View source for Gheorghe Ghimpu

{{Short description|Moldovan politician and human rights activist}}
{{Infobox President
| name                = Gheorghe Ghimpu
| image               = Gheorghe Ghimpu (Imagine).jpg
| citizenship         = {{flagcountry|Republic of Moldova}}<br>{{flagcountry|Romania}}
| caption             = Ghimpu in 1992
| office              = Member of the [[Moldovan Parliament]]
| term_start          = 10 March 1990
| term_end            = 29 March 1994
| predecessor         = 
| successor           = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1937|07|26|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Colonița]], [[Kingdom of Romania]] <small>(now [[Moldova]])</small>
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2000|11|13|1937|07|26|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Chișinău]], [[Moldova]]
| restingplace        = Chișinău
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| spouse              = Zina Ghimpu
| children            = 2
| relatives           = [[Mihai Ghimpu]] (brother)<br /> [[Dorin Chirtoacă]] (nephew)
| profession          = [[Professor]] <br /> [[Physicist]]
| party               = [[New Historical Option]] (then known as Romanian National Party)
| otherparty          = [[Popular Front of Moldova]] <br /> [[National Patriotic Front (Moldova)|National Patriotic Front]]
| alma_mater          = [[Shevchenko Transnistria State University|T. G. Shevchenko University]] <br /> [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union]]
| blank1              = Parents
| data1               = Irina Ursu <br /> Toader Ghimpu
| parliamentarygroup  = [[Popular Front of Moldova|Popular Front]]
| constituency        = [[Criuleni]]
| honorific_suffix    = [[Order of the Republic (Moldova)|OR]]
}}

'''Gheorghe Ghimpu''' (26 July 1937 &ndash; 13 November 2000) was a [[Moldovans|Moldovan]] politician and a political prisoner in the former [[Soviet Union]] and then in [[Moldova]].

== Early life ==
Ghimpu was born on 26 July 1937 in [[Colonița]], a village in [[Bessarabia]] during the [[Greater Romania]] administration. His mother, Irina Ursu (daughter of Haralambie Ursu, died in 2003) worked at the local [[kolkhoz]] (collective farm). His father, Toader Ghimpu (died in 1980) was an elementary school teacher. Gheorghe Ghimpu is the oldest brother of [[Simion Ghimpu]] (born 24 May 1939), Visarion, Valentina (mother of [[Dorin Chirtoacă]]) and [[Mihai Ghimpu]].

Ghimpu completed his studies at [[Shevchenko Transnistria State University|T. G. Shevchenko University]] in [[Tiraspol]]. Then he obtained his PhD at the Institute of Biological Physics, [[Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union]] in [[Moscow]]. Ghimpu was a teacher in [[Strășeni]] and a professor at [[T. G. Shevchenko University]] in [[Tiraspol]] and the [[Moldova State University]] in [[Chișinău]].

He was married to Zina and had two children, Oana and Corneliu.

== Political activity ==

Between 1969 and 1971, he was a founder of the clandestine [[National Patriotic Front (Moldova)|National Patriotic Front]] of Bessarabia and North of Bukovina, established by several young intellectuals in Chişinău, totaling over 100 members, vowing to fight for the establishment of a [[Moldovan Democratic Republic]], its secession from the [[Soviet Union]] and union with [[Romania]]. After the NPF leadership got in touch...In December 1971, following an informative note from Ion Stănescu, the President of the Council of State Security of the [[Romanian Socialist Republic]], to [[Yuri Andropov]], the chief of the [[KGB]], Ghimpu as well as [[Alexandru Usatiuc-Bulgăr]], [[Valeriu Graur]], and [[Alexandru Șoltoianu]] were arrested and later sentenced to long prison terms. He was sentenced on 13 July 1972. Ghimpu spent six years in prison (1972–1978), as result of his political activities.

Ghimpu took part in the Moldovan national movement and was a supporter of the independence of the [[Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic|Moldovan SSR]] from the Soviet Union. He was a founding member of the [[Popular Front of Moldova]] and a member of the [[Moldovan Parliament]] (1990–1994).

He died in [[Chișinău]] on 13 November 2000 after an unclarified traffic accident, which had occurred near [[Dondușeni]] on 27 October 2000.<ref>[http://azi.md/news?ID=45393 New volume by the late Gheorghe Ghimpu will appear by yearend (azi.md)]. {{Archive url|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008233428/http://azi.md/news?ID=45393|date=2007-10-08}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
The [[Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Moldova]] will study and analyze the 1940–1991 period of the communist regime.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Gheorghe Ghimpu arboreaza Tricolorul.jpg|At the [[Parliament of the Republic of Moldova|Parliament of Moldova]] on 27 April 1990
Image:Gheorghe Ghimpu - Intrunire Frontul Popular.jpg|A [[Popular Front of Moldova|Popular Front]] meeting (7 March 1991) 
File:Mormântul lui Gheorghe Ghimpu.jpg|Gheorghe Ghimpu's grave
</gallery>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Anti-communism in Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina}}
{{Popular Front of Moldova}}
{{Moldovan Parliament 1990-1994}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghimpu, Gheorghe}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Colonița]]
[[Category:Politicians from Chișinău]]
[[Category:National Patriotic Front (Moldova) politicians]]
[[Category:Popular Front of Moldova MPs]]
[[Category:Moldovan MPs 1990–1994]]
[[Category:Moldovan physicists]]
[[Category:Moldovan people of Romanian descent]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Moldova]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Moldova State University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Shevchenko Transnistria State University]]
[[Category:Shevchenko Transnistria State University alumni]]
[[Category:Moldovan independence activists]]