Cetatea Albă County was a county (

județ A ''județ'' (, plural ) is an administrative division in Romania, and was also used from 1940 to 1947 in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and from 1998 to 2003 in Moldova. ''Județ'' translates into English as "jurisdiction", but is co ...

) of

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 ...

between 1925 and 1938 and between 1941 and 1944, in

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 o ...

, with the capital city at Cetatea Albă. It had an area of and a population of 340,459 as of the 1930 census.

Geography

The county was located in the eastern part of

Greater Romania The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea. As a concept, its main goal is the creatio ...

, in the south of the historical region of

. Currently, the territory of the former county is partly administered by

Odessa Oblast Odesa Oblast ( uk, Оде́ська о́бласть, translit=Odeska oblast), also referred to as Odeshchyna ( uk, Оде́щина) is an oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. Its admin ...

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 inva ...

. It was bordered to the west by Cahul County, to the north by Tighina County, to the south by Ismail County, to the east by the

of the

USSR 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 nati ...

, and in the southeast the county bordered the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

Administration

1938 map of interwar county Cetatea Alba

The county originally consisted of six districts ('' plăși''):Portretul României Interbelice - Județul Cetatea Albă
/ref> #Plasa Cazaci, headquartered at #Plasa Tarutino, headquartered at Tarutina #Plasa Tașlâc, headquartered at Arciz #Plasa Tatar-Bunar, headquartered at Tatar-Bunar #Plasa Tuzla, headquartered at Cetatea Albă #Plasa Volintiri, headquartered at Volințiri Subsequently, the territory of the county was reorganized into eight districts: #Plasa Arciz, headquartered at Arciz #Plasa Cazaci, headquartered at #Plasa Ivăneștii-Noi, headquartered at Ivăneștii Noi #Plasa Liman, headquartered at Cetatea Albă #Plasa Sărata, headquartered at Bairamcea #Plasa Tarutino, headquartered at Tarutina #Plasa Tuzla, headquartered at #Plasa Volintiri, headquartered at Volințiri On the territory of Cetatea Albă County there were two urban localities: Cetatea Albă, a city and the county seat, and , an urban commune (town).

Coat of arms

The Coat of Arms featured a tree on the sinister and the fortress of Cetatea Albă on the dexter.

Population

According to the Romanian census of 1930 the population of Cetatea Albă County was 340,459, of which 20.9% were ethnic

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely underst ...

, 20.5% ethnic

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

, 18.5%

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Romania ...

, 17.3%

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

16.3% ethnic

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, 3.3%

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, 3.3% Gagauz and 0.1%

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

. Classified by religion: 79.0% were Orthodox Christian, 16.3% Lutheran, 4.7% Jews.

History

After the

Union of Bessarabia with Romania The union of Bessarabia with Romania was proclaimed on by Sfatul Țării, the legislative body of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. This state had the same borders of the region of Bessarabia, which was annexed by the Russian Empire following ...

in 1918, the county belonged to Romania, which set up the county formally in 1925. After the 1938 ''Administrative and Constitutional Reform'', this county merged with the counties of Lăpușna,

Orhei Orhei (; Yiddish ''Uriv'' – אוריװ), also formerly known as Orgeev (russian: Орге́ев), is a city, municipality and the administrative centre of Orhei District in the Republic of Moldova, with a population of 21,065. Orhei is appro ...

and

Tighina Bender (, Moldovan Cyrillic: Бендер) or Bendery (russian: Бендеры, , uk, Бендери), also known as Tighina ( ro, Tighina), is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under ''de facto'' control of the un ...

to form

Ținutul Nistru Ținutul Nistru was one of the ten ''ținuturi'' ("lands") 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 Bessar ...

. The area county of the county was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 and became part of the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

. The area returned to Romanian administration as the Bessarabia Governorate following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1941. A military administration was established and the region's Jewish population was either executed on the spot or deported to Transnistria, where further numbers were killed. As the Soviet Union's offensive pushed the Axis powers back, the area again was under Soviet control. On September 12, 1944, Romania signed the Moscow Armistice with the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

. The Armistice, as well as the subsequent peace treaty of 1947, confirmed the Soviet-Romanian border as it was on January 1, 1941.

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...

. Foreign relations of the United States, 1946
Paris Peace Conference: documents Volume IV (1946)
/ref> The area of the county became part of the Ukrainian SSR and eventually of the independent

after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

in 1991.

References

External links

*
Județul Cetatea Alba
(Romanian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cetatea Alba County Former counties of Romania Counties of Bessarabia 1925 establishments in Romania 1938 disestablishments in Romania 1941 establishments in Romania 1944 disestablishments in Romania States and territories established in 1925 States and territories disestablished in 1938 States and territories established in 1941 States and territories disestablished in 1944