Pantelimon (Pan) Halippa was a politician, a publicist, and a poet. He was the leader of the Romanians’ movement in Bessarabia. His literary work propelled him among the members of the Romanian Academy.

After graduating from the Theological Seminary in Chișinău, he completed his studies at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Iași. He was a collaborator of the newspapers Bessarabia and Life of Bessarabia, both of which promoted ideas of ​​national emancipation. He founded The Moldovan Word magazine, which followed the same line.

Between 1917-1918, alongside other Bessarabian leaders, Halippa actively supported the province’s unification with Romania. Thanks to his involvement in the national movement, he was elected Vice-President and then President of the Country Council (the Parliament of the province). In this capacity, he essentially contributed to the proclamation of the autonomy of Bessarabia (December 2, 1917) and to the vote in favour of the unification of the province with Romania (March 27, 1918).

He continued to be an important actor in the Romanian political scene after 1918. He was elected Senator and Deputy in the Romanian Parliament and was part of several cabinets.

In 1950 he was arrested and jailed in the infamous Sighet prison for two years, then expelled to the U.S.S.R., where he spent three more years in a Stalinist detention camp. Then he returned to Romania and was again arrested for two more years.