This article was downloaded by: [Memorial University of Newfoundland]

On: 30 January 2015, At: 12:22

Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,
37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and

Ethnicity
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cnap20

Romanian views on Bessarabia and Bukovina: A

Ukrainian perspective
a
Theodore B. Ciuciura
a
Professor of Political Science , Saint Mary's University
Published online: 19 Oct 2007.

To cite this article: Theodore B. Ciuciura (1985) Romanian views on Bessarabia and Bukovina: A Ukrainian perspective,
Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, 13:1, 106-117, DOI: 10.1080/00905998508408013

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00905998508408013

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained
in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no
representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the
Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and
are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and
should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for
any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever
or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of
the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic
reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any
form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://
www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions
 ROMANIAN VIEWS ON BESSARABIA AND
BUKOVINA: A UKRAINIAN PERSPECTIVE

Theodore B. Ciuciura
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

Nicholas Dima, Bessarabia and Bukovina: The Soviet-Romanian

Territorial Dispute. Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1982.
v, 173 pp. Distributed by Columbia University Press. Maria Manoliu-
Manea, ed., The Tragic Plight of a Border Area: Bessarabia and
Bucovina. American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences. Hum-
boldt State University Press, 1983. xii, 280 pp.
Here are two good books providing detailed information on Bessa-
rabia, until 1918 a province of the Russian Empire, and, to a lesser
extent, on Bukovina, once a province within the Austrian part of
Austria-Hungary. They include useful theoretical though somewhat
debatable considerations on the history and ethnic nature of both
regions. They come to proper conclusions which seem amply justified
by the data and analysis which preceded them. However, both books
are inadequately edited, especially the second one, and include a
few statements either based on superficial generalizations or even
tinted with disturbing — though perhaps unconscious — ethno-
centrism.
In the first and second chapters of his monograph, Nicholas
Dima traces the Romanian search for national identity and unity
which led to the union of Wallachia and Moldavia into the modern
Romanian state. In 1812 the Russian Empire acquired the eastern
part of Moldavia which became known as Bessarabia (Basarabia in
Romanian). Bukovina ("Beech-Woods" in Ukrainian) is mentioned
in passing as "a bone of contention between Romania, Austria, then
Russia and now the Ukraine" (p. 12) and briefly as "a special case"
in the following chapter. The third chapter adequately describes
the troublesome relations between the USSR and Romania. The
Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Republic was artificially created in
1924 within the framework of the Ukrainian SSR, on the eastern
bank of the River Dniester, in the vain hope of attracting the
sympathy of the population in Bessarabia. After the seizure of Bes-
sarabia by the Soviet Union in 1940, the above-mentioned political-
administrative unit was considerably enlarged and ''promoted" to
the higher status of a constituent (Union) Republic of the USSR

Nationalities Papers XIII, no. 1 (Spring, 1985)

 Romanian Views 107

(and re-established in 1944). Since this time "the new Soviet-Ro-

manian boundary again cuts the former Principality of Moldavia
into two halves separating some 3.5 million Soviet Romanians (Mol-
davians) from the more than 4 million Moldavians living in Ro-
mania and the rest of the Romanian people" (pp. 37-38). Especially
interesting are remarks on the "Russians on the Danube" (pp. 38-
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

