Declaring itself to be a traditionalist venue, interested in preserving local specificity in the cultural field, "Viaţa Basarabiei" was in effect a voice for cultural innovation and a host to modernist writers such as Vladimir Cavarnali, Bogdan Istru or George Meniuc. After the Soviet Union's 1940 annexation of Bessarabia, the editorial board split, and Halippa revived the magazine at a new location in Bucharest. It was published there for most of World War II, and was eventually disestablished. Its editors were subject to persecution in both Soviet territory and Communist Romania. The magazine was revived in 2002 by Mihai Cimpoi, being printed under the auspices of both the Romanian Writers' Union and the Moldovan Writers' Union.