Anton Crihan (born July 10, 1893,

Sîngerei Sîngerei (also spelled Sângerei) is a city in Moldova and the seat of Sîngerei District. One village is administered by the city, Vrănești. History During the interwar period, the city was the seat of Plasa Sângerei, in Bălți County, R ...

, Bessarabia Governorate – January 9, 1993,

St. Louis, Mo St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

, United States of America) was a

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

n politician, lawyer, author, economist, professor and journalist. He was a member of Sfatul Țării (1917), adviser to the Secretary of State for Agriculture in the General Directorate of the Republic of Moldova (1917), deputy in the

Parliament of Romania The Parliament of Romania ( ro, Parlamentul României) is the national bicameral legislature of Romania, consisting of the Chamber of Deputies ( ro, Camera Deputaților) and the Senate ( ro, Senat). It meets at the Palace of the Parliament i ...

(1919, 1920, 1922, 1932), adviser to the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture and Domains (1932–1933), professor at the Polytechnic University of Iasi and at the Faculty of Agronomy in Chisinau (1934–1940).

Biography

Anton Crihan is the representative of the thirteenth generation, male, of the old Moldavian

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...

family, the first mention of the reign of

Stephen the Great Stephen III of Moldavia, most commonly known as Stephen the Great ( ro, Ștefan cel Mare; ; died on 2 July 1504), was Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 ...

. The Prince's Book of Constantine Movilă states that Anton Crihan's ancestors honored the boyar's title of "paharnic". He studied at the Bălți High School for boys and the University of Odessa, Faculty of Economics. Crihan served as Member of Sfatul Țării (1917–1918), the

, and the Government of Romania. After World War I and the Communist revolution in Russia, Crihan, was among the handful of campaigners who succeeded in annexing most of

to Romania. He became politically active in Romania, which was then governed by a constitutional monarchy. Trained as an economist, he served on the Central Committee of the National Peasant Party, was elected to several terms in Parliament and was appointed Agriculture Minister. After the Soviet takeover, Crihan went into hiding and then fled on foot. He made his way across Europe spending time in Paris to complete a PhD in economics at the Sorbonne. He finally arrived in the United States in 1949, where he delivered lectures and wrote articles and books championing the reunification of Moldavia and Romania. In the United States he married Olivia Lula, a niece of Petru Groza. Moldavia, now known as Moldova, gained independence when the Soviet Union disintegrated in late 1991. He died in Saint-Louis, United States, but to his

will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

, he was buried in Chisinau (in the Central Cemetery).

Works

* ''Capitalul străin în Rusia'' (1915) * ''Chestiunea agrară în Basarabia'' (1917) * ''Cum s'a facut unirea Basarabiei cu România'' (1969) * ''O scrisoare catre Generalul C. Petre-Lazar'' (1976) * ''Romanian Rights to Bessarabia According to Certain Russian Sources'' (1986)

Honours

* Order Ferdinand I *

Steaua României The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...

* A street in the center of Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova has been named after Anton Crihan. (Se
strada Anton Crihan
.

Gallery

Image:Stamp of Moldova 227.gif, Moldovan stamp, 1998 Image:Sfatul Tarii, 10 December 1918.jpg, Sfatul Țării Palace, December 10, 1918 Image:Anton Crihan's Grave.jpg, Anton Crihan's Grave in Chisinau

Bibliography

Gheorghe E. Cojocaru Gheorghe E. Cojocaru (born 8 February 1963) is a historian from the Republic of Moldova. Biography Gheorghe E. Cojocaru was born on 8 February 1963. He graduate from Moldova State University in 1986 and got a PhD from University of Bucharest ...

, ''Sfatul Țării: itinerar'', Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, * Mihai Taşcă, ''Sfatul Țării şi actualele autorităţi locale'', " Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 (849), June 27, 2008 (page 16) * Eremia, Anatol (2001) (în română). Unitatea patrimoniului onomastic românesc. Toponimie. Antroponimie (ed. ediţie jubiliară). Chişinău: Centrul Naţional de Terminologie, ed. "Iulian". p. 57. . * Alexandru Chiriac. Membrii Sfatului Ţării. 1917–1918. Dicţionar, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, București, 2001.

Notes

External links

Anton Crihan Dead; Moldova Exile, 99, Escaped Soviet Rule

Arhiva pentru Sfatul Tarii

Deputaţii Sfatului Ţării şi Lavrenti Beria

Biblio Polis – Vol. 25 (2008) Nr. 1 (Serie nouă)

2013 Postage stamp issued by the Republic of Moldova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crihan, Anton Romanian people of Moldovan descent Moldovan MPs 1917–1918 Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) 1893 births 1993 deaths People from Sîngerei District Odesa University alumni Moldovan economists 20th-century Romanian economists National Peasants' Party politicians 20th-century Romanian politicians Romanian Ministers of Agriculture Moldovan anti-communists Officers of the Order of the Star of Romania Romanian expatriates in France Romanian emigrants to the United States