George Weifert ( Serb. Đorđe Vajfert / ђorђe Vaјfert , Pancevo , Austrian Empire , June 15, 1850 - Belgrade , Kingdom of Yugoslavia , January 12, 1937 ) - Serbian industrialist of German descent, chairman of the National Bank of Serbia (later Yugoslavia) [1] . In addition, he is considered the founder of the modern mining industry in Serbia and a major philanthropist.
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Biography
George Weifert was born in 1850 in Pancev , a city in Banat , in which before the First World War the Germans made up a large part of the population. The Weifert family belonged to the Danube Swabians . From an early age, George worked with his father, Ignaz Weifert, who was brewing in Belgrade . Weifert owned the first brewery in the Kingdom of Serbia . George studied brewing skills in Weinstefan near Munich . After which he returned to Serbia and took on the work of his father, which he subsequently developed to the largest brewery in the Balkans, which lasted until 2008. For the proceeds, he acquired a coal mine in Kostolac , and then a copper mine in Bor , a quarry in Zayechar and finally a gold mine. Thanks to mining revenues, Weifert became one of the richest people in Serbia of his time, as well as the largest industrialist of the future Yugoslavia.
In 1890, Weifert was appointed Governor of the Privileged People's Bank of the Serbian Kingdom . He held this post twice: from 1890 to 1902 and from 1912 to 1918 [1] . During this time, he earned a good reputation by managing to maintain the Serbian dinar exchange rate and the bank's creditworthiness during the difficult war years. She also became the reason for the appointment of Weifert to the post of governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia after the First World War [1] . His most famous measure at the post was the transition to the new Yugoslav dinar . The replacement also caused a number of criticisms. While the old Serbian dinar was exchanged at a ratio of 1: 1 to the new currency, the Austro-Hungarian krone was exchanged at a ratio of 4: 1. This could not but lead to the ruin of a significant number of residents of the former Austria-Hungary .
George Weifert also earned a reputation as a major philanthropist and philanthropist. So he donated his expensive collection of antique coins and a personal library to the University of Belgrade . In his native Pancev, he built a Catholic church with a small chapel dedicated to St. Anne, in memory of his mother, who was called Anna.
At his own expense, he opened a large Catholic cemetery in Pancev, where the remains of many members of the Weifert family still lie.
George Weifert died on January 12, 1937 in his mansion in Belgrade. On January 14, a memorial service was held in a church in Pancev, and he was buried in the Catholic cemetery of his native city. The heir to his fortune was the nephew Ferdinand Gramberg. Since 2001, the portrait of George Weifert has been depicted on a bill in 1000 Serbian dinars [2] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Governors of the National Bank (inaccessible link)
- ↑ Banknotes Withdrown from circulation Archived August 30, 2009 on Wayback Machine