Ion Nistor | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of State for Bukovina | |
| In office 29 November 1918 – 2 May 1920 | |
| Prime Minister | Ion I. C. Brătianu Artur Văitoianu Alexandru Vaida-Voevod Alexandru Averescu |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| In office 19 January 1922 – 29 March 1926 | |
| Prime Minister | Ion I. C. Brătianu |
| Minister of Public Works | |
| In office 22 June 1927 – 24 November 1927 | |
| Prime Minister | Ion I. C. Brătianu |
| Preceded by | Pantelimon Halippa |
| In office 24 November 1927 – 9 November 1928 | |
| Prime Minister | Vintilă I. C. Brătianu |
| Succeeded by | Pantelimon Halippa |
| Minister of State (and Minister of Labor from 9 June) | |
| In office 5 January 1934 – 1 October 1934 | |
| Prime Minister | Gheorghe Tătărăscu |
| Minister of Labor | |
| In office 2 October 1934 – 28 December 1937 | |
| Prime Minister | Gheorghe Tătărăscu |
| Preceded by | Ion Costinescu |
| Succeeded by | Gheorghe A. Cuza [ro] |
| Minister of Religious Affairs and the Arts | |
| In office 24 November 1939 – 10 May 1940 | |
| Prime Minister | Gheorghe Tătărăscu |
| Preceded by | Nicolae Zigre [ro] |
| Succeeded by | Ștefan Ciobanu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1876-08-16)August 16, 1876 Vicovu de Sus,Duchy of Bukovina,Austria-Hungary |
| Died | November 11, 1962(1962-11-11) (aged 86) Bucharest,Romanian People's Republic |
| Nationality | Austria-Hungary Romania |
| Political party | National Liberal Party (Romania) |
| Spouse | Virginia Pauliucu-Burlă |
| Children | Oltea I. Nistor-Apostolescu |
| Parents |
|
| Alma mater | University of Vienna University of Czernowitz Leipzig University |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Bucharest University of Cernăuți |
Ion I. Nistor (August 16, 1876 – November 11, 1962) was a Romanian historian and politician. He was a titularmember of the Romanian Academy from 1915 and a professor at the universities ofCernăuți andBucharest, while also serving as Minister of State forBukovina, Minister of Public Works, Minister of Labor, and Minister of Religious Affairs and the Arts with a number of governments from 1918 to 1940.
Nistor was born into a family of peasants in the Bivolărie hamlet ofVicovu de Sus, Bukovina; inAustria-Hungary at the time, it is now included inSuceava County,Romania. He studied at the local school in Vicovu de Sus, then inRădăuți, first at the elementary school and then at theGerman High School, getting hisMatura in 1897.[1]
He then studied Philosophy and Literature at theUniversity of Czernowitz and between 1898 and 1900, he completed his military service in theAustro-Hungarian Army, serving inPolei and inVienna. He graduated from the University in 1902, after which he was named teacher of history and geography at theSuceava Classic High school.[2] Together with some of his friends, Nistor edited a magazine titledJunimea Literară between 1904 and 1914, first published in Rădăuți and then in Suceava.[3]
In 1904, Nistor married Virginia Pauliuc, daughter of Gheorghe Pauliuc, aRomanian Orthodox priest fromBurla; one year later, on July 5, 1905, Oltea, his only child, was born.[4] He then moved to teach at the Orthodox High School, making use of the institution's library, better suited to his studies into the history ofMoldavia.
In 1908–1909 and 1910–1911, he studied at theUniversity of Vienna and completed hisPh.D. underKonstantin Josef Jireček, with a thesis onMoldavia's aspirations regardingPokuttya.[5] After that, he furthered his studies at the Universities ofMunich,Leipzig, andBerlin, receiving in 1911 hisDocent title and theVenia legendi; this allowed him to teach at the University of Vienna, where he gave lectures on thehistory of the Romanians.[6]
A year later, in 1912, Nistor moved toCzernowitz, to hold the chair ofSoutheastern European history, but after the start ofWorld War I, he moved to theRomanian Old Kingdom, where he published various studies on the history of Bukovina. He was elected a member of theRomanian Academy in 1915.[7] He also authored anethnographic map of Bukovina underAustrian domination (seeCisleithania), based on the census of 1910.
