Gheorghe Ghimpu (26 July 1937 – 13 November 2000) was a Moldovan politician and a political prisoner in the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and then in

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. ...

Early life

Ghimpu was born on 26 July 1937 in Colonița, a village in Bessarabia during the Greater Romania administration. His mother, Irina Ursu (daughter of Haralambie Ursu, died in 2003) worked at the local

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

(collective farm). His father, Toader Ghimpu (died in 1980) was an elementary school teacher. Gheorghe Ghimpu is the oldest brother of Simion Ghimpu (born 24 May 1939), Visarion, Valentina (mother of

Dorin Chirtoacă Dorin Chirtoacă (born 9 August 1978) is a Moldovan politician who served as Mayor of Chișinău from 2007 to 2018. He has been leader of Liberal Party (Moldova), Liberal Party (PL) since 2018. Biography His mother is Valentina, sister of Ghe ...

) and Mihai Ghimpu. Ghimpu completed his studies at T. G. Shevchenko University in Tiraspol. Then he obtained his PhD at the Institute of Biological Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union in

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 ...

. Ghimpu was a teacher in

Strășeni Strășeni () is a city and municipality of about 20,000 inhabitants in central Moldova, the administrative center of Strășeni District. The city administers one village, Făgureni. There are several legends about its name. One tells that t ...

and a professor at T. G. Shevchenko University in Tiraspol and the Moldova State University 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 ...

. He was married to Zina and had two children, Oana and Corneliu.

Political activity

Between 1969 and 1971, he was a founder of the clandestine National Patriotic Front of Bessarabia and North of Bukovina, established by several young intellectuals in Chişinău, totaling over 100 members, vowing to fight for the establishment of a Moldovan Democratic Republic, its secession from the

and union with

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. After the NPF leadership got in touch...In December 1971, following an informative note from Ion Stănescu, the President of the Council of State Security of the Romanian Socialist Republic, to

Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...

, the chief of the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

, Ghimpu as well as Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgăr, Valeriu Graur, and Alexandru Șoltoianu were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms. He was sentenced on 13 July 1972. Ghimpu spent six years in prison (1972–1978), as result of his political activities. Ghimpu took part in the Moldovan national movement and was a supporter of the independence of the Moldovan SSR from the Soviet Union. He was a founding member of the Popular Front of Moldova and a member of the Moldovan Parliament (1990–1994). He died in

on 13 November 2000 after an unclarified traffic accident, which had occurred near Dondușeni on 27 October 2000.New volume by the late Gheorghe Ghimpu will appear by yearend (azi.md)

Legacy

The Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova will study and analyze the 1940–1991 period of the communist regime.

Gallery

Image:Gheorghe Ghimpu arboreaza Tricolorul.jpg, At the

Parliament of Moldova The parliament of the Republic of Moldova () is the supreme representative body of the Republic of Moldova, the only state legislative authority, being a unicameral structure composed of 101 elected MPs on lists, for a period or legislature o ...

on 27 April 1990 Image:Gheorghe Ghimpu - Intrunire Frontul Popular.jpg, A Popular Front meeting (7 March 1991) File:Mormântul lui Gheorghe Ghimpu.jpg, Gheorghe Ghimpu's grave

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghimpu, Gheorghe 1937 births 2000 deaths People from Colonița Politicians from Chișinău National Patriotic Front (Moldova) politicians Popular Front of Moldova MPs Moldovan MPs 1990–1994 Moldovan physicists Moldovan people of Romanian descent Road incident deaths in Moldova Academic staff of Moldova State University Academic staff of Shevchenko Transnistria State University Shevchenko Transnistria State University alumni Moldovan independence activists