The nationality of the Bessarabian refugees from Romania, an aspect of the fight for reserving national identity Cover Image

Le problème de la citoyenneté des réfugiés bessarabiens de Roumanie, aspect de la lutte pour la sauvegarde de l’identité nationale
The nationality of the Bessarabian refugees from Romania, an aspect of the fight for reserving national identity

Author(s): Mihaela TEODOR
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Muzeul de Istorie „Paul Păltănea” Galaţi
Keywords: nationality; national identity; right to option; refugees; forced repatriation

Summary/Abstract: Given the latest heated debates regarding the law for granting Romanian nationality to Bessarabians and Bukovinians, we have wondered whether nationality could be seen as an aspect of national identity. At the same time, we tried to discover whether there had been in history another such case of heated debates regarding the Romanian nationality of Bessarabians. It seems that immediately after August 23, 1944, there was a moment like this, when the fate of the refugees from Bessarabia and North Bukovina depended on the evolution of the discussions concerning article 5 of the Armistice Convention regarding the nationality of these refuges and, generally, of all the inhabitants from the territories surrendered in 1940. The present paper aims at clarifying the context in which this issue of the nationality of Bessarabian refugees appeared and evolved and the attitude of the Romanian society towards this issue, using as source the political press of that time and the memories of the people involved.

  • Issue Year: XXX/2012
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 251-274
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: French