Biblioteca Universității din Cernăuți
Chernivtsi University Library

Summary/Abstract: The Union of Northern Bukovina with the Kingdom of Romania on 28 November 1918 paved the way for the institutional reorganization of the historic province. In the autumn of 1919, the University of Chernivtsi was officially established as an institution of the Romanian state through the Decree-Law No. 4091 of 12 September. Like Transylvania, Bukovina underwent a complex process of reorganization of its university institutions. Among the strongest advocates for the takeover and reorganization of the Chernivtsi University Library was the activist and historian Ion I. Nistor. The former Austrian University of Chernivtsi had transformed the old Provincial Library, founded by the Romanian elite of Bukovina, into a university library. The University Library was gradually enriched through donations and subsidies obtained either from the state or from private individuals.After 1919, the destiny of the Chernivtsi Library followed the same course as that of the Bukovinian University: it faced organizational, financial, and material difficulties, yet experienced significant growth in its collections of books and periodicals. From August 1919 until 1923, the Library was headed by Nicolae Cotlarciuc, while in 1923 Constantin Mandicevschi became its director. In October 1930, the leadership of the Library was entrusted to Eugen I. Păunel. Between 1919 and 1938, the Library’s holdings increased by 243,052 volumes and publications, representing a growth of 106% compared to the original collection established during Austrian rule between 1875 and 1918.On 28 July 1940, following the ultimatum issued by the Kremlin, the territory of Northern Bukovina was annexed. The new authorities abolished the Romanian character of the University of Chernivtsi. Part of its academic assets was transferred to the patrimony of the University of Iași. T. Bălan, the director of the Chernivtsi Library, succeeded in saving part of the Library’s collections by transferring them to Sibiu in 104 crates. However, the events soon took a dramatic turn. In the summer of 1945, he received a warning notice from the new authorities in Chernivtsi demanding the surrender of the library patrimony evacuated to Sibiu. Director T. Bălan decided to preserve the most valuable books from the Library’s collections, regarding this act as a responsibility toward the national culture. After nearly two decades of activity in the service of Romanian culture and scholarship, the University of Chernivtsi and its Library ceased to function as Romanian institutions.

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