Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Still active as an independent socialist in Greater Romania, Alexis Nour won additional fame as an advocate of
human rights, land reform, womens surage and Jewish
emancipation. During the nal decade of his life, Nour
also debuted as a novelist, but did not register signicant
success. His late contributions as a Thracologist were received with skepticism by the academic community.
1
1.1
Biography
Early activities
In his rst-ever article for the review, Alexis Nour suggested that the regional movement for national emancipation still lacked a group of intellectual leaders, or
elected sons, capable of forming a single Romanian faction in the State Duma.[10] Despite such setbacks and the
continued spread of illiteracy, Nour contended, Bessarabias Romanians were more attached to the national ideal,
and more politically motivated, than their brethren in
Romania-proper.[10] Other Basarabia articles by Nour
were vehement rebuttals addressed to Pavel Krushevan,
the (supposedly ethnic Romanian) exponent of extreme
Russian nationalism.[11]
1.2
1 BIOGRAPHY
Union of the Russian People (SRN), and by an aristocratic Romanian with centrist views, Dimitrie Krupen[21]
The following year, in April, Nour himself launched, ski.
sponsored and edited the political weekly Viaa Basara- By then, Nour had also become regional correspondent
biei, distinguished for having discarded the antiquated for Viaa Romneasc, a magazine published in the KingRomanian Cyrillic in favor of a Latin alphabet, wishing to dom of Romania by a left-wing group of writers and acmake itself accessible to readers in the Kingdom of Ro- tivists, the Poporanists. From 1907 to 1914, his column
mania; an abridged, peoples version of the gazette was Scrisori din Basarabia (Letters from Bessarabia) was
also made available as a supplement, for a purely Bessara- the prime source of Bessarabian news for newspapers on
bian readership.[12] According to his friend and colleague, the other side of the Russian border.[2] It mainly informed
Petru Cazacu, Nour had to order the Latin typeface in Romanians on the state of mind and political climate of
Bucharest, and used coded language to keep the Russian Bessarabia following the Russian elections.[19] Initially,
authorities a step behind him.[13]
they describe 1907 Bessarabia with noted regret, as the
As later attested by Bessarabian Romanian activist Pan place where nothing happens, in contrast with a more
Revolt
Halippa (founder, in 1932, of the similarly titled mag- politically oriented Romania, where the Peasants
[22]
had
seemingly
radicalized
public
opinion.
They
report
azine), his predecessor Nour had tried to emulate the
with
consternation
that
the
ocial
Moldavian
Studies
SoBasarabia program of popular education in Romanian,
[8]
ciety,
had
been
inactive
for
an
entire
year,
and
concluded
with the ultimate goal of ethnic emancipation. In his
capacity as editor in chief, he employed poet Alexei Ma- that its creation was government farce; however, he also
teevici, and republished fragments from classical works admitted that the bloody events of 1907[23]Romania were
of Romanian literature.[14] Nour joined Gheorghe V. unpalatable for the average Bessarabian.
Madan, publisher of Moldovanul newspaper, in inaugurating the Chiinu-based Orthodox Church printing
press, which began publishing a Bessarabian Psalter during spring 1907.[15]
Nours Viaa Basarabiei represented the legalist side of
the Bessarabian emancipation movement, to the irritation of more radical Romanian nationalists. Cazacu
recalls: Although moderate, the atmosphere was so
stued, the hardships so great, the attacks of the right
and the left so relentless, that in a short while [this magazine] also succumbed, not without having had its useful eect in the awakening of national sentiment, even
among the Moldavians in various parts of Russia, in
the Caucasus, and in Siberia.[13] A nationalist historian, Nicolae Iorga, accused Nour of promoting class
fraternity between the Russians and the Romanians in
Bessarabia, citing Nours explicit rejection of the Russian
Revolution.[16] Nour enlisted other negative comments
from Iorga when he began writing Bessarabian notices
in the Romanian daily Adevrul, which had Jewish proprietors. Iorga, an antisemite, commented: Mr. Alexe
Nour of Chiinu assures us now that his new gazette [...]
