Alexandru Hâjdeu or Alexander Faddeevich Hizhdeu (; 30 November 1811 – 9 November 1872) was a

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

writer who lived in

Bessarabia Bessarabia () is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Bessarabia lies within modern-day Moldova, with the Budjak region covering the southern coa ...

, now

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. He was the father of Romanian writer and philologist

Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (; 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Life He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...

. Alexandru Hâjdeu was one of the founding members of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

Education

Alexandru Hâjdeu's father, Thaddeus, was a nobleman of Moldavian and Polish ancestry, while his mother, Valeria, was Jewish.https://web.archive.org/web/20090420193005/http://www.muzeulhasdeu.ro/index.php?meniu=11 He studied at the Theological Seminary in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

, then at the Law School of the University of

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

. In 1830, the first philosophical writings of Alexandru Hajduu - About the Divine Poetry Quality and About the Purpose of Philosophy - are published in the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

magazine ''"Vestnik Evropa"''. In 1836, he married Elisaveta Dauksz. In the same year he became an ephor of the schools in Hotin County. In 1838 his son

was born. On June 24, 1840, he held a famous speech in front of the graduates and pedagogical staff of the county school in Hotin - The souvenirs from the past, which is the present and shows the future of Moldova, translated immediately in Romanian by Constantin Stamati. In 1842, he was "forced” to resign from the ephor position of the schools in the Hotin County. Then, he was employed as a teacher of

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at the boys' school in

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; , ) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It serves as the administrative centre, administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast. It is the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. It also s ...

. In this period he wrote the study "The Problem of Our Time" which will be translated and published in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

only in 1938. In 1860, in "History and Literature Note" appears his work ''Notiţă'' ("Note") on the work of Kantemir Voievod. In 1866, he was elected as founder member of the Romanian Philological Society.

The Bessarabian School

Hâjdeu made an important contribution to the unification of the Romanian Principalities, especially, through his speeches held in 1837 and 1840. His speech held in 1837 and then, published in 1838 in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

and in 1839 in

, was the cornerstone of the unification of the Romanian Principalities on January 24, 1859. By the letter ''Epistle to the Romanians'' (Published on January 2, 1859), Hâjdeu defines the key element of "Romanian Messianism", also called the "Bessarabian School", by which he proves the intelligent implication (and often decisive, as in 1918) of the Basarabians in unification process of the Romanian nation.

Gallery

Image:Alexandru Hâjdeu 2.jpg Image:Alexandru Hâjdeu bust.jpg, Alley of Classics, Chişinău

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hajdeu, Alexandru 1811 births 1872 deaths Writers from Ternopil Oblast 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire of Romanian descent 19th-century Romanian male writers Founding members of the Romanian Academy National University of Kharkiv alumni Romanian people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent People from Kremenetsky Uyezd