also took parts in the assemblies at Cernăuți and Alba Iulia (Great National Assembly of Alba Iulia), where, respectively, the acts of union of Bukovina and Transylvania with Romania were proclaimed. After 1918 he held a number of government posts: Minister and Secretary of State for Bessarabia (1919–1920), Minister of Public Works (1927), Minister of Public Works and Communications (1930) interim Minister of Work, Health and Social Protection (1930), Minister Secretary of State (1928–1930, 1932, 1932–1933), senator and deputy in parliament (1918–1934). He was a member of the National Peasants' Party after its founding in 1926. Throughout his time in office, Halippa sought to further Bessarabia's cultural development. He founded the Chișinău Popular University (1917), the Moldovan Conservatory, the Society of Bessarabian Writers and Journalists and the Luceafărul Editorial Society and Bookstore in Chișinău (1940). In 1932 he edited and headed the magazine Viața Basarabiei ("Bessarabian Life") and the eponymous daily newspaper. In 1918 Halippa was chosen corresponding member of the Romanian Academy; removed in 1948, he was restored to its ranks posthumously in 1990. In 1950 he was arrested and imprisoned without trial at Sighet prison, in Sighetu Marmației. Two years later he was handed over to the NKVD, taken to Chișinău, tried and sentenced to 25 years' hard labour in Siberia. Brought back to Romania, he was held at Aiud until 1957. Death He died in Bucharest in 1979 at the age of 95 and is buried in the cemetery of Cernica Monastery. Gallery Works Halippa wrote over 280 poems, articles, sketches, translations and memorials, managing to edit a single volume of poetry during his lifetime: Flori de pârloagă ("Flowers of a Fallow Field", 1921, Iași), prefaced by Mihail Sadoveanu. He also wrote a few historical studies: Bessarabiâ do prisoedineniâ k Rossii ("Besarabia before Annexation to Russia") (Russian, 1914); Basarabia sub împăratul Aleksandr I (1812–1825) ("Bessarabia under Emperor Aleksandr I"), B. P. Hasdeu (1939). Posthumous works include Povestea vieții mele ("The Story of My Life", Patrimoniu, Chișinău, 1990) and a volume of newspaper writings (2001). He also collaborated on the work Testament pentru urmași ("Last Will", 1991). Bibliography Dorina N. Rusu, Membrii Academiei Române 1866-1999, Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest, 1999 Biblioteca Națională a Republicii Moldova, "Calendar Național. 2003" External links Halippa's file at the Sighet Memorial Biblioteca Metropolitană București, Filiala Pantelimon Halippa Romanian people of Moldovan descent Anti-Russification activists Inmates of Aiud prison People from Sîngerei District Corresponding