41).
The following chapters, "The Sovietization of Moldavia," "Con-
temporary socio-economic and ethno-demographic changes," "Geo-
linguistic trends," "Culture and identity" are very informative,
packed with insightful details and move swiftly with considerable
narrative power. The story of social and institutional Sovietization
is tied up with the official attempt to convince the Moldavians that
they are not Romanians. Russification is also practiced.
The response of the official Romanian circles was, at first, that
of passive acceptance; later it changed to a cautiously negative one.
In the beginning, however, the Party did not allow an open stand
with regard to Bessarabia and Bukovina, but it allowed the publica-
tion of certain works by Marx and Engels in which the Russian
possession of Romanian territory was challenged. In Marx's opinion,
"Turkey gave Bessarabia to Russia, but Turkey could not give
anything away since she was only the protecting power of the Ro-
manian countries." In another statement, published in the Romanian
translation of the works of Marx and Engels, the Russian acquisition
of Bessarabia in 1812 was branded as "a brutal and undisguised
conquest of foreign territories,... purely and simply a theft" (p. 48).
Actually the term "theft" is too mild; this dictum of Engels, a
Raub in German, should be translated as "robbery."1 On the question
of the national identity of "Russian" Bessarabians/Moldavians
Lenin himself stated that Russia's "oppressed nationalities inhabiting
the border regions have compatriots across the border, who enjoy
greater national independence (suffice to mention the Finns, the
Swedes, the Poles, the Ukrainians and the Romanians along the
western and southern frontiers of the [Russian] state)."2
"Most 'Moldavians' and unquestionably those who live in Soviet
Moldavia are Romanians in their hearts" (p. 131). Dima notes a
characteristic episode at the International Congress of Historians
held in Bucharest in 1980. "A West Berlin historian of Ukrainian
origin... [stated] that Bessarabia did not 're-enter' the Soviet
Union of its own will, but because Moscow had issued an ultimatum."

1 Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Werke, Band XXII (Berlin, 1963), p. 29

("Hier handelt es sich um die nackte, gewaltsame Eroberung fremder
Gebiete, um einfachen Raub")
2 V. I. Lenin, Collected Works. XX (Moscow, 1964), p. 408.
 108 Nationalities Papers

His assertion was "received with applause by most of the East

European historians" (p. 59). Dima concludes that "behind the
thin veil of the Cyrillic alphabet, the so-called Moldavian language
is just Romanian" (p. 100), and that "as far as language is con-
cerned there is no 'Moldavian' language; Soviet Romanians (Molda-
vians) essentially speak the same language as their kinsmen in Ro-
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

mania" (p. 114). In his opinion, the "Soviet attempts to foster a

new Moldavian nationality are in conflict with reality and to date
have been a failure" (p. 128).
Not neglecting the socioeconomic developments in Soviet Mol-
davia (agriculture and industry), Dima pays special attention to
ethno-demographic changes with erudition and competent research
(with a number of tables). He notes that, for example, "an average
Soviet Romanian family had 4 members in 1959 as compared with
3.6 for a Russian family and 3.5 for an Ukrainian family. As a
result, 34 percent of the Soviet Romanians were under 15 years of
age in 1970 as compared to only 28 for Russians and 26 percent
for Ukrainians" (p. 79). There is "a disproportional Russian presence
at all levels of social, political, economic and cultural activity. This
Russian or non-Romanian preponderance is particularly obvious in
Moldavian political life, industry and cities, while agriculture and
village life still seem to be dominated somehow by Romanians"
(p. 87).
Dima also investigates carefully the problem of linguistic as-
similation. He accepts the classification of Vernon Aspaturian who
distinguishes three stages of assimilation, Sovietization, Russianiza-
tion and Russification —• the latter being "a process whereby non-
Russians are transformed objectively and psychologically into Rus-
sians" (p. 92). His data indicate that in Moldavia "rural Romanians
do not seem to be affected yet by Russian assimilation, while urban
Romanians appear to be more open to assimilation and even subject
to Russianization. Russification, however, has taken very little root
up to now in Soviet Moldavia, even in the cities" (p. 107).
While convincingly exposing the Soviet hoax of the separate
Moldavian nationality, Dima also asserts that "the Ukraine as a
matter of fact is the true neighbor of Romania and between the
two peoples there should not be any conflicts... Bessarabia and
Bukovina should not stand in the way of good Romanian-Ukrainian
relations in the future... The paramount interest of the two peoples
requires a peaceful and long-lasting settlement of their boundary
disagreement" (p. 136).
Dima's monograph serves as a general introduction to the re-
gions of Bessarabia and Bukovina, formally divided between the
Moldavian and Ukrainian republics which seem to share many
 Romanian Views 109

similar and acute problems, one of them being the Russification

measures of the Soviet authorities.
The second book — a collection of twenty essays — is a detailed
analysis of historical, economical and political issues (Part I, chap-
ters 1-12) and of civilization, culture and art (Part II, chapters
13-19). A few interesting documents are added, followed by 45
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

