Alexis Nour

Alexis Nour (Romanian pronunciation: [aleksis no.ur];

born Alexei Vasile Nour,[1] also known as Alexe Nour,
Alexie Nour, As. Nr.;[2] Russian: , Aleksey Nour; 18771940) was a Bessarabian-born Romanian
journalist, activist and essayist, known for his advocacy
of Romanian-Bessarabian union and his critique of the
Russian Empire, but also for controversial political dealings. Oscillating between socialism and Russian nationalism, he was noted as founder of Viaa Basarabiei
gazette. Eventually aliated with Romanias left-wing
form of cultural nationalism, or Poporanism, Nour was a
long-term correspondent of the Poporanist review Viaa
Romneasc. Publicizing his conict with the Russian
authorities, he settled in the Kingdom of Romania, where
he openly rallied with the Viaa Romneasc group.

in its ranks by the Okhrana.[3]

Still active as an independent socialist in Greater Romania, Alexis Nour won additional fame as an advocate of
human rights, land reform, womens surage and Jewish
emancipation. During the nal decade of his life, Nour
also debuted as a novelist, but did not register signicant
success. His late contributions as a Thracologist were received with skepticism by the academic community.

portedly, for having pocketed some of the partys funds)

and began frequenting the political clubs of Romanian
nationalists.[3]

From 1903, Nour was editor of Besarabskaya Zhizn ',

Bessarabias rst democratic paper.[5] Nour was still
in Bessarabia during the Russian Revolution of 1905,
but was mysteriously absent from the follow-up protests
by local Romanians (or, in contemporary references,
"Moldavians"). According to Onisifor Ghibu (himself an analyst of Bessarabian life), Nour missed out
on the chance of establishing a RomanianMoldavian
Bessarabian "irredentist movement, leading a mysterious existence, and not giving even the faintest clue that
he was alive, until 1918.[6] In fact, Nour had joined a
local section of the Constitutional Democratic (Kadet)
Party, the leading force in Russian liberalism. As one
historian assesses, this was a mavericks choice: A.
During World War I, Nour agitated against any mili- Nour [...] did not consider himself either a socialist or
tary alliance between Romania and Russia. He stood a nationalist.[5]
out among Germanophiles and local supporters of the During the post-revolutionary age of reforms and concesCentral Powers, agitating in favor of a military oen- sions, when Besarabskaya Zhizn ' became a Kadet pasive into Bessarabia, and demanding the annexation of per, Nour himself was a member of the Kadet bureau
Transnistria. This combative stance was later overshad- in Bessarabia, and the private assistant of regional party
owed by revelations that Nour was spying for Russias inboss Leopold Sitsinski.[2] However, Nour was soon after
telligence service, the Okhrana.
expelled from the Constitutional Democratic group (re-

1
1.1

In 1906, Nour was aliated with Basarabia, a

Romanian-language newspaper for the regions politically minded ethnic Romanians in the region, soon after closed down by Imperial Russian censorship.[7][8] The
short-lived periodical, nanced by sympathizers from
the Kingdom of Romania (including politician Eugeniu
Carada), was pushing the envelope on the issue of Romanian emancipation and trans-border brotherhood, beyond
what the 1905 regime intended to allow.[9]

Biography
Early activities

In his rst-ever article for the review, Alexis Nour suggested that the regional movement for national emancipation still lacked a group of intellectual leaders, or
elected sons, capable of forming a single Romanian faction in the State Duma.[10] Despite such setbacks and the
continued spread of illiteracy, Nour contended, Bessarabias Romanians were more attached to the national ideal,
and more politically motivated, than their brethren in
Romania-proper.[10] Other Basarabia articles by Nour
were vehement rebuttals addressed to Pavel Krushevan,
the (supposedly ethnic Romanian) exponent of extreme
Russian nationalism.[11]

The future journalist, born in Russian-held Bessarabia

(the Bessarabia Governorate), was a member of the
ethnic Romanian cultural elite, and, reportedly, a graduate of the Bessarabian Orthodox Church Chiinu Theological Seminary.[3][4] According to other sources, he
spent his early years in Kiev and graduated from the Pavlo
Galagan College.[2] Nour furthered his studies in other regions of the Russian Empire, where he became a familiar
gure to those who opposed Tsarist autocracy, and exchanged ideas with radical young men of various ethnic
backgrounds.[4] He is known to have studied Philology at
Kiev University, where he aliated with the underground
Socialist-Revolutionary (Eser) Party, probably inltrated
1

