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Biographical data

He was born on April 24, 1861 in Szeged. He was a graduate and doctor of law from the Faculty of Budapest. He graduated in 1888 and enrolled in the Bar in December 1888. He ceased to practice on May 1, 1929. Dr. Vértes was married to Matild, d. 1947.

Activity

In his activity within the Jewish community, under whose leadership he has been since the 1900s, Dr. Vértes advocated for awareness of national identity and for cultivating a sense of belonging to the Jewish people, objectives that were formed after the pogroms at the beginning of the twentieth century and which became achievable following the granting of equal rights to minorities. A highly intellectual and moral figure, a brilliant orator, lawyer Dr. Vértes was a personality who enjoyed immense prestige in the community, in the city, in Banat and in Transylvania.   

In December 1906, at the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Jewish Community in the building designed by architect Lipót Baumhorn, Gheorghe Lazăr street no. 5, Dr. Adolf Vértes delivered a speech partially reproduced in the press (Temesvári Hirlap, Temeswarer Zeitung). It was the speech of a scholar, who gave voice to the success and cohesion of the Jews of Timişoara.

He was one of the founders and promoters of the Israelite High School, founded in 1919. Thanks in large part to its strategy, the high schools obtained the right to publicity and managed to keep it until 1940.

At the meeting of Jews in the Banat Region and Arad County on May 27, 1923, Dr. Adolf Vértes presented the program: Someday a Jewish nation-state will be created, and “Jews from the rest of the world, emotionally attached to this center, must acquire the status of national minority in the countries in which they live”. The Assembly decided to establish a Jewish organization for all Jews, regardless of their membership in the Orthodox, neolog, status-quo or Zionist current, to obtain recognition of their social and cultural rights as a national minority. (s. Israeli high schools in Timisoara - Between memory and history)

He had countless functions. He was president in various organizations: the Curator of the Israelite High School Timisoara; the Hevra Kadişa association, which cared for funerals and the sick; "Leánykiházasító Egylet" (Association to Help Married Girls), founded in 1883; member of the Bar Association of Timișoara, vice-president after the First World War, president being Dr. Aurel Cosma. The first Master of the Losonczy Lodge in Timişoara (1899–1919) who changed his name to the Pax Lodge after 1923. Founder of the "Dr. Vértes Adolf Foundation for the material assistance of detainees" (information from 1898). Both before and after 1919, Dr. Adolf Vértes was a deputy in the municipal council of Timișoara.

He carried out a Freemasonic activity. Dr. Vértes, the first master in the year of the founding of the Losonczy Lodge in 1898, played a decisive role in the work of the lodge. The scope of activity of the Losonczy Lodge, later Pax, included preparatory works for the founding of the communal library in Timișoara, the creation of a library for the Fabric Workshop, the raising of funds for the construction of workers' houses, for the organization of kindergartens and elementary education in Timișoara. In 1901, an office was opened to provide free legal support for the city's poor. During the First World War, the social activities of the lodge focused on helping the families of those called to arms, as well as the activity of the Red Cross. The members of the lodge reacted very energetically to the news about the anti-Semitic pogrom of the Romanian students from Oradea from 1927. (s. Lajos Kakucs)

Dr. Adolf Vértes Palace, Henri Berthelot General Street no. 5, Elisabetin neighborhood, Timişoara, architect László Székely, building permit 4.10.1909, completed 30.08.1910, is a building with elements specific to the Secession style, such as wrought iron railings, windows framed with decorations, bas-reliefs. Vértes had his law office on Vasile Alecsandri Street no. 5.   

The architect and painter Albert Krausz made the portrait of Dr. Adolf Vértes, reproduced in the magazine Banatul, year I, no. 2, February 1926. It is not known where the original is.

A crowd gathered at his funeral and speeches were given in Romanian, Hungarian and German. The simple hearse was pulled by six black horses.

After his death, a street in the center of Timisoara was named "Dr. Adolf Vértes", the current Dr. Nicolae Paulescu Street, a name that was canceled in 1940, when anti-Jewish measures came into force.

Sources

• Address almanac. Timişoara 1922
• Articles from the “Temesvarer Zeitung”, August 24, 26 and 27 1930, written on the occasion of his death. The portrait drawing is reproduced from the issue of August 24, 1930
• Speeches by Dr. Adolf Vértes, lawyer, reproduced in http://adatbank.transindex.ro/html/alcim_pdf6416.pdf
• Grunțeanu, Lazăr, Dictionary of Timiş Bar lawyers, ArTPress, 2017
• Kakucs, Lajos, Contributions to the history of Freemasonry in Banat in the Annals of Banat, S.N., Archeology - History, XXIV, 2016
• Neumann, Getta, Israelite high schools in Timisoara. Between history and memory, Euroregionalia, Art Museum Magazine Timişoara, 2014
• Neumann, Victor, The Jews of Banat, Brumar Publishing House, 2016
• Opriş, Mihai şi Botescu, Mihai, The historical architecture of Timişoara, Timişoara: Tempus 2014
• Schatteles, Tiberiu, The Jews of Timisoara, Hasefer Publishing House, 2013