Alexandrina "Didina" Cantacuzino ( Pallady; also known as Alexandrina Grigore Cantacuzino and (Francized) Alexandrine Cantacuzène; 20 September 1876 – 1944) was a Romanian political activist, philanthropist and diplomat, one of her country's leading feminists in the 1920s and 1930s. A leader of the National Council of Romanian Women and the Association of Romanian Women, she served as Vice President of the International Council of Women, representing the International Alliance of Women, as well as Romania, to the League of Nations. However, her feminist beliefs and international profile clashed with her national conservatism, her support for eugenics, and eventually her conversion to fascism.
Cantacuzino was a member of Romanian nobility, and, after her marriage to the wealthy landowner Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino, claimed the title of "Princess". Her elitism and her feminism led her to join the upper-class charity SONFR, of which she became president after World War I. A wartime nurse, she became a herald of war remembrance initiatives (responsible, in large part, for the Mausoleum of Mărășești).
After her involvement with the National Council of Romanian Women, she supported limited women's suffrage within a corporatist framework, losing the support of liberal women, but also building connections with fascist politicians. Cantacuzino's policies within the Association of Romanian Women were mirrored in the legislation of World War II fascist regimes, beginning with the National Renaissance Front.
Sympathetic toward the revolutionary fascist Iron Guard, of which her son Alecu was also an affiliate, Cantacuzino switched her support toward Ion Antonescu's government in early 1941. Having earlier reported to the League of Nations on the damages caused by the Spanish Civil War, she was also critical of Antonescu over the 1941 Odessa massacre. This was her last known public cause. Cantacuzino died, in relative obscurity, not long after Antonescu's downfall.
Biography
Early life Alexandrina Pallady, also known under the pet name Didina, was born in Ciocănești, a village currently in Dâmbovița County (but, in 1876, still part of Ilfov County).Cheșchebec (2006), p.89 Her birth date is known to have been 20 September 1876, but other sources mistakenly credit it as 1877 or 1881. Marian Pruteanu, "Discursuri despre femeie în România dintre cele două războaie mondiale" , in Alin Ciupală, Despre femei și istoria lor în România, Editura Universității București, Bucharest, 2004 (e-book version at the University of Bucharest; retrieved 8 March 2014)
She was by birth a member of the boyar upper-class: her father, Lieutenant Colonel Theodor Pallady (1847/1853–1916), an aristocrat from the eastern region (and former state) of Moldavia, had earned distinction in the Romanian Land Forces; her mother, also named Alexandrina (1845/1848 – 1881), was a Kretzulescu boyaress from Wallachia, and the heiress of a large estate.Cheșchebec (2006), pg. 89; Ion, pg. 276 Through Pallady's mother, Alexandrina descended from another boyar house, the Ghicas, who owned the manor in Ciocănești.Ion, pg. 276. See also Călinescu, pg. 702
The marriage produced four children in all, but Alexandrina was the only one to survive infancy. From an affair with a Maria Stamatiade, Theodor Pallady had a son, the future Symbolist poet-publicist Alexandru Teodor "Al. T." Stamatiad (born 1885).Călinescu, pg. 702, 1016 Alexandrina's paternal family also produced other intellectual figures of importance: Theodor Iancu Pallady, the modernist painter, and Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra, the actress, were nephews of Lt. Col. Pallady, and as such cousins of Alexandrina and Al. T. Stamatiad.Călinescu, pg. 702
Upon her mother's death in 1881, the five-year-old Alexandrina was raised by her aunt, Eliza Ghica, and formally adopted by Eliza's husband, Vladimir M. Ghica.Ion, pg. 276. See also Cheșchebec (2006), pg. 89 With Ghica money, she was able to pursue studies abroad, in France. In or around 1899, after Eliza Ghica's death,Ion, pg. 276 Alexandrina Pallady-Ghica was living in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, where she married the aspiring politician Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino — known locally as Griguță Cantacuzino or, mockingly, as Prensul ("Princeling").Șerban Cioculescu, Caragialiana, Editura Eminescu, Bucharest, 1974, pg. 378. Her full name subsequently became Alexandrina Grigore Cantacuzino (sometimes shortened as Alexandrina Gr. Cantacuzino), with the inclusion of her husband's name as a patronymic.
The marriage propelled Cantacuzino into the high society, also bringing her into contact with the Conservative Party elite. The Cantacuzino family, of Phanariote origins, had been highly influential in the political affairs of Moldavia and Wallachia. Her father-in-law was the magistrate, Conservative policymaker and former premier Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (1833–1913). He was also one of the greatest estate-owners in the Kingdom of Romania, known to the general public as Nababul ("the Nawab").Bacalbașa, pg. 131; Cheșchebec (2006), pg. 89 Simona Lazăr Tudor Cireș, "Un secol de la moartea lui George Grigore Cantacuzino, zis Nababul", in Jurnalul Național, 23 March 2013. Her brother-in-law was Mihail G. "Mișu" Cantacuzino (1867–1928), who was the minister of justice and the leader of an inner-Conservative faction.Bacalbașa, pp. 7-8, 134, 136, 138
The Cantacuzinos stated claim to a princely title, which, although rendered useless under Romanian law, allowed Alexandrina to style herself "Princess Cantacuzino".Cheșchebec (2006), pp. 89-90 (see also Călinescu, pg. 702), hyphenates the word "Princess" when used in reference to Alexandrina Cantacuzino.
