This year we commemorate 350 years since the birth and 300 years since the death of Dimitrie Cantemir (October 26, 1673 - August 21, 1723), the most famous Romanian humanist thinker and also the author of the first original Romanian philosophical works.
Dimitrie Cantemir represents one of the highest peaks of thought of his time, in all areas that his genius touched - in historiography, geography, philosophy, he opened up new perspectives for development. The great scholar was well acquainted with the Muslim environment, speaking, in addition to Western, also Eastern languages (Turkish, Persian and Arabic), and also had extensive knowledge in the fields of logic, medicine, natural sciences, astronomy and music. This well-educated Christian beyzade, being a born diplomat, won the trust of Sultan Ahmed III, who favorably allowed him to familiarize himself with the documents of imperial history that Cantemir used in working on his famous work "The Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire", which still remains a reference publication in a specialized bibliography.
The National Museum of History of Moldova possesses a German edition of this work, published in Hamburg in 1745. This edition is an impressive volume of 863 pages, accompanied by a preface in German by the editor, containing words of praise and appreciation: "... we consider that such a work of great significance must be known to the Germans in their mother tongue..."
Dimitrie Cantemir was the first scholar to show that the history of the Ottoman Empire divides into two parts. The first part that of growth, includes biographies of 19 sultans and ends around 1672, when the empire entered a new phase, that of political and military decline. Through this work, Cantemir tried to draw attention to the need for an alliance of European countries against Turkish expansion. At the same time, he praised certain aspects of the culture of the Turkish people.
Like "Description of Moldavia", "The Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire" enjoyed wide popularity in European countries. The work was first translated into Russian by Dmitry Grozin, but was not printed. After the death of Dimitrie Cantemir, thanks to his son Antiochus, who became the Russian ambassador in London and then in Paris, this fundamental writing of our scholar was translated and published in English (two volumes, 1734-1735, followed by a new edition in 1756) and in French (1743, in four small volumes). In 1745, the work was also published in German. It was read, highly valued and used in their writings by Voltaire, Byron, Victor Hugo and others. This is the first treatise that addresses the issue of Ottoman power and the multicultural nature of the empire. Work on it began during the author's stay in the Ottoman Empire, resumed after 1711, and finished in 1717. This writing brought him European fame and placed him among the great scholars of the time.
Victor Andreev: “And when the Motherland will regain freedom ...”
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. IX [XXIV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie Chișinău, 2015
Abstract
The history of anti-Soviet and anticommunist resistance in postwar Bessarabia is rich in facts and names of fighters. This article tells about the fate of brothers Victor and Ion Andreev, natives of the village of MănoileТti, who in the spring of 1949, together with other young people, decided to establish an underground organization to fight against the Soviet occupation.
Most members of this organization were intellectuals, mostly rural teachers, who, for reasons of professional and intellectual training, perhaps better than others intuited the harmful effects of Sovietization and Bolshevization of Bessarabia.
The main goals of the organization, organizational criteria, rights and obligations of the members have been for- mulated in the "Freedom Party" Charter developed by Victor Andreev, who at the time had been a primary school teacher in the village of Băcioi in the Kotovski District. The first lines of the Charter contain an appeal to all patriots of Bessarabia for the struggle against the authorities, which emphasizes that only concrete action and self-sacrifice can help to gain freedom. "And when the Motherland will regain freedom, do not come to seek protection" - it was Victor Andreev's message to those who "recognized the vile enemy flag".
Statutory documents, correspondence between members of the organization, literature confiscated during arrests, records of interrogations to which they were subjected are irrefutable evidence of the thirst for freedom and courage of these young patriots.
Sons of unified Romania, being raised and educated in the spirit of Romanian traditions, these young people were unable or unwilling to accept a different way of life, a different social system, collectivization, mass deportations, repression, famine... For them it was "a great misfortune to live in a country other than that of their ancestors". Soviet justice qualified the brothers Andreev's activities as terrorism and treason; on January 27, 1951, by the verdict of the Military Court of the Odessa Military District Victor Andreev was sentenced to death by shooting and Ion Andreev was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment in labor camps.
Gratitude for the sacrifices of these fighters against communism came much later. On 23 August 2010, in a sign of high appreciation of tenacity, courage and patriotic spirit manifested in the struggle against the totalitarian Communist regime, by Decree of the President of the Republic of Moldova brothers Victor and Ion Andreev were posthumously awarded the Order of the Republic.
List of illustrations: 1. Photo of Victor Andreev with a dedication to his brother Ion, 1948. 2. Ion Andreev with his wife and son, 1948. 3. Ion Andreev with his son Grigore, 1949. 4. Certificate of Ion Andreev's release from prison, where he stayed from June 6 to 28 March 1960. 5. Third category driver's license in the prisoner Ion Andreev's name, 1956. 6. Ion Andreev's Certificate of Rehabilitation issued by the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Moldova, 02.20.1992.
Elena Postică
Documentary photography exhibition “War after the War”
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIII [XXVIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Elena Postică
Bessarabian prominent figures in the Romanian governments during the inter-war period
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. II [XVII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Elena Postică
The famine of 1946-1947 from Moldova in official documents and testimonies of survivors
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XIV [XXIX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Elena Postică
The exhibition „Soviet Moldova: Between Myths and the Gulag"
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VII [XXII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
Elena Postică
Ion Ungureanu, a destiny enlightened by the Morning Star
Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie
This year we commemorate 350 years since the birth and 300 years since the death of Dimitrie Cantemir (October 26, 1673 - August 21, 1723), the most famous Romanian humanist thinker and also the author of the first original Romanian philosophical works.Dimitrie Cantemir represents one of the highest peaks of thought of his time, in all areas that his genius touched - in historiography, geography, philosophy, he opened up new perspectives for development...
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.
The National Museum of History of Moldova takes place among the most significant museum institutions of the Republic of Moldova, in terms of both its collection and scientific reputation.