pages of bibliography. Twenty papers rarely make a well-integrated

volume. This one is no exception, but all these essays are compe-
tently and conscientiously written and offer much useful and con-
vincing information.
The first essay, "An Overview of the History of Bessarabia"
by George F. Jewsbury presents an excellent historical profile of the
region from the "Roman dominance in the century and one-half
after 106" up to the present. He correctly states that "by the
fifteenth century the area between the Dniester and Pruth, had
passed through the hands of Kiev Rus', Galicia, the Mongols, and
Poland before it fell to the control of the Moldavians" (p. 2). In
his ably written essay, "The Principle of Self-Determination as
Applied to Bessarabia," Ion Stere mentions the three ancient core
areas of modern Romania, Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania,
and describes the Bessarabian struggle toward the union with Ro-
mania. He notes the fact that "the Ukraine encouraged the Roma-
nian national tendencies"; the foreign minister of the Ukrainian
People's Republic "spontaneously declared to General Coanda, the
Romanian emissary on special mission to Kiev, January 18, 1918,
that the Ukrainian Government, far from opposing the union of
Bessarabia with Romania, would contribute to that to the limit of
its possibilities" (pp. 28-29).
Equally well written are the essays, "Contribution to an Eco-
nomic History of Bassarabia" by Anghel N. Rugina; "The Impact
of 1878 on Romania" by Radu Florescu; and "Statistical Considera-
tions on the Policy of Russification in Bassarabia and Northern
Bucovina" by C. Corduneanu. However, he incorrectly asserts that
the annexation of Bukovina by Austria in 1774-75, admittedly "a
deal with the Ottomans," inaugurated "an era of frustration and
despair for the Romanians living there" (p. 86). On the contrary,
the change from the Ottoman rule to that of the Habsburgs seemed
to be welcomed by the Romanians there for a long time.
In the early period of Austrian rule (1775-1861) Bukovina was
unquestionably the most undeveloped of all Austrian provinces, both
culturally and economically and ruled by Austro-German bureau-
crats, with the increasingly visible support and participation of a
few Romanian great landowners. The situation improved consider-
ably when a constitutional system was introduced initially in Austria
in 1861 and strengthened (stabilized) in 1867 when a provincial
 110 Nationalities Papers

Landtag (Diet) was formed.3 The deputies to the Diet in six curias
or Wahlkorper (electoral bodies) represented all classes of the popu-
lation, but the controlling power of the Romanian great landowners
was assured. To the end of Austrian rule the Landeshauptmann,
the Head of the Diet, was always a Romanian nobleman. From 1861
onward, during the course of the next half century, Bukovina de-
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

veloped into a well functioning province with regard to its adminis-

trative framework, culture and economy.
In one of his speeches, the second provincial Landeshauptmann,
Eudozius Hormuzaki (a Romanian of Greek descent) discussed in
great detail "the relationship to the whole state," and "the degree
of autonomy of the land", and very positively evaluated its incorpora-
tion into the Austrian Empire:
Since Bukovina ceased to be a part of the vast oriental empire
[and] . . . entered the great Middle-European Empire... its
material and spiritual condition have changed considerably in
its favour; the Western civilization has spread over it benefi-
cially; freedom and equality, law and order, have profoundly
permeated all its relationships; the [principle of] equality was
extended not only to individuals but also to classes and estates,
nations and religions.4
Many similar speeches were later recorded in the minutes of the
Diet. Only later, already in the twentieth century, would many
Bukovinian Romanians be ready to abandon their Austrophile at-
titudes, just like their kinsmen in Transylvania who seemed unat-
tracted to the Kingdom of Romania. Corduneanu also makes the
wholly unsubstantiated and rather strange statement that "in com-
pliance with laws adopted by the Austrian Empire [!?], hundreds
of thousands of Ruthenians [Ukrainians] came to [small] Bucovina,
where they have been endowed with land" (p. 86).

