De la refugiul în Moldova la pribegia peste graniţă. Refugiul românesc în Rusia (1916-1918)
From the refuge in Moldova to wandering abroad. The issue of the Romanian refugees in Russia (1916-1918)

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the massive displacement and refugeedom triggered by the disastrous outcome of the military operations of the 1916 Romanian war campaign. The military defeat itself and implicitly the loss of Romanian territory to enemy forces, associated with fear, provided the initial basis for the displacement of authorities and civilians. The refugeedom exhibited sharp discrepancies among the refugees, both in terms of ways of evacuation (as the politicians, high ranking officials and influential individuals evacuated themselves by using special trains and private cars, while the boy-scouts, the peasants and other ordinary people travelled on horse-driven carriages or even on foot), as well as in terms of future residence and daily life of the refugees in Moldavia. The exile in Moldavia generated overpopulation, lack of food and financial resources, and the overall situation was aggravated by the extreme weather conditions and last, but not least, by the widespread typhus, which generated a huge loss of human lives. Due to the tremendous size and intensity of refugeedom, there was a massive impact (particularly from the demographic perspective) of the large number of refugees on the social and economic life in the host communities. Despite significant efforts made by the Romanian administration, the scale of Romanian (state) involvement in the matter of sheltering and supporting the refugees was limited by the financial and logistical constraints faced by Romania at that time. Also, in connection to the prospects of the war confrontations, the refugees (high ranking officials and ordinary people) had to face the prospects of another refuge, into various external destinations, but particularly in Russia (Odessa and Kherson).

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