will not be a philosemitic one.[17] According to Iorga,
Nour was given reason to feel sorry about the Adevrul
collaboration.[18]
Also described as one of the journals whose mission
was to popularize the Constitutional Democratic program
inside the Bessarabia Governorate,[19] Viaa Basarabiei
only survived until May 25, 1907, publishing six issues
in all.[20] Reportedly, its demise happened on Russian orders, after Nours editorial line had found itself in conict
with the censorship apparatus.[8] According to Cazacu,
the Second Duma election was disastrous for the Moldavian intellectuals, who had no journal of their own
and were in a state of despair. The vote in Bessarabia
was carried by Krushevanspro-Tsarist and far-right
Nour also questioned the national sentiment of Bessarabias landowning elite, which had largely been integrated
into Russian nobility and served Imperial interests.[22][24]
The regions educated classes were Russian-educated, often Russian-oriented, and had therefore lost cheia de
la lact, care nchide suetul ranului (the key that
will unlock the peasants soul).[25] However, in December 1908, he reported with enthusiasm that the
Bessarabian Orthodox clergy upheld the use of Romanian ("Moldavian") in its religious schools and press. The
measure, Nour noted, gave formal status to the vernacular, in line with his own Viaa Basarabiei agenda.[26]
Nours letters from Bessarabia irritated the Russifying
hierarchs of the Orthodox Church. Seraphim Chichagov,
the Archbishop of Chiinu, included him among the
Churchs worst enemies, but noted that his Romanian nationalism had managed to contaminate only 20
Bessarabian priests.[27]
1.4
3
Probably helped along by his Okhrana contacts, he obtained a passport, and exiled himself from Russia.[34] After spending some time in the German Empire, he left
for Romania, and, with Constantin Steres help, enlisted
as a student at the University of Iai.[34] He was afterwards seen as a leading member of the Bessarabian expatriate community. According to fellow Bessarabian exile Axinte Frunz, theirs was a minuscule political lobby,
with only 6 to 10 active members, all of them saddened
by the small-mindedness of Romanian society.[35]
Nours new series in Viaa Romneasc documents the
early spread of Moldovenism. In summer 1914, he informed his readers that the Russian state ocials actively
persuaded the Bessarabian peasants not to declare themselves Romanian.[36] In this context, he reluctantly admitted, the only hope for a Romanian revival in Bessarabia was for the Romanians to side with the Krupenskifaction conservatives, which, although hostile to the
deem democratic sentiment of the masses, maintained
linguistic purism.[37]
tivist Ion Pelivan, the publicist was living far beyond his
means, raising concern that he was receiving payments
from the Russian authorities.[3]
Alexis Nour was, between June 1910 and August 1911,
the editor of his own press venue, the Russian-language
newspaper Bessarabets (which also published a literary
supplement).[2][30] The paper had a small circulation, and
was entirely nanced by the local magnate Vasile Stroiescu.[3] Nours own literary contributions included translations from Russian classics. One such rendition from
Leo Tolstoy, dating from 1906, was one of the few
Romanian-language books to see print in the Bessarabia Governorate before World War I.[31] Beyond the political notices, Viaa Romneasc published samples of
Nours literary eorts, including memoirs, sketch stories
and novellas.[2] He was probably a contributor to the Romanian literary review Noua Revist Romn, possibly
the pseudonymous author (initials A. N.) of a 1912 article condemning antisemitism at the Romanian Writers
Society.[32]
When the Bessarabets venture came to an end, Nour was
again employed by Besarabskaya Zhizn ', before switching to the gazette Drug, representing the controversial
Union of the Russian People.[33] Associating with his former adversary, Krushevan, Nour became the editorial
secretary, and even joined up with the SRN.[34] With
other members of the editorial board, he was soon after
involved in a regional press scandal. Nour himself was
suspected of having blackmailed centrist leader Krupenski and Roman Doliwa-Dobrowolski, the Marshal of Nobility in Orgeyev. When Doliwa-Dobrowolski sued Drug
and the other journalists were rounded up for questioning,
Nour ed to Kiev.[34]
1 BIOGRAPHY
1.6
5
was singular in the context of a quite pronounced Romanian antisemitism, and further emphasized by the
presence of Jewish Romanian intellectualsIsac Ludo,
Eugen Relgis, Avram Steuerman-Rodion etc.among
Umanitatea contributors.[50] Boia also notes that the entire Umanitatea program was another sample of Nours
great projects, quite nebulous and limitless.[50]
Umanitatea was noted for covering, in Nours own editorials, the developments of Russian political life under
the Bolsheviks.[54] The subject of Bolshevik anarchy
preoccupied him enough to constitute a main topic for
his other magazine, the anticommunist Rsritul (The
East). Nours articles, published in Rsritul and in N.