1.2

1 BIOGRAPHY

Viaa Basarabiei and 1907 election

Union of the Russian People (SRN), and by an aristocratic Romanian with centrist views, Dimitrie Krupen[21]
The following year, in April, Nour himself launched, ski.
sponsored and edited the political weekly Viaa Basara- By then, Nour had also become regional correspondent
biei, distinguished for having discarded the antiquated for Viaa Romneasc, a magazine published in the KingRomanian Cyrillic in favor of a Latin alphabet, wishing to dom of Romania by a left-wing group of writers and acmake itself accessible to readers in the Kingdom of Ro- tivists, the Poporanists. From 1907 to 1914, his column
mania; an abridged, peoples version of the gazette was Scrisori din Basarabia (Letters from Bessarabia) was
also made available as a supplement, for a purely Bessara- the prime source of Bessarabian news for newspapers on
bian readership.[12] According to his friend and colleague, the other side of the Russian border.[2] It mainly informed
Petru Cazacu, Nour had to order the Latin typeface in Romanians on the state of mind and political climate of
Bucharest, and used coded language to keep the Russian Bessarabia following the Russian elections.[19] Initially,
authorities a step behind him.[13]
they describe 1907 Bessarabia with noted regret, as the
As later attested by Bessarabian Romanian activist Pan place where nothing happens, in contrast with a more
Revolt
Halippa (founder, in 1932, of the similarly titled mag- politically oriented Romania, where the Peasants
[22]
had
seemingly
radicalized
public
opinion.
They
report
azine), his predecessor Nour had tried to emulate the
with
consternation
that
the
ocial
Moldavian
Studies
SoBasarabia program of popular education in Romanian,
[8]
ciety,
had
been
inactive
for
an
entire
year,
and
concluded
with the ultimate goal of ethnic emancipation. In his
capacity as editor in chief, he employed poet Alexei Ma- that its creation was government farce; however, he also
teevici, and republished fragments from classical works admitted that the bloody events of 1907[23]Romania were
of Romanian literature.[14] Nour joined Gheorghe V. unpalatable for the average Bessarabian.
Madan, publisher of Moldovanul newspaper, in inaugurating the Chiinu-based Orthodox Church printing
press, which began publishing a Bessarabian Psalter during spring 1907.[15]
Nours Viaa Basarabiei represented the legalist side of
the Bessarabian emancipation movement, to the irritation of more radical Romanian nationalists. Cazacu
recalls: Although moderate, the atmosphere was so
stued, the hardships so great, the attacks of the right
and the left so relentless, that in a short while [this magazine] also succumbed, not without having had its useful eect in the awakening of national sentiment, even
among the Moldavians in various parts of Russia, in
the Caucasus, and in Siberia.[13] A nationalist historian, Nicolae Iorga, accused Nour of promoting class
fraternity between the Russians and the Romanians in
Bessarabia, citing Nours explicit rejection of the Russian
Revolution.[16] Nour enlisted other negative comments
from Iorga when he began writing Bessarabian notices
in the Romanian daily Adevrul, which had Jewish proprietors. Iorga, an antisemite, commented: Mr. Alexe
Nour of Chiinu assures us now that his new gazette [...]
will not be a philosemitic one.[17] According to Iorga,
Nour was given reason to feel sorry about the Adevrul
collaboration.[18]
Also described as one of the journals whose mission
was to popularize the Constitutional Democratic program
inside the Bessarabia Governorate,[19] Viaa Basarabiei
only survived until May 25, 1907, publishing six issues
in all.[20] Reportedly, its demise happened on Russian orders, after Nours editorial line had found itself in conict
with the censorship apparatus.[8] According to Cazacu,
the Second Duma election was disastrous for the Moldavian intellectuals, who had no journal of their own
and were in a state of despair. The vote in Bessarabia
was carried by Krushevanspro-Tsarist and far-right

Nour also questioned the national sentiment of Bessarabias landowning elite, which had largely been integrated
into Russian nobility and served Imperial interests.[22][24]
The regions educated classes were Russian-educated, often Russian-oriented, and had therefore lost cheia de
la lact, care nchide suetul ranului (the key that
will unlock the peasants soul).[25] However, in December 1908, he reported with enthusiasm that the
Bessarabian Orthodox clergy upheld the use of Romanian ("Moldavian") in its religious schools and press. The
measure, Nour noted, gave formal status to the vernacular, in line with his own Viaa Basarabiei agenda.[26]
Nours letters from Bessarabia irritated the Russifying
hierarchs of the Orthodox Church. Seraphim Chichagov,
the Archbishop of Chiinu, included him among the
Churchs worst enemies, but noted that his Romanian nationalism had managed to contaminate only 20
Bessarabian priests.[27]

