Nicolae Carandino

Who was Nicolae Carandino?

Nicolae Carandino was a Romanian journalist, pamphleteer, translator, dramatist, and politician.

He was born in Brăila into a family of intellectuals. After completing high school in Brăila in 1923, he went to college in Bucharest, graduating in 1926. He then pursued his graduate studies in Paris for three years, during which time he married Lilly Carandino. Upon his return to Romania, he was editor in chief of Facla, and a collaborator or editor at various other publications, including Credinţa, Reporter, Azi, Floarea de Foc. Between 1938 and 1944, he served as Vice-President of the Journalists' Union.

During World War II, soon after the Legionnaires' Rebellion, Carandino became director of the National Theatre Bucharest, replacing Haig Acterian. Because of his opposition to the authoritarian regime of Ion Antonescu, he was imprisoned in 1942 in a penitentiary camp near Târgu Jiu.

A member of the National Peasants' Party, he was, from 1944 to 1947, the editor of its newspaper, Dreptatea. During the period, he was also appointed by his political grouping to the board of the new Journalists' Union, and became a member of a committee charged with purging supporters of former far right regimes from the press.