Victor Zâmbrea | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1924 (1924) |
| Died | 2000 (aged 75–76) |
| Alma mater | Bucharest National University of Arts |
Victor Zâmbrea (1924 – 2000) was aBessarabian painter.
Zâmbrea was born in 1924 inReni,Ismail County,Bessarabia,Kingdom of Romania. In 1936, he finished the Gymnasium (Junior High School) in his native town, and graduated from the Evening Lyceum (High School) inBucharest in 1940. In 1941, he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts, Bucharest. In 1963, he graduated from the University of Popular Art inMoscow. He was a member of the Union of Plastic Artists of theMoldovan SSR.
In 1942, he voluntarily enrolled in theRomanian Royal Navy's School ofScuba diving inConstanța.
In November 1944, he was arrested by theSovietNKVD, and sent to an NKVD filtration point inChişinău. Released in June 1945, he went toIzmail, where he joined theanti-Soviet resistance group "Vocea Basarabiei" (English:The Voice of Bessarabia). In May 1948, he was arrested for Romanian propaganda activity. He succeeded to escape from his prison, and changed his name toDumbrovschi.
Zâmbrea then established himself in Chișinău, and made contacts with an anti-Soviet resistance group in the city. In the evening of 6 July 1949 he was arrested within the course ofOperation Yug ofmass deportation of ca. 40,000 civilians of the Moldovan SSR toSiberia and northernKazakhstan. Soon afterwards, interrogation and investigation of his identity started. He was accused in virtue ofArticle 58 of theRussian SFSR (on the grounds that the investigation was being carried in Russia, not in Moldova) of "anti-Soviet propaganda, and [being a] traitor of the Soviet people". The March 1953 amnesty decree after the death ofJoseph Stalin saved him fromcapital punishment by execution squad. A year later he obtained a transfer to the city ofTyumen to work under guard as painter in the Railroad Club.
Following his release in 1958, he settled in Chișinău, where he worked as a painter in the University Central Store. Until his retirement in 1984, he also worked as a painter for the Fund of Plastic Arts in Chișinău. Since 1954, his works have participated in various expositions.
In 1994, Zâmbrea opened a personal exposition "Bessarabian Romanians deported to Siberia" in Chișinău. His works are found in private and public collections inParis, Bucharest, Moscow,Kyiv,Tel Aviv,Jerusalem,Buenos Aires,Montreal,Riga,Vilnius,Timișoara,Brașov,Odesa,Mykolaiv, Tumen,Novokuznetsk,Esentuki, andSighetu Marmației.
He died in 2000 in Chișinău.