1.3 Madan scandal and Drug controversy

Nours other Viaa Romneasc articles unmasked a former colleague, Madan, ocially appointed censor of Romanian literature within the Russian Empire, and unocially a Russian spy in both Bessarabia and Romania.[28]
In his reply to Nour, published by the Bucharest political
gazette Epoca (September 1909), Madan claimed that his
accuser was at once a socialist, an internationalist and a
follower of Constantin Stere's Bessarabian separatism.[29]
Later research into Special Corps of Gendarmes archives
identied Madan as the informant who provided the Imperial authorities with rst-hand reports on the perception
of Bessarabian issues in Romania, including on Nours
own 1908 article on the Orthodox priests support for
the vernacular.[26] However, the Romanian elite also took
distance from Nour, even before 1910. As argued by ac-

1.4

Germanophile press and Transnistrian ethnography

3
Probably helped along by his Okhrana contacts, he obtained a passport, and exiled himself from Russia.[34] After spending some time in the German Empire, he left
for Romania, and, with Constantin Steres help, enlisted
as a student at the University of Iai.[34] He was afterwards seen as a leading member of the Bessarabian expatriate community. According to fellow Bessarabian exile Axinte Frunz, theirs was a minuscule political lobby,
with only 6 to 10 active members, all of them saddened
by the small-mindedness of Romanian society.[35]
Nours new series in Viaa Romneasc documents the
early spread of Moldovenism. In summer 1914, he informed his readers that the Russian state ocials actively
persuaded the Bessarabian peasants not to declare themselves Romanian.[36] In this context, he reluctantly admitted, the only hope for a Romanian revival in Bessarabia was for the Romanians to side with the Krupenskifaction conservatives, which, although hostile to the
deem democratic sentiment of the masses, maintained
linguistic purism.[37]

Roman Doliwa-Dobrowolski, Nours accuser, photographed in

1908

1.4 Germanophile press and Transnistrian ethnography

tivist Ion Pelivan, the publicist was living far beyond his
means, raising concern that he was receiving payments
from the Russian authorities.[3]
Alexis Nour was, between June 1910 and August 1911,
the editor of his own press venue, the Russian-language
newspaper Bessarabets (which also published a literary
supplement).[2][30] The paper had a small circulation, and
was entirely nanced by the local magnate Vasile Stroiescu.[3] Nours own literary contributions included translations from Russian classics. One such rendition from
Leo Tolstoy, dating from 1906, was one of the few
Romanian-language books to see print in the Bessarabia Governorate before World War I.[31] Beyond the political notices, Viaa Romneasc published samples of
Nours literary eorts, including memoirs, sketch stories
and novellas.[2] He was probably a contributor to the Romanian literary review Noua Revist Romn, possibly
the pseudonymous author (initials A. N.) of a 1912 article condemning antisemitism at the Romanian Writers
Society.[32]
When the Bessarabets venture came to an end, Nour was
again employed by Besarabskaya Zhizn ', before switching to the gazette Drug, representing the controversial
Union of the Russian People.[33] Associating with his former adversary, Krushevan, Nour became the editorial
secretary, and even joined up with the SRN.[34] With
other members of the editorial board, he was soon after
involved in a regional press scandal. Nour himself was
suspected of having blackmailed centrist leader Krupenski and Roman Doliwa-Dobrowolski, the Marshal of Nobility in Orgeyev. When Doliwa-Dobrowolski sued Drug
and the other journalists were rounded up for questioning,
Nour ed to Kiev.[34]

Ethnographic map of Bessarabia made by Alexis Nour in 1916

Soon after the outbreak of World War I, Alexis Nour

was residing in neutral Romania, active within the Viaa
Romneasc circle from his new home in Iai.[38] Like
other members of this group (and primarily its founder
Stere), he campaigned in favor of rapprochement with
the Central Powers, recommending a war on Russia for
the recovery of Bessarabia.[39] Nour thought further than
his colleagues, speculating about an alliance of interests
between Romanians and Ruthenians (Ukrainians). His

1 BIOGRAPHY

essay Problema romno-rutean. O pagin din marea

restaurare a naiunilor (The Romanian-Ruthenian Issue.
A Page from the Great Restoration of Nations), published by Viaa Romneasc in its OctoberNovember
December 1914 issue, inaugurated a series of such
pieces, which talked about Ukraine's emancipation, the
Bessarabian union, and, unusually in this context, the
incorporation of Transnistria into Romania (with a new
frontier on the Southern Bug).[40]

having personally veried the accuracy of Nours map at

some point before 1920, and concluded: Although it is
not exempt from all criticism, it is generally as exact as
is permitted by the Russian documents on which it bases
itself. As is the case with [Btkys data on the Romanians
in] Hungary, one presumes that any error is to the disfavor
of Romanians.[47] Bessarabian historian Ion Constantin
sees the map as one of Nours meritorious contributions
to the cause of Romanian emancipation.[34]

