Alexandru Șoltoianu (24 August 1933 – 13 April 2022) was a

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

n orientalist, activist and a political prisoner in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Biography

He graduated at

Moscow State Institute of International Relations Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (russian: Московский государственный институт международных отношений (МГИМО), also known as MGIMO University) is an institute of ...

in 1965 and became a lecturer in Oriental studies at the

Moldova State University The Moldova State University (Romanian: ''Universitatea de Stat din Moldova'') is a university located in Chișinău, Moldova. History The university was founded on 1 October 1946. Initially, it had 320 students enrolled in 5 faculties, Physi ...

in Chișinău. In the 1960s and early 1970s he militated for the union of

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 194 ...

with the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...

. Between 1969 and 1971, he was a founder of a clandestine National Patriotic Front of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, established by several young intellectuals in Chișinău, totaling over 100 members, vowing to fight for the establishment of a

Moldavian Democratic Republic The Moldavian Democratic Republic (MDR; ro, Republica Democratică Moldovenească, ), also known as the Moldavian Republic, was a state proclaimed on by the '' Sfatul Țării'' (National Council) of Bessarabia, elected in October–Novemb ...

, its secession from the

and union with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. On 13 January 1972, following an informative note from Ion Stănescu, the President of the Romanian Council of State Security, to

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov (– 9 February 1984) was the sixth paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the fourth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year rule, Andropov served in the p ...

, the chief of KGB, Șoltoianu as well as Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgăr, Valeriu Graur, and

Gheorghe Ghimpu Gheorghe Ghimpu (26 July 1937 – 13 November 2000) was a Moldovan politician and a political prisoner in the former Soviet Union and then in Moldova. Early life Ghimpu was born on 26 July 1937 in Colonița, a village in Bessarabia duri ...

were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms. Şoltoianu was sentenced in 1972 for his activity as leader of the National Patriotic Front. He was incarcerated in a prison camp in

Mordovia The Republic of Mordovia (russian: Респу́блика Мордо́вия, r=Respublika Mordoviya, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə mɐrˈdovʲɪjə; mdf, Мордовия Республиксь, ''Mordovija Respublikś''; myv, Мордовия Рес ...

, southeast of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, notorious for its Soviet

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

.Patriotul luptător Alexandru Şoltoianu la 75 de ani
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was incarcerated in the same prison camp. Șoltoianu was released only in January 1986, and he returned to his apartment in Moscow, where he continued to live even after 1991, when Moldova became independent. Nonetheless, he remained active in Romanian nationalist politics. He also joined

Mircea Druc Mircea Druc (born 25 July 1941, in Pociumbăuți, Rîșcani District) is a Moldovan and Romanian politician who served as Prime Minister of Moldova between 26 May 1990 and 22 May 1991. He was appointed as Prime Minister after the opposition wa ...

's National Council for Reunification. Șoltoianu died on 13 April 2022.

Legacy

The

Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova The Commission for the Study and Evaluation of the Communist Totalitarian Regime of the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Comisia pentru studierea şi aprecierea regimului comunist totalitar din Republica Moldova) is a commission instituted in Moldova by ...

will study and analyze the 1940-1991 period of the communist regime.

Works

*Alexandru Șoltoianu: O viaţă sacrificată pentru ţară. 212.p. *Alexandru Șoltoianu: ''Dosar Penal''. În: Memoria-Revista gândirii arestate, numărul 16.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soltoianu, Alexandru 1933 births 2022 deaths Romanian people of Moldovan descent Moldovan independence activists Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni 20th-century Moldovan historians National Patriotic Front (Moldova) politicians Moldovan anti-communists Romanian orientalists Romanian nationalists Recipients of the Order of the Republic (Moldova) People from Telenești District