3 See Theodore B. Ciuciura and Roman Nahrebecky, "The Diet of

Bukovina, 1861-1914: An Arena of Rumanian-Ukrainian Conflicts and
Co-operation," Symbolae in Memoriam Wasyl Oreleckyj, 1895-1976 (Mün-
chen: Ukrainische Freie Universität, 1982), pp. 15-31; "The Role of German
Language and German Community in the Multi-Lingual Austrian Kronland
of Bukovina (1775-1918," Jahrbuch der Ukrainekunde, 1982 (München:
Arbeits- und Forderungsgemeinschaft der Ukrainischen Wissenschaften e.V.,
1982), pp. 88-101; and "The Romanian Emancipation Movement and Its
Adversities in Bukovina, 1861-1918," unpublished paper presented to the
Central and East European Studies Association of Canada (Learned Societies
Conference), Vancouver, B.C., 4 June 1983, 26 pp.
4 Stenographische Protokolle des Bukowinaer Landtags ["Bukowinaer"
changed to "Bukowiner" — 1903], I. Diet (Wahlperiode), 2. Session;
12 January 1863, p. 4.
 Romanian Views 111
Full of insight are the essays "Bessarabia and the Policy of
Russia at the Mouths of the Danube, 1812-1980" by Ion Vardala;
"The Soviet-German Pact of 1939, and its Buildup and Conse-
quences" by Zeno Campeano; and "The Russian Ultimatum of 1940"
by Mircea Ionnitiu. Especially interesting is the essay, "The Roma-
nian Communists in Bessarabia" by Ion Manea-Manoliu in which
he relates the initial "firm anti-national policy" of the Party. These
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

attitudes changed somewhat later. Other contributions, such as

"A Tragedy of the Population of Bessarabia: The Deportations" by
Viorel Florescu; "Bessarabia at a Crossroad of Civilizations" by
Emile Vicas; and "Aspects of Cultural Ethnocide in Bassarabia and
Bucovina" by Martha Neag are very emotional in tone.
The essays in the second part of the book expose the Soviet
hoax of separate Moldavian national identity: "The Idiom of Bassa-
rabia: Its Latinity and Identity with the Romanian Language" by
Nicholas Timiras; "Moldavian, Romanian, and the Question of a
National Language" by Kenneth H. Rogers; "The Romanian Social
Institute of Bassarabia" by Sanda Golopentia-Bretescu; and "A
Brief History of Education in the Russo-Romanian Border Area"
by Marie Neag.
Of considerable interest are two essays, "Mathematics at the
University of Cernauti 1920-1940" by Irinel Dragan; and another
about the great Bessarabian scholar and creator of Romanian
philology, "Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu — A Structuralist 'Avant La
Lettre'" by Maria Manoliu-Manea. In passing, it should be noted
that she wrongly identifies another great linguist "in Russia," Jan
Niecislaw Baudouin de Courtenay. Although he created the so-called
"Kazan school", he was a Polish scholar who taught at the Univer-
sity of Cracow and, since 1918, in Warsaw.
It must be mentioned that the title of the collaborative volume,
like that of Dima's monograph, is somewhat misleading. Attention
is paid, almost exclusively, to Bessarabia, more precisely to the
Moldavian SSR. Bukovina is treated very cursorily; it receives just
a few pages of scattered remarks. The bibliography is rich on Bes-
sarabia/Moldavia, and very poor on Bukovina. It seems that the
only source about Ukrainian attitudes is the first volume of Ukraine:
A Concise Encyclopaedia (1963). The short essay "Bucovina, Ro-
mania and the Ukraine" by Nicholas Dima merely restates his
opinions as expressed in his monograph. He noticeably underscores
the need for Romanian-Ukrainian co-operation. "Romania does have
respect and understanding for Ukraine and her aspirations to full
independence. A mutual respect and confidence... can be built
however only if future Ukraine remembers that she has not only
rights, but limits and obligations as well.... For their mutual benefit,
Bucharest and Kiev would have to find a fast, peaceful and lasting
solution" (p. 23).
 112 Nationalities Papers