The latter demand was without precedent in the history of

Romanian nationalism,[34] and Nour is even credited with
having coined the term Transnistria in modern parlance,
alongside the adjective transnistreni (Transnistrians).[2]
Elsewhere, Nour argued that there were over 1 million
transnistreni Romanians, a claim which endured as one
of the largest, directly above the 800,000 advanced by
Bessarabian historian tefan Ciobanu.[41] The only larger
such estimate came, twenty years after Nours, from
within the Transnistrian community of exiles: ethnographer Nichita Smochin claimed a gure of 1,200,000.[42]

Nour took his ideas outside the Poporanist clubs, and

became a contributor to the unocial Conservative
Party press. He became a regular contributor to Petre
P. Carp's newspaper pro-Bessarabian and anti-Russian
gazette Moldova, which stood by the belief that Germany is invincible.[48] Nour also expanded on his
wartime vision in the Germanophile daily Seara. In
1915, he stated the need for Romania to join the Central Powers eort of liberating Bessarabia, Ukraine and
Poland from Russia, prophesied that Austria-Hungary
would inevitably collapse, and depicted future Romania
as both a Black Sea and Danubian power.[49] With time,
the Bessarabian journalist claimed, the Straits Question would be solved, Romanian rule over Odessa and
Constana would create commercial prosperity, and Romania, a great power, would be entitled to a share of
the British, French or Belgian colonial empires.[49] Another of his Seara articles, published in April 1916, argued that German victory in the Battle of Verdun was
a matter of days or weeks, after which Europe would
be dominated by an industrious, healthy and conscious,
70 million-strong German people.[49] Reviewing Nours
project some 90 years later, historian Lucian Boia assessed: One nds in Nour the drama of the Bessarabian
who assesses all things, often in a purely imaginary pitch,
around his own ideal of national emancipation.[49]

Another one of Nours analytical texts, titled Din enigma

anilor 19141915 (Around the Enigma of 1914
1915), ventured to state that the German Empire and its
allies were poised to win the war, ridiculed the Entente's
Gallipoli Campaign, and suggested that a German-led
Mitteleuropean federation was in the making.[43] This
prognosis also oered a reply to the pro-Entente lobby,
who prioritized the annexation of Transylvania and other
Romanian-inhabited regions of Austria-Hungary over
any national project in Bessarabia. In Nours interpretation, the German project for Mitteleuropa amounted to
the dismemberment of Austria-Hungary, leaving Transylvania free to elect in favor of joining Romania.[44] The
notion, also supported by Stere, was hotly contested by
Onisifor Ghibu, a Transylvanian. According to Ghibu,
the Poporanists seemed to ignore the realities of AustroHungarian domination; their ideas about Bessarabian su- 1.5
periority were provocative, at the very least rude.[45]
Also in 1915, Nour designed and published in Bucharest
an ethnographic map of Bessarabia on a scale of
1:450,000. Building on a cartographic model rst used
by Zsigmond Btky in his "Lands of the Crown of Saint
Stephen" ethnographic map and later adapted to the
Balkans by Jovan Cviji, Nours map divided the regions depicted into communal entities, represented as pie
charts of the various nationalities.[46] The resulting majority (2 out of 3 million inhabitants) was Romanian,
with a note explaining that these were known locally as
"Moldovans"being Nours contribution to the debate
on Moldovan ethnicity.[34] Beyond Bessarabia, Nours
map states a claim about the Romanians of Transnistria,
including their presence in a locality named Nouroaia.[34]
The pie-chart procedure as a whole was criticized by
French geographer Emmanuel de Martonne, who viewed
it as inaccurate in rendering the comparative numerical
force of the individual populations.[46] Martonne stated

Wartime refuge and Umanitatea

Against the wishes of Viaa Romneasc Germanophiles,

Romania eventually entered the war as an Entente ally,
and, in 1917, was invaded by the Central Powers. During these events, Nour was in Iai, where the Romanian
government had retreated,[50][51] and whence he made his
rst contributions to the international press in Entente
and neutral countries.[2] He kept company with another
Bessarabian agent of the Okhrana, Ilie Ctru, wanted
by the Central Powers on charges of terrorism.[51]
In spring 1917, shortly after the February Revolution toppled the Tsarist regime, Nours Bessarabian career received full exposure. The committee for exploring the
Special Corps of Gendarmes archive made public his reports to the Okhrana, conrming his colleagues suspicions and exposing Nour to public shame.[34] Nevertheless, the October Revolution and its aftermath seemed to
credit Nours prophecies: although Romania was losing to
the Central Powers, the Moldavian Democratic Republic
proclaimed by Bessarabian activists looked set to unite

1.6

Feminism and Constructivism

5
was singular in the context of a quite pronounced Romanian antisemitism, and further emphasized by the
presence of Jewish Romanian intellectualsIsac Ludo,
Eugen Relgis, Avram Steuerman-Rodion etc.among
Umanitatea contributors.[50] Boia also notes that the entire Umanitatea program was another sample of Nours
great projects, quite nebulous and limitless.[50]

