Professor Naum A. Nartsov (1894–1978) or the itinerary of an adventurous historian

On the basis of unpublished historical sources, are presented aspects of the private, didactic and scientific biography of Naum Arianovich Nartsov, the first doctor (habilitated) in history, university professor in the Moldovan SSR. With a biography created in the Moldovan autonomy on the left bank of the Dniester River and an activity formed in refuge during the years of the Second World War, the protagonist of the present article presents the signs of a character ,,of perspective” at the time. He served as head of the Department of History of the Peoples of the USSR and of the Department of History of Moldavia of the Faculty of History of the Pedagogical Institute in Chisinau and as head of the Department of History of Moldavia at the Institute of History, Language and Literature of the Moldavian Base of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He drafted the first textbook on the history of Moldova. However, his career was quickly covered up and compromised, largely due to the Stalinist ideological campaigns of the time, the ,,discovery” that ,,the king is naked” and the subjective factor, which did not overshadow the professional scenario of this epochal adventurer.