The last essay, "Instead of Conclusions: The Rights of Romania

to Bassarabia and Bucovina" by Miron Butariu is a competent,
concise but not original elaboration that could have been written
long ago. It does not consider that Romania too has "not only rights,
but limits and obligations as well" brought about by new times and
new forces. The essay states that "on November 28, 1918 at Cer-
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

nauti, the National Assembly of Bucovina declared its union with

Romania" (p. 216). However, he neglects to say that the representa-
tives of the Ukrainian community, formally elected deputies to both
the provincial Diet and Austrian Parliament, and those from the
Jewish group did not participate in this Assembly. The Ukrainian
(official term — Ruthenian) community had a relative majority in
the whole province (305,335 — 38.16%) and an absolute majority
in its northern region; the Jewish group was also strong (102,916 —
12.86% — 1910). This contributor does not take notice of the fact
that the last act of the Austrian Landesprasident (Governor) was
to sign Protocol No. 11,556 of November 6, 1918 by which he passed
the governing power to a representative Ukrainian-Romanian group:
Ukrainians — Elias Semaka and Nicholas Spynul, and a Romanian,
Dr. Aurel Onciul, the leader of Romanian National Democratic
Party. The union of Bukovina with the Kingdom of Romania was
declared by the above-mentioned Assembly after Romanian army
units entered the Bukovinian capital on 11 November 1918.5

5 Languages in Bukovina:
District Romanian Ukrainian
Kimpolung 59% 16%
Suczawa 63% 18%
Storozinetz 62% 21%
Dorna-Watra 58% 4%
Radautz 68% 5%
Gura-Homor 70% 0%
Solca 80% 5%
Sadagura 18% 62%
Sereth 31% 49%
Seletin 29% 56%
Czernowitz 30% 62%
Wiznitz 0% 75%
Stanesti 8% 78%
Uscie Putilla 0% 89%
Kotzman 0% 91%
Zastawna 0% 91%
Capital: Czernowitz 17% 23%
Dr. Aurel Ritter von Onciul, Zur Osterreichiscken Sprachenfrage (Wien:
 Romanian Views 113

Unfortunately, the German name of the capital, Czernowitz

(Ukrainian, Chernivtsi; Romanian, Cernauti; Russian, Chernovtsy)
is misspelled several times as Chernowitz (Dima's book, pp. 4, 12,
17, 96). More disturbing is his statement — characteristic of many
Romanians — that at the time of Stephen III the Great (1457-1504),
Hospodar (Prince) of Moldavia, "Moscow was a remote small Duchy,
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

and the Ukrainians were nowhere in sight" (p. 10). And where were
the Romanians in this period? Even after the downfall of Kievan
Bus' and the Galician-Volhynian realm, the Ruthenians were very
much "in sight," just as their close neighbors, the Moldavians and
Wallachians. As a matter of fact, the Ruthenians regarded Wal-
lachians and Moldavians as the same people. One of the oldest
churches in Lviv, Western Ukraine, the Assumption Church, was
built thanks to the generous financial support of the Moldavian
Hospodar O. Lapusnianu and his wife Roxana in 1591-1629. A belfry
was constructed even sooner and financed by Constantine Korniakt
(Corniacte), a "Moldavian excise-farmer" (of Greek descent) ac-
cording to the great Romanian historian N. Iorga. However, he 6in-
correctly calls the above-mentioned church a "Moldavian church"; it
has been always called the "Volos'ka tserkva" (Wallachian Church).

Die Zeit, 1898), pp. 55-56.