The Russian Bane, a Romanian perception of the Russian

forces in Moldavia

with the defeated country. This was noted at the time by

the newly appointed Germanophile Premier of Romania,
Alexandru Marghiloman, who credited Nour with having helped revise Romanian foreign policy: "[His] map
has since been laid out on all tables of the great European conferences, in all chancelleries, and is the soundest document for those who wish to untangle the matter of Bessarabias nationalities.[2] In April 1918, Nour
was again in Chiinu, celebrating the positive vote on
Bessarabias union. This was a risky gesture on his part:
present at Londra Restaurant, where Marghiloman was
being greeted by the unionist leaders, he was spotted by
his former friends, and only rescued from near-certain
lynching by the intervention of outgoing MDR Prime
Minister, his old colleague Petru Cazacu.[34]

Umanitatea was noted for covering, in Nours own editorials, the developments of Russian political life under
the Bolsheviks.[54] The subject of Bolshevik anarchy
preoccupied him enough to constitute a main topic for
his other magazine, the anticommunist Rsritul (The
East). Nours articles, published in Rsritul and in N.
D. Cocea's Chemarea, describe Bessarabia (the stateless MDR) as prey to Bolshevik fury, calling for Romania to immunize itself against the plague by simply
abandoning hopes to the region. He also revisited his
Transnistrian agenda, writing that the Romanian armies
needed to move quickly and seize the peoples East,
down to the Blue Bug.[52] Ghibu dismissed Nours new
agenda as enormities, arguing that they show Nours
bizarre mentality, not unlike that of his revolutionary
enemies.[55]
In one of his later essays, Nour attested that his only son,
whom the Russian Civil War had caught at Odessa, was a
victim of the Soviet Russian-organized shootings of Romanian hostages. According to Nours account, the young
man had died in a mass execution ordered by Commissar
Bla Kun, after being made to dig his own grave.[56] Despite such claims of loyalty, Nour is said to have been
the focus of ocial investigation during a clampdown on
wartime Germanophiles.[34]

1.6 Feminism and Constructivism

During the interwar period, when dierent political circumstances resulted in the creation of Greater Romania
(including both Bessarabia and Transylvania), Nour remained active on the literary and political scene, and was
for a while editor in chief of the mainstream literary magazine Convorbiri Literare.[34][56] He also wrote for the
newspapers Opinia and Avntul, discussing Russian affairs and Russias take on "socialist democracy",[57] and
was present on the rst issue of Moldova de la Nistru,
a Bessarabian magazine written for the people.[58]
At Iai, Umanitatea was relaunched in June 1920, but
had Relgis as editorial director and Nour as a mere
correspondent.[59]

Nour was back in Iai when Romania sued for peace

with Germany. Confusion reigned there, with Bolshevik
and other Russian troops still parading through the city
streets. According to Ghibu, he had an episodic career as private teacher of Russian, having as his clients
the neutralized Romanian soldiers and some concerned
civilians.[52] On June 24, Nour inaugurated in Iai a new
magazine, Umanitatea (The Human Race or The Humanity), which only published one more issue, on July
14, before closing down.[50]
He was still aliated with the Poporanist periodicals, inUmanitatea emphasized Nours leftist projects for social cluding Viaa Romneasc and nsemnri Literare, where
change, and, according to Lucian Boia, oered a reply to he mainly published translations from and introductions
Marghilomans promise to reform the 1866 constitutional to Russian literature.[2] By 1925, he was also a contriburegime.[53] The magazines agenda called for a three- tor to a left-wing literary newspaper based in Bucharest,
pronged reform: labor rights in the industrial sphere, the Adevrul Literar i Artistic.[2][60] In parallel, he worked
reestablishment of a landed peasantry, and Jewish eman- with C. Zarida Sylva on another Basarabia newspaper,
cipation.[50] The latter statement of support, Boia notes, which was dedicated to national propaganda in Ro-

2 NOTES

mania and abroad, and with Alfred Hefter-Hidalgo at epistolary novels and sentimental journals, but the worst
Lumea, the weekly bazaar.[61]
would have to be those by Mr. Alexis Nour.[69]
Alexis Nour centered his subsequent activities in the area
of human rights defense and pro-feminism. In May 1922,
he was one of the Romanian contributors to A. L. Zissu's
Jewish daily, Mntuirea.[62] At a time when Romania
lacked womens surage, he argued that there was an intrinsic link between the two causes: in a piece published
by the feminist tribune Aciunea Feminist, he explained
that his struggle was about gaining recognition for the
human rights of women.[63] According to political scientist Oana Blu, Nours attitude in this respect was comparable to that of another pro-feminist Romanian writer,
Alexandru Vlahu.[63]
For a while in 1925, Alexis Nour was a supporter of
Constructivism and a member of the small but active
avant-garde clubs. Writing for M. H. Maxy's Integral
magazine (Issue 4), he sought to dene the political purpose of Romanian Constructivism: progress is a gradual adaptation [to the] least reduced division of labor between men. Anything that will slow down that adaptation is immoral, and unjust, and stupid. [...] Herein is
the area of social philosophy that forms the foundation
of Constructivist integralism.[64]

