Teodor Bălan

Teodor Bălan around 1910

Teodor Grigore Bălan , actually Theodorus Gregorius Balan (born July 26, 1885 in Gura Humorului , Bukowina ; † November 25, 1972 ibid) was a Romanian historian , professor at the University of Chernivtsi and director of the Chernivtsi State Archivesas well as author , genealogist and translator . His main work in six volumes is the collection of documents from Bukovina between the 15th and 19th centuries.

biography

Gura Humorului around 1900

Teodor Bălan around 1925

The son of Gregor, who came from Transylvania , and Maria Bălan attended elementary school and then high school in Chernivtsi. After graduating from high school in 1904, he studied at the Philological Faculty in Chernivtsi with a focus on history and geography until he graduated in 1908. During this time he also took four semesters at the University of Vienna (1906–1907) to deepen his knowledge.

In 1919 Teodor wrote a textbook for the upper level of secondary schools on the history of the Romanians in German. In 1922 and 1923 he stayed in Vienna, where he wanted to do his doctorate with his doctoral thesis “The Romanian Uprising in Transylvania in the years 1848–1849”, but had to do without due to a financial emergency. He finally succeeded in 1927 at the University of Chernivtsi with the topic "Suprimarea mişcărilor naționale din Bucovina în timpul războiului mondial 1914-1918" ("The suppression of the national movement in Bukovina during the First World War 1914-1918"). After his habilitation , he worked as a history teacher at the high schools of Chernivtsi, Câmpulung Moldovenesc and Suceava .

The historian then taught from 1932 to 1940 at the University of Chernivtsi as a lecturer in Romanian history. Passionate about studying documents from the archives, he was also a member (1924–1932) and then director (1933–1941) of the Commission of the State Archives in Chernivtsi. In this function he took an active part in the organization of the Bukovinian archive in Chernivtsi: he rearranged and cataloged documents, and he also took measures to save official documents, including those of the Bukovinian Committee, the Bukovinian school authorities, churches and monasteries , in an effort to demonstrate the Romanian character and continuity of Romanianism in the Bukovinian region. He translated and published documents of great importance that contributed to the advancement of Romanian historiography .

During the difficult times of the Second World War , Theophila von Wassilko supported Bălan and maintained a lively correspondence with him. Among other things, she helped him in the search for the revolutionary events of 1848 and sent him important documents and records. The professor reciprocated by forwarding the annual registers of the Provincial Committee of the Duchy of Bukovina for the Ministry of the Interior from 1913 to 1918, which were missing in Vienna. After the reconquest of northern Bukovina by the Romanian army , he held the post of director of the University Library of Chernivtsi from 1941 to 1945. By 1947 he had published 126 papers.

After the Second World War, the scholar retired to Gura Humorului, where he continued to collect documents, but the communist authorities banned his name from appearing in any publication. Nevertheless, between 1957 and 1972 he succeeded in publishing eleven articles and the study "Din istoria Cîmpulungului Moldovenesc " ("From the story of Cîmpulung Moldovenesc"). Numerous works remained in manuscript form and were published from 1990, including volumes 7 to 9 of the "Documente bucovinene".

The high school No. 3 in Gura Humorului as well as a street in the village and another in Suceava now bear his name.

Works (selection)

Documents bucovinene I, cover sheet

• History of the Romanians - textbook for the top class of secondary schools (German), Școala Română publishing house, Chernivtsi 1919
• Familia Onciul - studiu şi documente - Institutul de arte grafice şi editură "Glasul Bucovinei", Chernivtsi 1927, 233 pp.
• Noui documente câmpulungene, Tipografia Mitropolitul Silvestru, Chernivtsi, 1929
• Bucovina in răzbioul mondial, Institutul de arte grafice şi editură "Glasul Bucovinei", Chernivtsi 1929, 134 pp.
• Documents bucovinene, Volume 1, Institutul de arte grafice şi editură "Glasul Bucovinei", Chernivtsi 1933, 298 pp.
• Documents bucovinene, Volume 2, Institutul de arte grafice şi editură "Glasul Bucovinei", Chernivtsi 1934, 217 pp.
• Documents bucovinene, Volume 3, Institutul de arte grafice şi editură "Glasul Bucovinei", Chernivtsi 1937, 257 pp.
• Dimitrie Onciul, Tiparul itropolitul Silvestru, Chernivtsi 1938
• Documents bucovinene, Volume 4, Institutul de arte grafice şi editură "Glasul Bucovinei", Chernivtsi 1938, 299 pp.
• Documents bucovinene, Volume 5, Institutul de arte grafice şi editură "Glasul Bucovinei", Chernivtsi 1939, 264 pp.
• Documente bucovinene, Vol. 6, Editura casei şcoalelor şi a culturii poporului, Bucureşti 1942, 488 pp.
• Din Istoricul Cîmpurungului moldovenesc, Editura st̨iintįfică și Enciclopedică, Bucharest 1960, 344 pp.
• Istoria teatrului românesc în Bucovina istorică, Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest 2005, edited by Dumitru Vatamaniuc
• Documents bucovinene. Volumes 7–9, Editura Taida, Iași, 2005–2006, Ed. Prof. Dr. Ioan Caproșu
• The history of German theater in Bukowina 1825–1877, Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest 2007, Ed. Dumitru Vatamaniuc
• Conflictul pentru Tricolor - Un capitol din istoria politică a Bucovinei, 1898–1904, Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest 2007, editor and editor Marian Olaru

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ministerul Administraţiei şi Internelor, Serviciul Judeţean Suceava al Arhivelor national "inventory - Fond personal Teodor Bălan (1902-1972)", Suceava, 1985, Package 1, Inventory no. 1-2
2. ↑ Ileana-Maria Ratcu: Teodor Bălan istoric şi arhivist al Bucovinei. PhD thesis. Faculty of History, Philosophy and Geography at Craiova University in 2004.
3. ↑ ^{a b} crainou.ro
4. ↑ motivepentrucondei.wordpress.com
5. ↑ Ministerul Administraţiei şi Internelor, Serviciul Judeţean Suceava al Arhivelor national "inventory - Fond personal Teodor Bălan (1902-1972)", Suceava 1985 packet 4 Inventory no. 87-89
6. ↑ astra.iasi.roedu.net
7. ↑ teodorbalangh.ro
8. ↑ date-generale

literature

• Harieta Mareci: Teodor Bălan: (1885–1972) - viaţa şi opera. Editura Junimea, Iaşi 2003.
• Ileana Maria Ratcu: Teodor Bălan - istoric şi arhivist al Bucovinei. Editura Cetatea de Scaun, Târgovişte 2013, ISBN 978-606-537-155-2 .

Web links

Festival at Teodor Bălan grammar school