D. Cocea's Chemarea, describe Bessarabia (the stateless MDR) as prey to Bolshevik fury, calling for Romania to immunize itself against the plague by simply
abandoning hopes to the region. He also revisited his
Transnistrian agenda, writing that the Romanian armies
needed to move quickly and seize the peoples East,
down to the Blue Bug.[52] Ghibu dismissed Nours new
agenda as enormities, arguing that they show Nours
bizarre mentality, not unlike that of his revolutionary
enemies.[55]
In one of his later essays, Nour attested that his only son,
whom the Russian Civil War had caught at Odessa, was a
victim of the Soviet Russian-organized shootings of Romanian hostages. According to Nours account, the young
man had died in a mass execution ordered by Commissar
Bla Kun, after being made to dig his own grave.[56] Despite such claims of loyalty, Nour is said to have been
the focus of ocial investigation during a clampdown on
wartime Germanophiles.[34]
2 NOTES
mania and abroad, and with Alfred Hefter-Hidalgo at epistolary novels and sentimental journals, but the worst
Lumea, the weekly bazaar.[61]
would have to be those by Mr. Alexis Nour.[69]
Alexis Nour centered his subsequent activities in the area
of human rights defense and pro-feminism. In May 1922,
he was one of the Romanian contributors to A. L. Zissu's
Jewish daily, Mntuirea.[62] At a time when Romania
lacked womens surage, he argued that there was an intrinsic link between the two causes: in a piece published
by the feminist tribune Aciunea Feminist, he explained
that his struggle was about gaining recognition for the
human rights of women.[63] According to political scientist Oana Blu, Nours attitude in this respect was comparable to that of another pro-feminist Romanian writer,
Alexandru Vlahu.[63]
For a while in 1925, Alexis Nour was a supporter of
Constructivism and a member of the small but active
avant-garde clubs. Writing for M. H. Maxy's Integral
magazine (Issue 4), he sought to dene the political purpose of Romanian Constructivism: progress is a gradual adaptation [to the] least reduced division of labor between men. Anything that will slow down that adaptation is immoral, and unjust, and stupid. [...] Herein is
the area of social philosophy that forms the foundation
of Constructivist integralism.[64]
1.7
Final years
[41] (Romanian) N. A. Constantinescu, Nistrul, uviu romnesc, in Dacia, Nr. 3/1941, p.2 (digitized by the
Babe-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library);
P. Pavel, Mircea Popa, Noi documente privind viaa i
activitatea lui Iuliu Maniu. Romnii de peste hotare.