1.7

Final years

In his nal years, Alexis Nour had a growing interest

in the Prehistory of Southeastern Europe and the protoRomanian polity of Dacia. The last two of Nours scholarly works were published posthumously, in 1941, with
a Romanian Orthodox Church publishing house, at a
time when Romania was ruled by the fascist National Legionary regime. One was specically dedicated to, and
named after, the little-known cult of Zalmoxis" (Cultul lui Zalmoxis). University of Turin academic Roberto
Merlo notes that it formed part of a Zamolxian fascination among Romanian men of letters, also found in
the research and essays of various others, from Mircea
Eliade, Lucian Blaga and Dan Botta to Henric Sanielevici and Theodor Sperania.[71] The other study focused
on Paleo-Balkan mythology, and in particular on the
supposed contributions of ancient Dacians and Getae to
Romanian folklore: Credine, rituri i superstiii geto-dace
(Gaeto-Dacian Beliefs, Rites and Superstitions). The
book was a co-recipient of the Vasile Prvan Award,
granted by the Romanian Academy.[72] The decision
was received with indignation by archeologist Constantin
Daicoviciu, who deemed Credine, rituri i superstiii getodace unworthy of attention, as an indiscriminate collection of quotes from authors good and bad, without any
sound knowledge of its subject.[72]

According to historiographer Gheorghe G. Bezviconi,

[1]
He is buried at the Ghencea cemeIn the nal part of his career, Nour still carried on with Nour died in 1940.
[1]
tery
in
Bucharest.
his coverage of Russian politics for Romanians. He published in Adevrul a portrait of liberal White migr
leader Pavel Milyukov.[65] In 1929, having already contributed to the Romanian Red Cross information bul- 2 Notes
letins, he became one of the original editors of Lumea
Medical, the health and popular science magazine.[66]
[1] Gheorghe G. Bezviconi, Necropola Capitalei, Nicolae
Nour also signed pieces in Hanul Samariteanului, a litIorga Institute of History, Bucharest, 1972, p.203
erary monthly launched, unsuccessfully, by writers Gala
Galaction and Paul Zarifopol.[67] He also turned to c- [2] (Romanian) Calendar Naional 2008. Alte aniversri,
National Library of Moldova, Chiinu, 2008, p.455
tion writing, completing the novella Masca lui Beethoven
("Beethoven's Mask), rst published by Convorbiri Lit- [3] Constantin, p.30
erare in February 1929.[68]
One of the last projects to involve Nour was a [4] (Romanian) Pan Halippa, Unirea Basarabiei cu Romnia (I), in Literatura i Arta, August 28, 2008, p.8
collaborative ction work, Staile dragostei. Romanul
celor patru (The Ghosts of Love. The Novel of the [5] Boldur, p.188
Four). His co-authors were genre novelists Alexandru
Bilciurescu and Srmanul Kloptock, alongside advice [6] Rotaru, p.261
columnist I. Glicsman, better known as Doctor Ygrec.
[7] Constantin, p.30; Dulschi, p.22-24; Kulikovski & celWith its speculative undertones, most of which were incikova, p.37; Lcust, passim; Rotaru, p.237
[69]
troduced in the text by Doctor Ygrec, Staile dragostei
is sometimes described as a parody of science ction con- [8] (Romanian) Ion pac, Pantelimon Halippa fondator
ventions, in line with similar works by Tudor Arghezi
i manager al ziarului i revistei Viaa Basarabiei", in
Literatura i Arta, November 13, 2008, p.3
or Felix Aderca (see Romanian science ction).[70] However, Nours contribution to the narrative only covers its
more conventional and less ambitious episodes, which de- [9] Lcust, p.55-56
pict the epistolary novel of a sailor, Remus Iunian, and a [10] Lcust, p.56
recluse beauty, Tamara Heraclideaccording to literary
critic Cornel Ungureanu: In the 1930s, everyone wrote [11] Dulschi, p.24

[12] Kulikovski & celcikova, p.225; Rotaru, p.38-39, 62,

523. See also Boldur, p.193; Cazacu, p.174
[13] Cazacu, p.174
[14] Rotaru, p.65
[15] (Romanian) Momente culturale, in Rvaul, Nr. 2122/1907, p.365 (digitized by the Babe-Bolyai University
Transsylvanica Online Library)