According to the Romanian professor, Ion I. Nistor, The Union of
Bucovina with Rumania. Bucuresti, 1940, pp. 20-22, "Under pressure of
force the governor Etzdorf found himself obliged to sign the protocol No.
11.556 of November 6, 1918, by which he passed the governing power on
to delegates [members of the Parliament] Onciul, Spanul and Semaca. It
was the last document signed by the Austrian governor of Bucovina. The
delegate Aurel Onciul pretended that he represented the Rumanian people
of Bucovina, whereas Ilie Semaca and Nicolae Spanul signed as representa-
tives of the Ukrainian people in the National Council or the Ukrainian Rada
of Lwow... Immediately after the transfer of full powers, the Rada of
Lwow made Omilian Popovicz "Ukrainian National commissary of Buco-
vina," which decided [sic] Aurel Onciul to call himself on his own "Na-
tional Rumanian commissary of Bucovina... [Later on] the National
[Romanian] Council of Cernauti decided to ask the Rumanian government
of Iassy to undertake a military intervention in Bucovina." See also ch. 6,
"Der rumänische Nationalkongress in Czernowitz, das rumänisch-ukrainische
Condominium und der Einmarsch rumänischer Truppen in die Bukowina,"
Erich Prokopowitsch, Das Ende der österreichischen Herrschaft in der Bu-
kowina (Munich: Oldenberg, 1959), pp. 48-65; "Appraisal of self-determina-
tion of Ukrainian Bukovina from the perspective of 50th anniversary" and
"Selfdetermination of Ukrainian Bukovina in the light of Soviet historiog-
raphy," I. M. Nowosiwsky, Bukovinian Ukrainians: A Historical Background
and Their Self-Determination in 1918 (New York, 1970), pp. 140-50.
6 N. Iorga, A History of Roumania: Land, People, Civilization [London,
1925] (New York, 1970), p. 128.
 114 Nationalities Papers

It is tempting to add that Ukraina appeared on the maps of Europe

three hundred years sooner than Romania (Guillaume le Vasseur
de Beauplan's Delineatio specialis et accurata Ukrainae, 1650-53).
For a long time Ukraine, especially the Kievan realm and Galicia
radiated to Romania their ecclesiastical and cultural influences. Ni-
colai Iorga testifies, if one goes beyond his confusing terminology
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

about Ukrainian ("the Russians of7 Kiev," "Russian Galicia," "Red

Russia," "the Cossack Ukraine"), that there existed old ties be-
tween Ukraine and Romania, that "the secretaries of the Moldavian
Voevodes came first" from Ukraine. The Ukrainian Cossacks "gave
Moldavia a8 valiant prince in the person of John Potcoava [Ivan
Pidkova]." Iorga also mentions the remarkable fact that "Dositheus,
Bishop of Roman, then Metropolitan of Moldavia,... being a de-
scendant of a family of merchants in Galicia, [who] knew Latin
and Greek as well as Slavonic [i.e. his native old-Ukrainian-Sla-
vonic] ; . . . at Ouniev [Univ; at present Mezhyhir'ia],... not in
Jassy itself, he published a large number of religious translations
in prose and the first work of Romanian poetry that ever went to
press, a versified Book of Psalms (1673)." Dositheus also "took the
initiative in introducing Roumanian into the liturgy itself, in reli-
gious services which had hitherto been held exclusively in Slavonic."9
Iorga emphasizes the fact that Peter Movila (Mohyla), a son of
the Wallachian Hospodar became one of the most noted Metropoli-
tans of Kiev and the central figure of the Ukrainian cultural revival
and scholarship. His achievements "had already borne fruit for his
compatriots, as they brought type from Russia [Ukraine, in fact]
and set up presses in each of the two principalities."10 According to
the new official history of Romania "Basile Lupu, avec Ferudit
moldave Pierre Movila devenu metropolite de Kiev, cree en 1640
une Academie qui porte son nom. Organisee selon le modele de celle
de Kiev, dans cette academie on enseignait avec les langues latine,
slave et grecque, la rhetorique, la philosophie et la poetique."11
It is then evident that educated people both in Romania and
Ukraine could have felt equally at home in both countries. The
official language, Old Church-Slavonic — was the same in both
lands (even in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), though at least in
Ukraine it was not "pure Slavonic" but a mixture with old-Ukrainian

7 Ibid., pp. 119, 129, 179. Also "The Cossacks of the Dnieper" (129),
"Russia" (170), "Western Russia" (171), etc.
8 Ibid., pp. 119, 129.
9 Ibid., pp. 171, 172.
10 Ibid., pp. 162, 170.
11 Miron Constantinescu, Constantin Daicovisiu, Stefan Pascu, Histoire
de la Roumanie (Editions Horvath, 1970), p. 199.
 Romanian Views 115

vernacular. According to a prominent Polish historian (and a student

of Polish-Romanian relations in the past) "the official Slavonic
language of Muntenia [i.e. Wallachia] was closer to the prototype
of the language of their Slavonic neighbours south of the Danube, 12
yet, in Moldavia there prevailed the Ruthenian [Ukrainian] tinge."
One of the titles of the princes of Wallachia and Moldavia was
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

