Elena Alistar

Elena Alistar-Romanescu (1 June 1873 – 1955) was a Bessarabian physician and politician who was part of Sfatul Țării from Bessarabia.[1][2]

Elena Alistar-Romanescu
Member of the Moldovan Parliament
In office
1917–1918
Personal details
Born(1873-06-01)1 June 1873
Vaisal, Ismail County, Romania
Died1955(1955-00-00) (aged 81–82)
Pucioasa, Ploiești Region, Romanian People's Republic
Resting placeBellu Cemetery, Bucharest
Political partyMoldavian National Party
Spouse(s)Dumitru Alistar
Alma materMedical Faculty of the University of Iași
Occupationpolitician
Professionphysician

She was the aunt of writer Magda Isanos.[3]

Biography

Alistar was born on 1 June 1873 in Vaisal commune, at the time in Ismail County, Romania (now in Odessa Oblast, Ukraine). According to some historical sources, she was of Bessarabian origin. She was born in a family of priest Vasile Balan. Her mother was Elisabeta Balan.[4][5] She graduated from primary school of Congaz of Cahul County, and then, attended the Chișinău Eparchial School. There she met the young theologian Dumitru Alistar. They married. After a while, her husband became a priest and she followed him. Since 1890, she worked as a teacher in the such villages as Văleni, Roșu, Zîrnești, Cahul, Rezeni, and Chișinău.[4] After her husband's death, she was encouraged by the journalist Mihai Vântu to leave for Iași, Romania. In 1909–1916, she attended the Medical Faculty of the University of Iași.[6] She was arrested for "nationalistic activity" together with the members of Daniel Ciugureanu's group. The group has claimed the need for forced liberation of Bessarabia from the Russian influence.[7] In 1916, she was recruited by the army as a military doctor. She continued to practice medicine at Costiujeni Hospital near Chișinău.

She was the member of the Moldavian National Party and was elected as an MP from the Cetatea Albă County for the Sfatul Țării.[8][9] She was the single woman elected as MP known today who actively took part in the political events that led to Bessarabia's unification with Romania. On 27 March 1918, she voted for the Union of Bessarabia with Romania.

Sfatul Țării Palace, 10 December 1918; Alistar is seated in second row, fifth from the right

Alistar founded the Women's Cultural League of Bessarabia. She was the president of the People's Party, founded by Mareșal Alexandru Averescu, who was also originally from Babele, a commune near Izmail, Budjak which was at the time in the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia and is now in Ukraine. The newspaper "New Romania" was founded and headed by Onisifor Ghibu, in which have been published many articles signed by Elena Alistar.[10] In 1927, she established in Bessarabia the Romanian Women Group.[11] She became famous for her activity for the Romanian Women Orthodox Society which operates under the patronage of Mrs. Alexandrina Cantacuzino.[12] After the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina of 28 June 1940, she fled to Romania. After a short stay in Iași, she was arrested by the Communist regime[13] and sent to the town of Pucioasa, then in Ploiești Region and now in Dâmbovița County, where she died in 1955.[14] In the few years, she was reburied at the Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest.[15]

Works
  • Elena Alistar - Mișcarea feministă din Basarabia. Începuturi și realizări. Spre un viitor mai frumos. In: Mișcarea Feministă. 1. Nr. 1 (1933): 2.
  • Moldovan stamp, 1998

References
  1. Clark, Charles Upson: Bessarabia: Russia and Roumania on the Black Sea. Dodd, Mead & Company, 1927. p. 151.
  2. Liceul Alistar
  3. Ecaterina Țarălungă, Enciclopedia identității românești, Editura Litera, 2011, ISBN 978-606-600-246-2.
  4. Natașa Peteu: Unica femeie deputat din Sfatul Țării: Elena Alistar, un exemplu de conștiință politică
  5. Ion Gherman: Românii din jurul României. Editura Vremea 2003. p. 449.
  6. Andrei Brezianu; Vlad Spânu (26 May 2010). The A to Z of Moldova. Scarecrow Press. pp. 32–. ISBN 978-1-4616-7203-6.
  7. Mariana Hausleitner: Deutsche und Juden in Bessarabien, 1814–1941: zur Minderheitenpolitik Russlands und Grossrumäniens. IKGS Verlag, 2005. p. 54.
  8. Ioan Răducea, "Românii din Bugeac", Revista română, Anul X, nr. 2 (36), iunie 2004.
  9. Iurie Colesnic: Femei din Moldova: enciclopedie. Museum, 2000. p. 12
  10. Iurie Colesnic, Basarabia necunoscută. Articolul: Elena Alistar. Ed. Universitas, Chișinău, 1993, pp. 202-207
  11. Iurie Colesnic: Femei din Moldova: enciclopedie. Museum, 2000. p. 15
  12. Francisca de Haan, Krasimira Daskalova, Anna Loutfi: Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe: 19th and 20th Centuries. Central European University Press, 2006. p. 118.9
  13. Ivănoiu, Tamara: Amintiri din Basarabia
  14. Ioan Lăcustă: De la o unire la alta: memorie sau memorialiști 1859–1918. Editura Albatros, 2005. p. 257
  15. Bejan, Vlad, Românii din sudul Basarabiei, Editura Fundației "Axis", Iași 1998 pp.89-90

Bibliography
  • Gheorghe E. Cojocaru, Sfatul Țării: itinerar, Civitas, Chişinău, 1998, ISBN 9975-936-20-2
  • Mihai Taşcă, Sfatul Țării şi actualele autorităţi locale, "Timpul de dimineaţă", no. 114 (849), June 27, 2008 (page 16)
  • Alexandru Chiriac. Membrii Sfatului Ţării. 1917–1918. Dicţionar, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, București, 2001.
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