Repartizarea lor n diferite ri, in the December 1 University of Alba Iulia's Annales Universitatis Apulensis. Series Historica, Nr. 2-3/1998-1999, p.48
[42] Pntea Clin, The Ethno-demographic Evolution of Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic [sic], in the
tefan cel Mare University of Suceava Codrul Cosminului,
Nr. 14 (2008), p.176-177
[19] (Romanian) Mihai Cernencu, Igor Boan, Evoluia pluripartidismului pe teritoriul Republicii Moldova, ADEPT,
Chiinu, 2009, p.66. ISBN 978-9975-61-529-7
[20] Grossu & Palade, p.225
[21] Cazacu, p.174-175
[22] (Romanian) Catherine Durandin, Moldova n trei dimensiuni, in Revista Sud-Est, Nr. 2/2007
[32] (Romanian) Victor Durnea, Primii pai ai Societii Scriitorilor Romni (II). Problema 'actului de naionalitate' ",
in Transilvania, Nr. 12/2005, p.25, 29
[63] (Romanian) Oana Blu, Feminine/feministe. Din micarea feminist interbelic", in Observator Cultural, Nr.
233, August 2004
References
Lucian Boia, Germanolii. Elita intelectual
romneasc n anii Primului Rzboi Mondial,
Humanitas, Bucharest, 2010. ISBN 978-973-502635-6
Alexandru V. Boldur, Contribuii la studiul istoriei
Romnilor: Istoria Basarabiei, 3: Sub dominaia
ruseasc (1812-1918): Politica, ideologia, administraia, Tiparul Moldovenesc, Chiinu, 1940
Petru Cazacu, Moldova dintre Prut i Nistru. 18121918, Viaa Romneasc, Iai, [n. y.]
Ion Constantin, Alexis Nour, agent al Ohranei, in
Magazin Istoric, September 2011, p. 30-31
Petre Constantinescu-Iai, Victor Cheresteiu, Ludovic Jordky, Lucrri i publicaii din Romnia
despre Marea Revoluie Socialist din Octombrie
(1917-1944), Editura Academiei, Bucharest, 1967.
OCLC 6271975
Ileana-Stanca Desa, Dulciu Morrescu, Ioana
Patriche, Adriana Raliade, Iliana Sulic, Publicaiile
periodice romneti (ziare, gazete, reviste). Vol. III:
Catalog alfabetic 1919-1924, Editura Academiei,
Bucharest, 1987
Ileana-Stanca Desa, Dulciu Morrescu, Ioana
Patriche, Cornelia Luminia Radu, Adriana Raliade,
Iliana Sulic, Publicaiile periodice romneti (ziare,
gazete, reviste). Vol. IV: Catalog alfabetic 19251930, Editura Academiei, Bucharest, 2003. ISBN
973-27-0980-4
(Romanian) Silvia Dulschi, Tentative de constituire
a organizaiilor i partidelor de orientare naional n
Basarabia la nc. sec. al XX-lea, in Administrare
Public, Nr. 2-3/2010, p. 19-26
REFERENCES
4.1
Text
4.2
Images
File:Alexis_Nour.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Alexis_Nour.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Centrul de Informare i Documentare Chiinu; originally published in Iurie Colesnic, Basarabia necunoscut II, Museum,
Chiinu, 1997 Original artist: unknown/uncredited
File:Basarabia,_Harta_etnografic_ntocmit_de_Alexis_Nour.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/
2b/Basarabia%2C_Harta_etnografic%C4%83_%C3%AEntocmit%C4%83_de_Alexis_Nour.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
AMAE, fond 71/1920-1944. URSS, vol. 130, f. 527 Original artist: Alexis Nour (18771940)
File:Pacostea_Ruseasc.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Pacostea_Ruseasc%C4%83.JPG License:
Public domain Contributors: Ion Rusu Abrudeanu, Pacostea Ruseasc. Note istorice, impresii, documente i scrisori, Editura Socec, Bucharest,
1920 (available through the Bucharest City Library DacoRomanica archive) Original artist: uncredited (in either the original or the library
entry)
File:Roman_Doliwa-Dobrowolski,_Lausanne,_1908.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Roman_
Doliwa-Dobrowolski%2C_Lausanne%2C_1908.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Bessarabia.ru: Neamul Doliwa-Dobrowolski
din Basarabia Original artist: unknown/uncredited
4.3
Content license