King Mihai I and Bessarabia, a vision of the future. Statements and documents from the royal exile, 1989-1993

Abstract

The article reveals the public positions of King Mihai I, while in exile, towards Bessarabia, as they emerge from interviews, documents, public statements, open letters and messages addressed to Romanians, in different circumstances. In this study, both published documents (public messages of King Mihai I, published in various books of interviews or memoirs about the King, newspaper articles reproducing these messages, other articles talking about royal public actions) and unpublished documents were analyzed, such as the correspondence between King Mihai I and one of the most important leaders of the Romanians in exile, Ion Ratiu, or extracts from the file on the Securitate’s pursuit of King Mihai I, in the archives of the National Council for the Study of Romanian Security Archives. The period studied is 1989-1993, when the King made many public statements about Bessarabia, which he never forgot. The themes addressed in the public communication are related to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact and its effects, the exodus of young people, the freedom to vote and to decide their own fate, respect for democracy as a whole, and the Transnistria problem. The King analyses the situation in Bessarabia licitly and spoke of European integration long before the Republic of Moldova actually embarked on this path. The study shows the King’s focus on the Bessarabian problem, his visionary approach to the European course and diplomacy, and the firmness with which he tells the historical truths and analyses their effects today.