Following the Second World War, he led multiple repatriation teams to displaced persons camps in Germany.

Nikolai Karotamm was born in the family of a carpenter and served in the Guard Battalion in 1921.

After the Soviet government became aware of the arrest of Karl Säre by the German invaders, Karotamm became the acting leader of the Communist Party of Estonia after he fled to Leningrad.

[2] In 1949, he was relieved from his positions and subsequently expelled from the party due to alleged "inappropriate leniency and negligence and the concealment of bourgeois nationalists".

Due to his disagreements with his successor Johannes Käbin, Karotamm never returned to Estonia.