About the Life and Death of Attorney Elemér Óvári from Cluj

Abstract

Attorney Elemér Óvári was a legendary figure of Cluj in the first half of the 20th century. His professional, civic organizing activity and his magistral skills of organizing pranks were legendary in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and later in Romania. The salon, run with his wife, Olga Purjesz, was a prominent centre of cultural life in Cluj. This study seeks to reconstruct the life of Elemér Óvári and the tragic events that took place in October 1944 in Cluj, in the context of the Soviet army’s invasion and of the efforts to protect the city from the fighting.