[41] (Romanian) N. A. Constantinescu, Nistrul, uviu romnesc, in Dacia, Nr. 3/1941, p.2 (digitized by the
Babe-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library);
P. Pavel, Mircea Popa, Noi documente privind viaa i
activitatea lui Iuliu Maniu. Romnii de peste hotare.
Repartizarea lor n diferite ri, in the December 1 University of Alba Iulia's Annales Universitatis Apulensis. Series Historica, Nr. 2-3/1998-1999, p.48

[17] Rotaru, p.62

[42] Pntea Clin, The Ethno-demographic Evolution of Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic [sic], in the
tefan cel Mare University of Suceava Codrul Cosminului,
Nr. 14 (2008), p.176-177

[18] Rotaru, p.39, 62

[43] Boia, p.258

[16] Rotaru, p.38-39

[19] (Romanian) Mihai Cernencu, Igor Boan, Evoluia pluripartidismului pe teritoriul Republicii Moldova, ADEPT,
Chiinu, 2009, p.66. ISBN 978-9975-61-529-7
[20] Grossu & Palade, p.225
[21] Cazacu, p.174-175
[22] (Romanian) Catherine Durandin, Moldova n trei dimensiuni, in Revista Sud-Est, Nr. 2/2007

[44] Boia, p.258-259

[45] Rotaru, p.257
[46] Martonne, p.84-86
[47] Martonne, p.89
[48] (Romanian) Ion Agrigoroaiei, Petre P. Carp i ziarul
Moldova", in Revista Romn (ASTRA), Nr. 3/2006
[49] Boia, p.259

[23] Rotaru, p.229, 255

[24] Rotaru, p.239

[50] Boia, p.260

[25] Cazacu, p.175

[51] (Romanian) Radu Petrescu, Enigma Ilie Ctru (II)", in

Contrafort, Nr. 7-8/2012

[26] Negru, p.75-76

[52] Rotaru, p.288

[27] Nicolae Popovschi, Istoria Bisericii din Basarabia n

veacul al XIX-lea subt rui, Tipograa Eparhial Cartea
Romneasc, Chiinu, 1931, p.472-473

[53] Boia, p.259-260

[28] Negru, p.73, 74

[54] Constantinescu-Iai et al., p.65, 93

[55] Rotaru, p.288, 291-292, 521

[29] Negru, p.74

[56] (Romanian) Lucian Dumbrav, Constatri amare, in

Evenimentul, January 21, 2003

[30] Kulikovski & celcikova, p.42

[57] Constantinescu-Iai et al., p.77, 79, 132

[31] Cazacu, p.175; Silvia Grossu, Gheorghe Palade, Presa

din Basarabia n contextul socio-cultural de la nceputurile
ei pn n 1957, in Kulikovski & celcikova, p.15

[58] Desa et al (1987), p.602-603

[32] (Romanian) Victor Durnea, Primii pai ai Societii Scriitorilor Romni (II). Problema 'actului de naionalitate' ",
in Transilvania, Nr. 12/2005, p.25, 29

[60] Desa et al. (2003), p.18; (Romanian) M. Sevastos,

Adevruri de altdat: Anul Literar 1925, in Adevrul
Literar i Artistic, May 24, 2011 (originally published January 3, 1926)

[33] Constantin, p.30-31

[59] Desa et al (1987), p.994

[61] Desa et al. (2003), p.80, 590

[34] Constantin, p.31
[62] Desa et al (1987), p.600-601
[35] Rotaru, p.229
[36] Rotaru, p.249
[37] Rotaru, p.255

[63] (Romanian) Oana Blu, Feminine/feministe. Din micarea feminist interbelic", in Observator Cultural, Nr.
233, August 2004

[38] Boia, p.258; Constantin, p.31

[64] George Radu Bogdan, Un modernist: M. H. Maxy, in

Revista Fundaiilor Regale, Nr. 4/1946, p.869

[39] Boia, p.99-101; Constantin, p.31

[65] Constantinescu-Iai et al., p.19

[40] Boia, p.100-101, 258. See also Constantin, p.31

[66] Desa et al. (2003), p.591, 787

[67] Desa et al. (2003), p.491

[68] (Romanian) S[evastian] V[oicu], Micarea cultural. Reviste, in Transilvania, Nr. 2/1929, p.158 (digitized by
the Babe-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
[69] (Romanian) Cornel Ungureanu, Mircea Eliade i semnele literaturii, in Luceafrul, Nr. 8/2010
[70] Gyrgy Gyr-Dek, Aa scriei voi, in Pro-Scris, Nr.
4/2008
[71] (Italian) Roberto Merlo, Dal mediterraneo alla Tracia:
spirito europeo e tradizione autoctona nella saggistica
di Dan Botta, in the Romanian Academy Philologica
Jassyensia, Nr. 2/2006, p.56-57
[72] (Romanian) Constantin Daicoviciu, "nsemnri. A. Nour,
Credine i superstiii geto-dace", in Transilvania, Nr. 78/1942, p.645-646 (digitized by the Babe-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)

