Victor Motogna și remarcabilul său aport la cercetarea și cunoașterea epocii medievale a Banatului
Victor Motogna and His Remarkable Contribution to the Research and Knowledge of the Medieval Era of Banat

Summary/Abstract: Among the important Romanian scholars who share a special interest and passion for the research of the past of the Romanian province of Banat is the valuable Transylvanian teacher and historian Victor Motogna. He was born on 3 November 1885 in the village of Breaza, Bistriţa-Năsăud county. In June 1905, he graduated from the Frontier Guard’s High School of Năsăud. Between 1905 and 1909, he studied History and Latin at the Faculty of Letters in Cluj. In June 1923, he was awarded the Ph.D degree by the University of Cernăuţi. His rich historical research produced a series of writings published in „High school yearbook” (Dej), „Transylvania” (Cluj), „Archive Magazine” (Bucharest), „Historical magazine” (Bucharest), „Annals of the Romanian Academy” (Bucharest), „Historical research” (Iaşi), and in different books. He was a known medievalist. He collaborated with Emil Panaitescu, the archeologist from Cluj, and historian Nicolae Iorga, who published his studies in „Revista Istorică”. They had a conclusive correspondence, but Iorga’s letters were lost in the difficult circumstances of the refuge that followed the Vienna Dictate. Due to his dedication and competence, Cornel Grofşoreanu appointed him president of the History section of Institutul Social Banat-Crişana and a member of its editorial staff. He was also a member of the editorial staff who published the massive volume of historical studies, The Old Banat. Historical study at Timişoara, in 1944. Once the communist regime was established, the cultural life of the country was irreversibly harmed. In the first years of Bolshevism, many cultural institutions were abolished, among them Institutul Social Banat-Crişana (1946) and Regionala Astrei Bănăţene (1948). In 1948, the Greek Catholic cult was abolished, and a campaign of terror was launched against its priests and believers. Victor Motogna and his family were also Greek Catholics. Many of these sufferings are presented in the book The Communist Hell - Memories and confessions of Dr. Cornel Pop, brother of Victor Motogna’s wife, published by Signata Publishing House in Timisoara in 2003. In the summer of 1948, because of these political abuses, Victor Motogna became seriously ill. He died on 5 July the same year. In 1940, when Victor Motogna settled in Timişoara, he was a recognized medievalist, having published several valuable works on the history of the Romanians in the Middle Ages. As I showed above, in Timişoara he joined the research team of the Banat-Crişana Social Institute, led by Cornel Grofşorean, becoming the president of the History Department; he was also a member of the editorial board of the „Journal of the Banat-Crişana Social Institute”, member of the editorial board of the volume of historical studies published in Timişoara in 1944 and member of the editorial staff of the paper History of Banat. Against the background of this activity in Timisoara, he devoted himself with all his energy to researching the medieval history of Banat and to elaborating studies on this period, which he published between 1942 and 1944. Victor Motog-na’s works, published in volume I of the old Banat book. The historical study (Timişoara, 1944) is a history of the Middle Ages in Banat, presented chronologically until the end of the era of Iancu de Hunedoara. Victor Motogna’s contribution to the knowledge of the medieval past of Banat is a substantial one, out of the reach of a professional, accustomed to the craft of a historian and fully responsible for his statements.

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