Hospodar (not Gospodar, as in Serbian or Bulgarian; Polish — Gos-

podarz; there is no such word in Russian) which seems to indicate
some Ukrainian influence. (The Romanian historians generally prefer
the indigenous Down, Domnitor or simply Voda, Voevod).
Romanian-Ukrainian relations manifested themselves not only
in ecclesiastical and cultural matters but also in the field of politics.
The Romanians often assumed the role of defenders of 13the Orthodox
faith in the Ukrainian lands under Polish domination; on the other
hand, the Ukrainians made a14 common cause and alliances with
Romanians against the Turks.
In his essay in the second book Dima asserts that "most Ukrai-
nians try hard to link directly modern Ukraine with the old Kievan
State," but "no continuity can be established" (p. 20). Of course,
the Mongol invasion and subsequent events abolished the "state"
continuity, yet one remained in terms of ethnicity, religion and cul-
ture. The devastation that followed the downfall of the Kievan realm
was of great magnitude but of relatively short duration.
A prominent Polish historian (and for more than a decade the
President of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow), Stanislaw
Smolka ascertains the "common features" of the "ethnohistorical
individuality" known in Polish history as Rus' (Ruthenia) which

12 Aleksander Jablonowski (ed.), Sprawy wołoskie za Jagiellonów; Akty

i listy (Warsaw, 1878), p. III ("odcień ruski" — the Ruthenian tinge).
"Akta Litewskie" [Lithuanian Documents], pp. 55-154, 64 document letters
to and from Hospodars of Moldavia, inc. a letter (no. 25) to Crimean
Khan, Mengligirei, pp. 85/86, all clearly written more in old Ukrainian
than "Church-Slavonic."
13 In the book overlooked by the authors of the reviewed publications,
Ion Nistor, known to be somewhat chauvinistic on the question of autochthons
of Bukovina, describes these matters in some detail. Problema Ucraineana
in Lumina Istoriei (Cernauti, 1934), especially Ch. VII, Romanii ca prieteni
si protectori ai Ucraintilor (The Romanians as Friends and Protectors of
the Ukrainians), pp. 77-81; ch. X, "Bogdan Hmelnicki si Vasile Lupu,"
pp. 125-40; ch. XII, "Mazepa si pribegia sa in Moldova" (Mazepa in His
Exile in Moldavia), pp. 157-68.
14 "Les négociations de 1650 aboutissent à l'alliance entre l'Ukraine, la
Moldavie et la Valachie, base d'un bloc antiottoman auquel adhérer les
Grecs, les Serbes et les Bulgares." Historie de la Roumanie, p. 192.
 116 Nationalities Papers

had been "dormant through the centuries but never deadened [obu-
marla]." This Ruthenia "at the present attempts to find for herself
a new distinguishing name and wants it to be 'Ukraine'." He also
determines the "historical continuity" in the past of the old Ruthenia
of Iaroslav and Monomakh and the "Ruthenian Lands" of the Polish
Commonwealth.15
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

Romanians also have suffered from a lack of political continuity.

