Dumitru Almaș


Dumitru Almaș was a Romanian journalist, novelist, historian, writer and professor. His prolific output included children's literature, historical novels and textbooks. He was honored by both the Romanian Writers' Society and the subsequent Writers' Union of Romania. He also served as a member of the board of Society for Historical Sciences of Romania.

Biography

Dumitru Almaș was born in 1908 to Ion and Mariei Ailincăi in Negrești, Neamț County, Romania. He attended "Petru Rares" High School and graduated in 1928. In 1933, he obtained multiple degrees, from the University of Bucharest for philosophy, history, and geography.
Almaș served as a professor at the high schools in Siliştea and Călăraşi from 1938 to 1939 and then returned to his alma mater, "Petru Rares" in Piatra Neamț, where he taught from 1943 to 1949. During this time frame, he also was elected and served as a member of Parliament, for the National People's Party.
In 1949, he was hired as an associate professor for the Faculty of History at the University of Bucharest. He completed his doctorate with a thesis on the History of Voltaire and was made a full professor in 1972. He left the University of Bucharest in 1975, but continued working as a consultant for them. In 1985, he joined with the Ioan I. Dalles Popular University and taught history there until 1993. Simultaneously, he began teaching history at Spiru Haret University in 1990.
He wrote romanticized historical novels as well as textbooks. The literary magazine Observator Cultural listed Almaș as one of the leading writers of children's literature in Romania, among others such as Călin Gruia, Gica Iuteș, Octav Pancu-Iași, Mircea Sântimbreanu and Ovidiu Zotta.
He was the editor of the magazines Zorile and Lumea românească. He also wrote articles for and collaborated with Contemporanul, Albina, Magazin, Familia, Argeş, Ateneu, Iaşul nou, and Veac nou. In the 1940s during World War II, he was the editor of Revista Santinela, the magazine of the Romanian Army. In 1967, he founded Magazinul istoric and served as its editor-in-chief until 1969.
He was a member of the board of Society for Historical Sciences of Romania. In 1942, he was honored by the Romanian Writers' Society and by its successor, the Writers' Union of Romania, in 1954.
Almaș died in 1995 in Bucharest.

Legacy

Almaș was the most prolific author from Neamţ, writing over 70 books, dozens of screen and radio plays, and over 5,000 articles. In 2000, all of his books and manuscripts were donated by his daughter to the GT Kirileanu Library of Neamţ to preserve them and allow them to be available to researchers and the public.

Selected works