Otto Roth, also Willy Otto Roth Stelian Neagoe, "Constantin Argetoianu – gâlceava anglo–franceză", in Jurnalul Național, 30 September 2006 or Dr. RotTemperley & Otte, p. 347 (; 6 December 1884 – 22 April 1956), was a Hungarian and Romanian lawyer, journalist and politician who served as the Commissioner-in-Chief of the Banat Republic, between October 1918 and January 1919.
Roth joined the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP), and served as a local councilor in Timișoara during World War I. He became a regional leader of the MSZDP before and during the Aster Revolution. Attempting to prevent the Banat's partition between Yugoslavia and the Kingdom of Romania, he formed alliances with the French and the Hungarian Soviet Republic during the Hungarian–Romanian War. Roth was arrested by the new conservative republic in early 1920 but was cleared of all charges.
When Groza became Prime Minister of Romania, Roth received minor roles in state-owned businesses and continued to be involved in cultural affairs.
Biography Early life Otto Roth was born to a Jewish family in Nagy-Mutnik, in the Hungarian division of Austria-Hungary (now Mâtnicu Mare, Romania). Geta Neumann, O prietenie legendară–un politician ortodox, un avocat evreu și un preot greco-catolic (Petru Groza, Otto Roth și Nicolae Brînzeu), entry in Minipedia iudaică timișoreană Roth Otto, entry in Minipedia iudaică timișoreană Ștefan Both, "Povestea Republicii Bănățene, forma statală care a supraviețuit patru luni. A fost proclamată de un avocat evreu la sfârșitul Primului Război Mondial", in Adevărul (Timișoara edition), 5 November 2017 His father was Miksa Roth, a well-to-do local liquor merchant. Otto and Árpád Roth were the two sons born from his marriage to Helén Fischer (1853–1939)."Roth Miksáné", in Déli Hirlap, 26 July 1939, p. 4 The Roths were "very distant" relatives of poet Erik Majtényi.Erik Majtényi, "Derűs apróságok", in Romániai Magyar Szó, 31 December 1978, p. 5 By 1930, Otto was no longer an observant Jew, although he was not hostile to religion in general.Brînzeu, pp. 69, 229 Various authors describe the German-speaking Roth as belonging to the Swabian community.Adrian Stănescu, "Însemnări. Istoria României. William Marin, Unirea din 1918 și poziționarea șvabilor bănățeni", in Revista de Istorie, Issue 7/1979, p. 1382 According to historian Victor Neumann, Roth did not reject Zionism, seeing it as compatible with the socialist platform, but only envisaged emancipation—"an equality of rights was enough." In this, Roth was critical of Jewish assimilation, which had driven most of his correligionists to declare themselves Hungarian.V. Neumann, p. 16 Neumann also views Roth as representative for the "diversity of the Jews' condition": while some "struggle[d] for a social position and implicitly for equality of rights", Roth advanced into mainstream society to hold some "key positions".V. Neumann, pp. 15–16
Young Roth was educated at Kun Calvinist High School (now Aurel Vlaicu Lyceum) in Szászváros (Orăștie), where he met and befriended Groza and the future Greek Catholic priest Nicolae Brînzeu, who remained Roth's lifelong friends.Brînzeu, pp. 64, 67, 115, 365; Soica, pp. 136, 186 When their math teacher Aladár Tokaji hit a colleague on the head, Groza and Roth, already showing his "revolutionary tendencies", organized a student strike. All members of the class walked out of the school, finally obtaining Tokaji's removal.Petru Groza, "Gyermekkor", in Magyar Hírlap, 19 August 1989, p. 4 In 1897–1898, Roth, together with Brînzeu and another future politician, Nándor Hegedűs, edited a student magazine called Viribus Unitis (Latin for "With United Forces").Beke, pp. 64, 66 The expression, used as a motto by the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, "was intended as a symbol of the unity between young people of different nationalities."Beke, p. 64 As noted by Groza, their class of 1903 was educated by adherents of Liberal Christianity, giving students "opportunities to express our sense of belonging, regardless of race, religion, or nationality."
According to Groza's recollections, Roth went on to graduate in Law and Economics from the Budapest University, before furthering his studies in Berlin and at the Leipzig University. Poet Béla Serestély, who was himself a graduate of the Kun, recalls that Roth was a student in Pest; in 1903,Béla Serestély, "Egy nap Juhász Gyulával. Anyag és adat", in Igaz Szó, Vol. V, Issue 2, February 1957, pp. 295–296 together with another fellow graduate, András Jakab, and with Kázmér Konkoly Thege, he put out Előre ("Forward"), a "university youth newspaper".Béla Serestély, "Irodalom művészet. Találkozásom Juhász Gyulával", in Szabad Szó (Timișoara), 13 October 1956, p. 2 Serestély joined the writing staff, alongside philosophy students Gyula Juhász and Béla Vágó. For this enterprise, Roth used the pen name R. Otto Lippai; other contributors included Lux Terka, Renée Erdős (with fragments of her short story "Kleopátra"), and the "proletarian poet" Sándor Csizmadia.