A British scholar, very sympathetic to the Romanian cause, writes
about "the mysterious silence which shrouds the Roumanians for
the thousand years..., a period in which there are neither chroni-
cles nor charters nor architectural remains, and which therefore
lacks the16 very basis for reconstructing even the barest outline of
history." Another writer states that "formed as a national entity,
under obscure circumstances, through the union of the ancient
Dacians and the Roman Legions of Emperor Trajan and his suc-
cessors, the Rumanians 'disappeared' from recorded history for
nearly one thousand years The exact whereabouts of the Ruma-
nian population during the period of "disappearance' are still un-
known, but it is presumed that a substantial part took refuge in
Transylvania and a smaller number in the Balkan Peninsula."17 Is it
not plausible that both Wallachians (Romanians) and Ruthenians
(Ukrainians) who have suffered, in different periods, from the en-
forced "disappearances," would tend, in safer times, to settle side
by side in both Bukovina and, to a lesser degree, in Bessarabia? And
there have been, for a long time, unifying bonds of religion and Old
Church-Slavonic as the official language of both church and state.
In both his monograph and his essay, N. Dima asserts that
"after the Union of the two Romanian principalities in 1859,...
Vienna began to treat the Bukovina Ukrainians with favoritism"
(Bessarabia and Bukovina, p. 33); "[Vienna] started to support
openly the national Ukrainian aspirations, providing them with more
schools, positions and favors" (The Tragic Plight, p. 20). However,
Austria was not a centralized unitary and autocratic state, and con-
sequently power in the province was shared by the imperial governor
and the executive officers of the provincial Diet in which the Ro-
manian great landed interests predominated. According to a Polish
writer, a native Bukovinian who was presumably an objective ob-
server and not involved in the growing Romanian-Ukrainian con-

15 Foreword to Aleksander Jablonowski, Historya Rusi poludniowej do

upadku Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Cracow, 1912), p. XIII.
16 R. W. Seton-Watson, A History of the Roumanians: From Roman
Times to the Completion of Unity [1934] (Archon Books, 1963), p. 192.
17 Stephen Fischer-Galati, Twentieth Century Rumania (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1970), p. 9.
 Romanian Views 117

frontation, "up to the 1890s the Romanians were treated with special
preference by the provincial and central governments and possessed
hegemony in the land."18 In fact, the Ukrainian deputies, all of
them peasants, had disappeared from the Diet; in the 1880s how-
ever, the Romanian peasant deputies were squeezed out too. During
this time the Ukrainian rural (peasant) electoral districts were
Downloaded by [Memorial University of Newfoundland] at 12:22 30 January 2015

represented either by the titled Romanian aristocrats or Austrian

Bezirkshauptleute (county prefects).
It really was a hegemony of the Romanian great landowners,
in alliance with the predominantly Romanian Orthodox clergy,
especially the higher clergy. The Romanian emancipation movement
developed quickly in the province, having on its side the ruling rural
elite, but it could not prevent the eventual rise of the national con-
sciousness of the Ukrainians. In fact, the Romanian movement, by
its militancy, might have even awakened the Ukrainian countryside
from its clearly existing but slumbering ethnicity. Soon the Ukrai-
nians re-appeared in the Diet where they quickly became an in-
creasingly important factor. From this "parliamentary tribune" they
first started to inform other ethnic groups and Austrian officialdom
about the aspirations of the Ukrainian populace.
In the "Historical Background," section of his book, Dima some-
what sadly asserts that in the 1920s existed "a new opportunity to
forget the past and begin a new period of friendship between Roma-
nians, Russians and Ukrainians. Unfortunately, the Russians turned
down the opportunity" (p. 18). This is only partly true. The Ro-
manians, of course, could not influence the behaviour of their
threatening Soviet neighbor. But they could have treated Ukrainians
better within the Romanian state. The political trends in the twen-
ties (the royal "coup d'etat" of March 1920), later on the realization
of the concept of "directed democracy" and its abandonment in 1938,
followed by authoritarianism and outright dictatorship, make the
statement below difficult to believe. "Romanian people and thus
the people of Bassarabia and Bucovina, enjoyed freedom and democ-
racy, which gave them prosperity, between the two World Wars"
(M. Butariu, The Tragic Plight, p. 216).

18 Emil Biedrzycki, Historia Polakow na Bukowinie [History of the Poles

in Bukovina] (Warsaw-Cracow, 1973), p. 26, n. 6. Contrary views are
expressed in a book overlooked by the reviewed publications, Octavian
Lupu, Bemerkungen zum Lage der Rumanen in der Bukowina während der
Habsburgischer Herrschaft (Roma: Fondation Europeenne Dragan, 1980),
although in more details but with a complete neglect of the provincial Diet
and the privileged position of the Romanian landed gentry; also with an
evident Romanian ethnocentrism. The Ruthenians are hardly mentioned;
the word "Ukrainians" is never used.