Valeriu Graur (23 December 1940, in Reni – 15 September 2012, in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

România 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 t ...

) was a political dissident of Bessarabia, a member of the National Patriotic Front of Moldova. He was the son of a Romanian officer deported to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. He was born in Reni, in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, in December 1940, but says he "opened the eyes of the mind" in Siberia, where his family was deported on June 13, 1941. He is one of the signers of the appeal addressed to

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

in 1972. After denouncing these signatories by Security General Ion Stanescu (chairman of the State Security Council of the SRR.) He was deported for 4 years to Siberia as a result of his belonging to the National Patriotic Front of Moldova. On August 23, 2010, the acting

President of the Republic of Moldova The President of the Republic of Moldova () is the head of state of Moldova. The current president is Maia Sandu, who assumed office on 24 December 2020. Duties and functions The office of the presidency in Moldova is largely ceremonial, w ...

and the President of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova,

Mihai Ghimpu Mihai Ghimpu (born 19 November 1951) is a Moldovan politician who served as Speaker of Parliament and Acting President of Moldova from 2009 to 2010. He was member of Parliament of Moldova from 1990 to 1998 and from 2009 to 2019. Ghimpu held the p ...

, gave to Valeriu Graur, together with a group of fighters against the communist totalitarian occupation regime the " Order of the Republic".

Biography

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 Chişinău, 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–Novembe ...

, its secession from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and union with

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

. In December 1971, following an informative note from Ion Stănescu, the President of the Council of State Security of the

Romanian Socialist Republic 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 People ...

, 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 po ...

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

Alexandru Şoltoianu Alexandru is the Romanian form of the name Alexander. Common diminutives are Alecu, Alex, and Sandu. Origin Etymologically, the name is derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "defending men" or "protector of men" ...

, 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.

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.

Publications

* 2011: ''"I will not forget you, Bessarabia ..."'' Un dizident basarabean trădat de Ceaușescu și-a lansat o carte la București
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graur, Valeriu Romanian people of Moldovan descent Moldovan independence activists 1940 births National Patriotic Front (Moldova) politicians Moldovan anti-communists 2012 deaths