According to historian Marian Pruteanu, Alexandrina was "an avid collector of decorations and titles", who studied genealogy with the goal of establishing her blood relations with various noble families. Signs of her family wealth included one of Bucharest's first privately owned automobiles.Ciupală, caption to Illustration 18
SONFR beginnings
Alexandrina and Grigore had three sons, all of them born between 1900 and 1905, before both parents resumed their public careers. In 1910, Alexandrina joined a Romanian Orthodox philanthropic society, the National Orthodox Society of Romanian Women (Societatea Ortodoxă Națională a Femeilor Române, SONFR). While she is most often credited as a founding member,Cheșchebec (2006), p.90; Ciupală, p.89 the society might have existed under a different name as early as 1893, with Ecaterina Cantacuzino, Gheorghe's wife, as its president.Filitti, p.6
The central core of SONFR was a group of high-society ladies, including Alexandrina Cantacuzino and, among others, Zoe Râmniceanu, Elena Odobescu, Anastasia Filipescu, Maria Glagoveanu, Sultana Miclescu and Zetta Manu.Ciupală, p.86, 89, 137 As indicated by the name, SONFR was situated on the conservative right of Romanian feminism, where it "reinforced women's traditional roles as mothers and wives",Bucur (2003), p.64 being entirely apolitical.Ciupală, p.94; Filitti, p.6 However, the society was soon involved in a number of adjacent projects, such as disseminating propaganda among the Romanians of Transylvania, Bukovina, and other parts of Austria-Hungary, and circulating letters of protest against Magyarization.Ciupală, p.87-88
Although SONFR was sponsored by "the Nawab" and other mainline Conservatives, such ideological positions resonated with the National Liberal program of Spiru Haret, the education minister, who offered his full support.Ciupală, p.89-90 With such sources of revenue, supplemented by bank loans and private donations, SONFR established two girls' schools, 17 kindergartens (the first of which was in Dorobanți), and 22 public libraries.Ciupală, p.90-94 Some of its funds went directly into purchasing land for Romanian peasant communities in Transylvania and elsewhere, with schools being built as far afield as Chernowitz, Geaca, and Markovac.
SONFR's more formal mission was to combat "foreign religious propaganda" and "the foreign educational establishments", which it described as sources of corruption for young Romanian women.Ciupală, p.86 According to historian Alin Ciupală, these goals should be seen as reflecting the "borderline intolerant" position of Romanian Orthodoxy, but not particularly conclusive at that: "We believe that SONFR's would-be alliance with the Church determined the adoption by the Ladies' Society leadership of ideas circulated by some Orthodox hierarchs, especially those concerning Catholicism, but mostly with a tactical goal in mind. [...] Moreover, one might mention here the organizers' intent to make use, as it did, of the Church-controlled, nation-wide, infrastructure: the priests as instruments for propaganda and the influence, not just moral, of the leading Orthodox hierarchs."Ciupală, p.86-87
SONFR members included liberal suffragettes, such as Calypso Botez; Cantacuzino herself was less clearly affiliated with this current, although she did describe herself a "feminist". As noted by gender historian Roxana Cheșchebec, Cantacuzino was primarily an elitist, who believed in fulfilling a "historic mission of the upper classes", focusing on assisting "the socially disadvantaged as a way of serving the country and the nation."Cheșchebec (2006), p.90 The same is noted by Pruteanu, who also records her claim that Romanian nobility lived "outside the murderous luxury that surrounds us." Pruteanu believes that Cantacuzino was "confused", with "a fractured identity", forever oscillating between "conformism and rebellion."
Meanwhile, in 1913, Grigore was appointed Mayor of Bucharest in the wake of the "Tramcar Affair", which had besmirched the opposition National Liberal Party. According to contemporary sources, he owed his appointment exclusively to "the Nawab", who was at the time performing his last official function, that of Senate President.Bacalbașa, p.105, 124-125, 152, 154 The immensely large Cantacuzino estate was split between the two sons, both of whom used the Zamora Castle of Bușteni. It was to serve as a frequent retreat for the Romanian royal family. In 1915, Alexandrina also inherited the properties of her adoptive father, including Ciocănești.
World War I nurse
The start of World War I placed Romania in a delicate situation. From 1914 to the summer of 1916, the National Liberal cabinet of Ion I. C. Brătianu preserved the country's neutrality (see Romania during World War I). Public opinion became sharply divided among supporters of the Entente Powers and the "Germanophiles"—who favored the Central Powers, particularly Germany. Grigore Cantacuzino oscillated between the two sides, but his two newspapers, Minerva and Seara, were closely associated with Germanophilia.Boia, p.94, 191 In September 1914, they were bought from him by a German consortium, and became the mouthpieces of German propaganda.Boia, p.94