Mihai Iliev, ASTRA: Regionala Basarabiei (partea I)
“ASTRA”. The Bessarabian Regional Committee (1924-1935)
The reintegration of Bessarabia in the Romanian political system generated the return of the intellectuals living outside the country’s borders, on the left bank of the Prut River to the national spiritual sources. Released from external constraints, the provincial Romanian thinkers, scientists, literates and artists were able to fully mani fest themselves on the national and European cultural arena. The cultural associations represented at the time an effective tool for disseminating the innovative ideas of the political and intellectual elite. They promoted and preserved national cultural values, spread modernizing ideas and democratic principles of social organization. This article discusses the evolution of the Bessarabian Regional Committee within the Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and the Culture of the Romanian People (“Astra”) in the interwar period. The paper presents the contribution of Transylvanian and Bessarabian intellectuals to the spiritual growth of the Romanians living in the area between the Prut and Nistru Rivers, the methods they applied and the challenges they faced in the process of attaining their set goals.
Keywords: ASTRA, cultural societies, associations, Bessarabia, interwar period
Special works
- Curchi, Lilia, Contribuţia lui Onisifor Ghibu la constituirea şi activitatea Astrei basarabene/ The Onisifor Ghibu contribution to the establishment and activity of Bessarabian Astra. În: Cugetul, 2002, nr. 2, p. 26-28
- Ghibu, Onisifor, Trei ani pe frontul basarabean/ Three years on Bessarabian front, ediţie îngrijită de Marian Radu, Bucureşti, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1996
- Ghibu, Octavian, Pledez pentru reînfiinţarea «Astrei basarabene»/ I plead for reestablishment of «Bessarabian Astra», interviu cu prof. Octavian Ghibu, consemnare N. Josu. În: Literatura şi Arta, 1994, nr. 40, p. 4
- Idem, Un aspect din greutăţile de început ale «Astrei». Pe marginea conflictului O. Ghibu – Şt. Ciobanu/ An aspect of „Astra’s” starting difficulties. About O. Ghibu ? St. Ciobanu conflict. În: Literatura şi Arta, 1997, nr. 22, p. 4 Mazilu, Ecaterina, Scurtu, Ioan, Învăţământul şi cultura din
- Basarabia în anii interbelici/ Education and culture in interwar Bessarabia. În: Istoria Basarabiei de la începuturi până în 1998/ History of Bessarabia from the beginnings to 1998, ediţia a II-a, coordonator Ioan Scurtu, Bucureşti, Editura Semne, 1998, p. 161-179
- Petrescu, Dragoş, Astra în Basarabia interbelică (III)/ Astra in interwar Bessarabia (III). În: Revista română, 1999, nr. 3, p. 10
- Press and Periodicals:
- Transilvania (1924-1926, 1934)
