How to Pronounce Otto Roth
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Dec 06, 1884 Austria Hungary Died on 22 Apr 1956 (aged 71)
Hungarian and Romanian lawyer and politician
SagittariusOtto Roth - Place of Birth, Date of Birth, Age, Wiki, Facts, Net Worth, Birthday, Biography and Family
Otto Roth, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Family, Facts, Age, Net Worth, Biography and More in FamedBorn.com
About Otto Roth
- Otto Roth, occasionally rendered as Willy Otto Roth or Dr.
- Rot (Hungarian: Róth Ottó; 6 December 1884 – 22 April 1956), was a Hungarian and Romanian lawyer and politician who served as the only Commissioner-in-Chief of the Banat Republic, between October 1918 and February 1919.
- Hungarian Jewish but non-religious, he entered politics with the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP) while still a subject of the Kingdom of Hungary.
- Roth was a local councilor in Timi?oara during most of World War I, emerging as a regional leader of the MSZDP before and during the Aster Revolution.
- He is credited with proclaiming the Banat Republic on 31 October 1918, though the initiative was also attributed to Albert Bartha, who briefly served as its military leader.
- The state was an autonomous extension of the Hungarian Republic, set up in order to prevent invasion by the French Danube Army, but also aiming to preserve regional integrity against rival nationalisms.
- It was generally rejected by Romanians and Serbs, who organized their own representative institutions. Unlike Bartha, Roth acknowledged the terms of the Hungarian armistice, and was subsequently allowed to maintain his executive position by the Kingdom of Serbia, which occupied Timi?oara in November.
- His post became largely symbolic, as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (also referred to as Yugoslavia), proclaimed that December, actively pursued an annexation of the Banat; the Commissioner's importance was revived once French forces intervened as peacekeepers.
- With Swabian support, Roth made an attempt at consolidating his Republic, but was ultimately chased out by Yugoslav soldiers in February 1919.
- Attempting to prevent the Banat's partition between Yugoslavia and the Kingdom of Romania, he sought alliances with the French and, allegedly, with the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
- This episode ended with his arrest by Romanian troops during the Hungarian–Romanian War. Roth was released in 1920, having reportedly promised to stay out of politics.
- He resumed his law practice in Timi?oara, which remained on the Romanian side of the Banat partitions.
- As reported by his friend Nicolae Brînzeu, he eventually went back on his pledge, campaigning for Banat autonomy, embracing "anti-Bolshevik communism" and anti-fascism, and supporting another friend, Petru Groza, who was emerging as an important figure on the Romanian far-left.
- During the early stages of World War II, politician Constantin Argetoianu employed Roth as his contact with the Romanian left-wing circles.
- According to Brînzeu, Roth also sought to prevent clashes between Romania and Regency Hungary, and especially the rapprochement between Hungarian revisionists and Nazi Germany.
- Defeated in this, he was also exposed to antisemitic persecution, and reportedly prepared himself and his Jewish community for resettlement in Madagascar. Roth was publicly defended by Groza during World War II, and also networked to have Groza released from prison in 1944.
- Following the King Michael Coup, he made a final return to politics, rallying with the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSDR).
- With Groza becoming Prime Minister, Roth received minor roles in government.
- Brînzeu however notes that he remained staunchly critical of the Soviet Union and the Romanian Communist Party, objecting to Groza's close relationship with both.
- Both Brînzeu and Roth were placed under surveillance by the Securitate.