References
Lucian Boia, Germanolii. Elita intelectual
romneasc n anii Primului Rzboi Mondial,
Humanitas, Bucharest, 2010. ISBN 978-973-502635-6
Alexandru V. Boldur, Contribuii la studiul istoriei
Romnilor: Istoria Basarabiei, 3: Sub dominaia
ruseasc (1812-1918): Politica, ideologia, administraia, Tiparul Moldovenesc, Chiinu, 1940
Petru Cazacu, Moldova dintre Prut i Nistru. 18121918, Viaa Romneasc, Iai, [n. y.]
Ion Constantin, Alexis Nour, agent al Ohranei, in
Magazin Istoric, September 2011, p. 30-31
Petre Constantinescu-Iai, Victor Cheresteiu, Ludovic Jordky, Lucrri i publicaii din Romnia
despre Marea Revoluie Socialist din Octombrie
(1917-1944), Editura Academiei, Bucharest, 1967.
OCLC 6271975
Ileana-Stanca Desa, Dulciu Morrescu, Ioana
Patriche, Adriana Raliade, Iliana Sulic, Publicaiile
periodice romneti (ziare, gazete, reviste). Vol. III:
Catalog alfabetic 1919-1924, Editura Academiei,
Bucharest, 1987
Ileana-Stanca Desa, Dulciu Morrescu, Ioana
Patriche, Cornelia Luminia Radu, Adriana Raliade,
Iliana Sulic, Publicaiile periodice romneti (ziare,
gazete, reviste). Vol. IV: Catalog alfabetic 19251930, Editura Academiei, Bucharest, 2003. ISBN
973-27-0980-4
(Romanian) Silvia Dulschi, Tentative de constituire
a organizaiilor i partidelor de orientare naional n
Basarabia la nc. sec. al XX-lea, in Administrare
Public, Nr. 2-3/2010, p. 19-26

REFERENCES

(French) Emmanuel de Martonne, Essai de carte

ethnographique des pays roumains, in Annales de
Gographie, Vol. XXIX, Nr. 158, March 15, 1920,
p. 84-98 (republished by Perse Scientic Journals)
(Romanian) Gheorghe Negru, Gheorghe Madan
agent al Imperiului Rus, in the University of
Bucharest Faculty of Journalisms Revista Romn
de Jurnalism i Comunicare, Nr.4/2008, p. 69-79
(Romanian) Lidia Kulikovski, Margarita celcikova
(eds.), Presa basarabean de la nceputuri pn n
anul 1957. Catalog, at the B. P. Hasdeu Municipal
Library of Chiinu; retrieved January 26, 2011
Ioan Lcust, "Basarabia, numrul netiut, in Magazin Istoric, April 2007, p. 55-58
Florin Rotaru, Basarabia romn. Antologie, Editura Semne, Bucharest, 1996. OCLC 38073519

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

4.1

Text

Alexis Nour Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Nour?oldid=666226503 Contributors: Bogdangiusca, Kaldari, AdiJapan, Chris

the speller, Dahn, Sadads, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Cydebot, Magioladitis, Johnpacklambert, Niceguyedc, Little Mountain 5, Yobot,
Dalderdj, EdoBot, Charles Essie, Lekoren and Anonymous: 2

4.2

Images

File:Alexis_Nour.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Alexis_Nour.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Centrul de Informare i Documentare Chiinu; originally published in Iurie Colesnic, Basarabia necunoscut II, Museum,
Chiinu, 1997 Original artist: unknown/uncredited
File:Basarabia,_Harta_etnografic_ntocmit_de_Alexis_Nour.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/
2b/Basarabia%2C_Harta_etnografic%C4%83_%C3%AEntocmit%C4%83_de_Alexis_Nour.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
AMAE, fond 71/1920-1944. URSS, vol. 130, f. 527 Original artist: Alexis Nour (18771940)
File:Pacostea_Ruseasc.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Pacostea_Ruseasc%C4%83.JPG License:
Public domain Contributors: Ion Rusu Abrudeanu, Pacostea Ruseasc. Note istorice, impresii, documente i scrisori, Editura Socec, Bucharest,
1920 (available through the Bucharest City Library DacoRomanica archive) Original artist: uncredited (in either the original or the library
entry)
File:Roman_Doliwa-Dobrowolski,_Lausanne,_1908.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Roman_
Doliwa-Dobrowolski%2C_Lausanne%2C_1908.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Bessarabia.ru: Neamul Doliwa-Dobrowolski
din Basarabia Original artist: unknown/uncredited

4.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0