Gherman P%C3%A2ntea

Gherman V. Pntea was a Bessarabianborn soldier, civil servant and political figure, active in the Russian Empire and Romania. As an officer of the Imperial Russian Army during most of World War I, he helped organize the committees of Bessarabian soldiers, oscillating between loyalty to the Russian Provisional Government and the cause of Bessarabian emancipation. Pntea was subsequently Military Director of the Moldavian Democratic Republic, answering to President Ion Incule. He personally created a Bessarabian defense force, tasked with combating Bolshevik subversion and Russian intimidation, but also braced for defeat after the October Revolution.

Much of Gherman Pnteas life remain mysterious, inaccessible to researchers, and, according to historian Ion Constantin, a permanent crossover of myth and reality. Of ethnic Romanian and lowermiddleclass origins, Gherman Pntea was born on May 13, 1894, in the northern Bessarabian village of Zicani he was one of several children born to lawyer Vasile Pntea and his wife Ioana. They were of the Eastern Orthodox religion, and Gherman was a practicing Romanian Orthodox until late in life. The boy had trouble adapting himself to the requirements of living in what was then Russias Bessarabia Governorate although he was studious and completed primary school with honors, he had difficulty learning the official Russian language. He finished secondary school in Glodeni, before leaving for Akkerman, where he attended Russian normal school and witnessed the start of World War I. He frequently sailed to Odessa, the Black Sea port which was to fascinate him for the rest of his life.

Source: Wikipedia