Living inIași by the time Romania entered the war on theEntente side, Nistor left Romania at the climax of theRomanian Campaign, when troops of theCentral Powers threatened the region. In July 1917, he moved toOdessa, in territory held by theRussian Provisional Government, and began teaching Romanian history to the (mostlyBessarabian) students at theUniversity of Novorossiya. He interrupted the course in November 1917, after a group of armedRussian revolutionaries broke into the University building. Nistor was, however, safely escorted outside by some of the Bessarabian soldiers who were part of his audience.[8]
In February 1918, together with other Austro-Hungarian refugees (includingOctavian Goga), Nistor departed forOvidiopol,Cetatea Albă, and then finally reachedChișinău. He stayed in the city, where he argued for the founding of a Moldavian University, and soon began lecturing on the History of the Romanians. He used the data gathered from the Chișinău Archives to write theHistory of Bessarabia, published in 1923. Nistor also witnessed theSfatul Țării session which voted theunion with Romania.[9]
After the war ended, he returned to his native Bukovina and was one of the members of the National Assembly of Bukovina inCernăuți who voted for theunion with Romania on November 28, 1918. Nistor was also one of the fifteen Bukovinians who presented the Union Act to Romania'sKingFerdinand I.[10]
Nistor presided upon theDemocratic Union Party, which had acentralist agenda. Between December 18, 1918 and May 2, 1919, he was a member ofGreater Romania'sIon I. C. Brătianugovernment, as a Minister for Bukovina, and, between February 14 and February 27, also held the rank of minister for Bessarabia, while the nominal minister was delegated to theParis Peace Conference. Between May 1920 and January 1922, Nistor was aSenator in theParliament of Romania.[11]
In theinterwar period, Nistor wrote many historical works, includingTheOrigin of Romanians and theVlachs ofThessalia andEpirus andThe History of Romanians inTransnistria (1925). He was also the director of the historical magazineCodrii Cosminului, which was published between 1924 and 1939.[12]
Electedrector of theUniversity of Cernăuți in 1920, serving as such until 1921, and again from 1933 to 1940.[13] Also in 1920, he joined theNational Liberal Party (PNL), and was again the Minister of State for Bukovina in theSixth Ion I. C. Brătianu cabinet (1922–1926), Minister of Public Works in theVintilă I. C. Brătianu cabinet (1927–1928), Minister of State and then Labour in theFirst Tătărăscu cabinet (1934), and Minister of Labour in theSecond Tătărăscu cabinet (1934–1935). In 1938, he broke with the PNL and sided with theNational Renaissance Front regime established by KingCarol II, and was Minister of Religious Affairs and the Arts in theFifth Tătărăscu cabinet (November 24, 1939 – May 10, 1940).[12]
Starting October 1940, under theNational Legionary State, Nistor taught at theUniversity of Bucharest, becoming the target ofIron Guard persecutions for the support he had given to King Carol. Following the Guard's defeat during theLegionnaires' Rebellion of 1941, he sent a congratulatory telegram toConducătorIon Antonescu.[14] He was pensioned in the same year, and, starting 1943, he was in charge of the Library of the Romanian Academy.[15] Nistor kept the latter office until after the establishment of theCommunist regime, whenthe purge ofanti-communists in the Academy began (1948).[15]
His house wasnationalized, and Nistor had to live in the attic of his daughter's house, which was also nationalized. On the night of May 5/6, 1950, Nistor was arrested for political reasons by theSecuritate, and was incarcerated in the notoriousSighet Prison. For several months, he shared a cell withGheorghe Cipăianu,Dumitru Caracostea, generalIoan Mihail Racoviță,Radu Portocală [ro],Mihail Priboianu,Sebastian Bornemisa [ro],Dimitrie Burileanu [ro], generalIoan Popovici,Gheorghe Tașcă, andIon Pelivan.[16] Originally sentenced to 24 months in prison, his sentence was subsequently raised to 60 months.[17]
He was freed five years and two months later. After that, he continued writing, completing his works,History of Bukovina andThe History of Romanians.[18] Nistor died in Bucharest in November 1962. Some 300 people, mostly Bukovinians and ex-members of the Liberal Party, came to pay respects at his funeral; the religious ceremony was officiated byNifon Criveanu [ro], previously themetropolitan bishop of Oltenia.[19]
There are streets inBucharest (Sector 3),Chișinău,Iași,Rădăuți, andSuceava that are named after Nistor. In his native town,Vicovu de Sus, there is a technological high school named after him, as well as abust of him, which was unveiled in 2002.[20]
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