ion Iliescu in October 2003 to research and create a report on the actual history of the Holocaust in Romania and make specific recommendations for...
, the Odessa Mayor's accounts were being cited against themselves by those who tried to minimize Romanian involvement. In reaction, Jewish community historian Teodor Wexler argued that the attempt was missing its target: "Gherman Pântea's letter [is] of an unrestrained tragicalness", confirming "once and for all the historical responsibility of those who dictated the undertaking of the Holocaust in Romania."
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
in 1991, most of Bessarabia returned to independence, as the Republic of Moldova. As of that moment, Pântea's name continues to be a subject of contention in the debates over Moldovan nationhood
Controversy over linguistic and ethnic identity in Moldova
A controversy exists over the national identity and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in the Republic of Moldova. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans constitute a subgroup of Romanians or a separate ethnic group...
: a hero to the pro-unionists, he is largely ignored by the Moldovenists
Moldovenism
Moldovenism is a political term used to refer to the support and promotion of the Moldovan identity and Moldovan culture.Some of its supporters ascribe this identity to the medieval Principality of Moldavia...
. This was noted in 2010 by unionist politician Mircea Druc
Mircea Druc
Mircea Druc is a Moldovan and Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Moldova between 26 May 1990 and 22 May 1991....
, who assessed that, other than a commemorative plaque in Chişinău, there was little left to attest Pântea's significance to the Moldovan Republic. Nicolae Costin
Nicolae Costin
Nicolae Costin was a Moldovan politician. He served as mayor of Chişinău .- Biography :...
, who was Mayor of Chişinău
Mayor of Chişinău
The Mayor of Chişinău is head of the executive branch of Chişinău City Council.- History :The first mayor of Chişinău was Anghel Nour in 1817. In 1941, the office was abolished. After the Soviet era and the re-establishment of the office in 1990, Nicolae Costin became the first democratically...
between 1990 and 1994, reportedly sought to revive Pântea's urban projects (continued, after another long hiatus, by Dorin Chirtoacă
Dorin Chirtoaca
- Biography :His mother is Valentina, sister of Gheorghe Ghimpu and Mihai Ghimpu. During high school he studied in Iaşi and graduated in 2001 from University of Bucharest. Between 2001 and 2003 Chirtoacă worked for Surprize, Surprize , a show broadcast on TVR1...
).