Having parallel careers as teacher, lawyer and journalist, Pântea remained a presence in Romanian political life, as member of Parliament, negotiator of détente with the Soviet Union, and three times Mayor of Chișinău.

[3] The boy had trouble adapting himself to the requirements of living in what was then Russia's Bessarabia Governorate: although he was studious and completed primary school with honors, he had difficulty learning the official Russian language.

[10] As the Provisional Government took hold of military matters, Pântea became President of the Ninth Army's Soviet, and also helped organize the Bessarabian soldiers into a single political body.

Some—Catelli, Anton Crihan, Constantin Osoianu, Ion Păscăluță, Andrei Scobioală—were active on Bessarabia's borders, while others addressed Bessarabian units in places such as Novorossiya (Elefterie Sinicliu) or Crimea (Grigore Turcuman).

At the time, tensions were sparked between Podporuchik Pântea's Roman organization and the inner-Bessarabian faction which demanded a social revolution, namely the Chișinău Soviet of Workers and Soldiers; he also had to struggle with Bessarabian apathy, communist gains, and territorial claims stated by the neighboring Ukrainian People's Republic.

[13] Through Pântea and Scobioală, the Roman group communicated directly with a civilian network formed by the Bessarabian expatriates of Iași, who endorsed the effort to consolidate political unity.

[20] During September, after clashes with some of the radicalized peasants hampered propaganda efforts in the countryside, and Ukrainian or Russian pressures increased, the Moldavian Committee began issuing its own political newspaper.

[26] Before and after the October Revolution overturned the Provisional Government and brought the Bolshevik (communist) movement to power in Russia, Gherman Pântea played a game of intricate diplomacy.

[32] Their act of insubordination enraged Kerensky: just before Lenin ousted him from power, the Russian Prime Minister issued a warrant for Pântea's arrest; by then, however, the Bessarabian Congress had been recognized by third parties, from the Mensheviks to the Bundistn.

[48] Facing the threats of Russian Civil War expansion into the Republic and communization in his own ranks,[49] Pântea became a major contributor to the accelerated political process of union with Romania.

In January 1918, he welcomed the Romanian Land Forces and General Ernest Broșteanu, who had a mandate to reinstate order, and who arrived in Chișinău alongside the French military envoy Henri Mathias Berthelot.

[54] Pântea himself appeared undecided about the situation, and, in a letter to pro-Russian officer Anatol Popa (later sentenced to death by the Romanian military), argued: "I promise you that I'll be defending republican Bessarabia next to Russia, even if it costs me my life [...].

[41] Years later, Pântea referred to Broșteanu's intervention as misguided and sanguinary, because it carried out summary executions of suspected rebels, encouraged denunciations, and stained the unionists' international reputation.

Later investigation into his career resulted in allegations that Pântea never did attend class, and that his diploma was abusively released by Rector A. C. Cuza (answering the special request of Romanian Premier Ion I. C.

The pro bono activity was largely successful: Tcancenco and other three men were found guilt of sedition, and sentenced to death in absentia; 65 detainees were acquitted; 39 others were set free after trial de novo.

[59] The Georgist party failed to register much success, and Pântea left it before the 1931 election; he joined the "National Union" list of incumbent Prime Minister Nicolae Iorga, and was returned to the lower chamber.

[90] As claimed by his political rivals (including historian Ștefan Ciobanu), Pântea was corrupt and irresponsible in office, pocketing large sums of public money, and partying at Chișinău's expense on a visit to Italy (where he was supposed to reward Pietro Badoglio's support of the Bessarabian union).

[102] Pântea witnessed the rise of fascism in Romania, confirmed when the PNL lost the December 1937 election; in those circumstances, King Carol II appointed the far right's Octavian Goga as Premier.

The move alarmed the Soviets, and clashed with their popular front policy: according to Pântea, Ambassador Ostrovsky called on him to inform Romanians that Stalin and France's Léon Blum insisted that Goga should be deposed and Romania taken out of "the fascist camp".

Initially, this regime followed Nazi policy, and prevented the more obvious displays of Bessarabian unionism, leading Pântea to exclaim: "General Antonescu [...] cannot speak his mind on all subjects, so hopefully he would allow us to discuss and to shout out the issue of our justice".

The latter asked him to review a list of 100 Bessarabian "undesirables", singled out for their left-wing opinions and facing summary execution—Ciupercă wanted his secretary to ensure that no "good Romanians" had been included, but Pântea was able to obtain that the order itself be postponed.

[139] His own membership of the Eviction Bureau remains a contended issue: Pântea categorically denied it (a negation that is backed by Ion Constantin, and reflected in various primary sources);[140] nevertheless, one archive document refers to him as one of ten supervisors of the 1942 deportation.

After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the Securitate kept close watch on Pântea's reaction, reporting about his anti-communism, his contacts with the exiled Crihan or underground PNL-ists such as Aurelian Bentoiu, and his hopes for an American intervention.

He spoke on the subject at the funeral of fellow Bessarabian refugee Ion Buzdugan, at the parastas of Gurie Grosu, and again at a commemoration for Alexe Mateevici, reportedly causing panic among his public (most of whom were by then the survivors of communist jails).

[182] Gherman Pântea died on February 1, 1968, in unusual circumstances: he had been absent from home for almost two days, and the family was informed that he had collapsed in the street, minutes after being spotted at a Piața Amzei diner; medical investigation showed that he was not suffering from any life-threatening condition.

The ceremony, which included an Orthodox service by priest Vasile Țepordei, doubled as a low-key political rally: it brought together the community of Bessarabian refugees, who regarded Pântea as their hero, and was closely monitored by the Securitate.

According to Romanian-born Israeli historian Jean Ancel, Pântea's protest against Antonescu's orders is compatible with the work of his Cernăuți colleague Traian Popovici, known for defending Bukovina Jews from planned extermination.

[126] In 2008, a similar point was made by writer Boris Marian in the Jewish community magazine Realitatea Evreiască: "The Romanian Mayor of Odesa was shocked by the cruelty with which the orders coming in from Bucharest were being executed.

"[189] During debates with the public, held after the film's release, Iepan also quoted Pântea's report to Antonescu as proof that some Romanian officials knew about (and, in this case, deplored) the killings in the city.

In reaction, Jewish community historian Teodor Wexler argued that the attempt was missing its target: "Gherman Pântea's letter [is] of an unrestrained tragicalness", confirming "once and for all the historical responsibility of those who dictated the undertaking of the Holocaust in Romania.