Another account suggests that Roth took a doctorate in law at the Franz Joseph University (today Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca), in 1909. Having moved to Temes County in 1907, Roth was already politically active within the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP). With its socialist platform and implicit support for emancipation, that group was unusually strong in the Banat, absorbing a large portion of the Jewish vote. Journalist Jenő Nádor recalled for the party newspaper Népszava that Roth and József Gábriel where the two main MSZDP leaders in Temes. The movement they created was "limited only to the workers", preparing them for "militant revolution"—in 1908, a more intellectual streak was added by the arrival of Zsigmond Kunfi, who gave his sociological readings in Hungarian literature.Jenő Nádor, "Kunfi tanár úr", in Népszava, 9 February 1947, p. 6 Upon returning to the Banat, Roth himself continued to involve himself in literary life, primarily be encouraging poets Zoltán Franyó and Ernő Vermes to form a literary society called Dél ("South"), which gravitated around the Symbolist doyen, Endre Ady.Zoltán Franyó, "Évforduló. Franyó Zoltán köszöntése", in Magyar Szó, 27 August 1977, p. 10 In 1908–1909, he and Juhász were active with both Dél and a similar club, Holnap ("Tomorrow"). Together, these groups created an Ady Festschrift and Franyó assigned it, in the original, to the local girl Rózsi Stróbl. His contribution was a short note: "We are. — Poets, fools all of them. We imagine an age when everyone will be happy. That is our wildest obsession. Do we need a greater poet?!"Pál Schweitzer, "Egy különleges Ady-kötet", in Új Tükör, Vol. XVI, Issue 47, November 1977, pp. 18–19 Later in life, Roth joked about being the only writer to whom the thrifty Ady had sent money—no more than five Austrian crowns.
MSZDP agitation
Roth soon created controversy with his public defense of the socialist agenda. In April 1907, he was found guilty of agitation against Hungary's constitutional statutes. He was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 300 crowns."Dela judecătorii și tribunale", in Tribuna, Issue 76/1907, p. 6 On 1 November 1908, while attending a rally of the MSZDP's Southern Hungarian sections, Roth proposed increasing and radicalizing socialist propaganda—engaging in a dispute over this issue with his more moderate colleague, Otton Ossenkop."A délmagyarországi elvtársak kerületi értekezlete. (Saját tudósítónktól)", in Népszava, 4 November 1908, pp. 7–8 At a similar meeting in November 1909, he and Kunfi elaborated on the MSZDP's anti-clerical agenda, specifically targeting the "black army" of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate. They noted that state subsidies for the latter meant that the Orthodox clergy "supports itself with the starving and oppressed peasantry"."Délmagyarországi kerületi pártértekezlet. — Harc a fölszabadulásért", in Népszava, 1 December 1909, p. 8 Roth was elected to an eight-man organizing committee, which was tasked with overseeing the "political organization of the agricultural proletariat", reaching out to rural Swabians.
During the electoral campaign of 1910, Roth joined a "large number of socialists" who crashed a town hall meeting by the National Party of Work (NMP) for Lajos Návay. He heckled Mayor Carol Telbisz and gave his own impromptu speech, including a generic threat that the MSZDP "will not tolerate any kind of party meeting that does not support the position of universal suffrage.""Návay Lajos beszéde Temesvárott", in Magyarország, 20 April 1910, p. 8 He himself presented himself as a MSZDP candidate in the neighboring Arad County, at Lippa, trying to unseat the NMP's Mihály Niameszny."(A vidék.) Lippa", in Az Ujság, 24 May 1910, p. 6 Also then, Roth allegedly participated in the egging of Albert Apponyi, leader of the rival Party of Independence and '48. He was charged with this misdemeanor and faced trial that September,"Informațiuni. Epilogul alegerilor", in Tribuna, Issue 175/1910, p. 6 but the prosecutor dropped all charges in April 1911."Apponyi támadóit felmentették", in Szegedi Napló, 23 April 1911, p. 12 Roth registered with the bar association in Temesvár (Timișoara) in June 1913."A temesvári ügyvédi kamara", in Budapesti Közlöny: Hivatalos Lap, 15 June 1913, p. 4
The young lawyer served as municipal councilor in Temesvár, wherein he represented Erzsébetváros district."Törvényhatósági bizottság az 1917. évben", in Városi Közlöny, Vol. XX, Issue 1, January 1917, p. 3 He was first elected to that position on 10 December 1913, along with another MSZDP man, József Terdély."Hírek. Győzelem", in Népszava, 10 December 1913, p. 8 Roth was then present at the May Day rally in 1914, where "a crowd of about 4,000 people" elected Sándor Nagy as leader of the MSZDP's Temesvár chapter. He addressed the crowd about the importance of elections and the socialist press, launching the slogan: "Fight them with ballot papers, not with stones!""A vidéken. Temesvár munkásságának", in Népszava, 3 May 1914, p. 8 At the height of World War I, Roth was a noted philanthropist, collecting funds to assist the families of lawyers who had been killed in combat. As highlighted by Jewish community historian Geta Neumann, the endeavor made Roth into a "very popular" figure. He also entered the city's Chamber of Labor, to 1930. On 7 October 1915, he intervened in favor of cobblers who had gone on strike at Turul Factory—obtaining their release from police custody, as well as a satisfaction of their demands."Szakmozgalom", in Népszava, 13 October 1915, p. 10 Over the following months, he also proceeded to investigate a shortage of milk which was affecting Temesvár's children, discovering that the city had signed a faulty contract with dairy farmer Endre Csekonics of Zsombolya."Hírek. A tej, a gróf, a kisgyerekek meg a város", in Népszava, 5 February 1916, p. 10