35 Facts About Albert Wass

Albert Wass was condemned as a war criminal by the Romanian People's Tribunals United States authorities refused to extradite Wass to Romania claiming the lack of solid evidence.

The works of Albert Wass first gained recognition within Hungarian literature from Transylvania in the 1940s.

Albert Wass is popular among the Hungarian minority in Romania and has growing popularity in Hungary.

The Albert Wass family has traced its descent from the age of Arpad, and is one of the oldest noble families in Transylvania.

Albert Wass's grandfather, Bela Wass, was a parliamentarian and Lord Lieutenant of Szolnok-Doboka county.

Albert Wass's father was Count Endre Wass, his mother Baroness Ilona Banffy de Losonc.

Albert Wass has six sons: Vid Wass de Czege, Csaba Wass de Czege, Huba Wass de Czege, Miklos Wass de Czege, Geza Wass de Czege and Endre Wass von Czege.

Albert Wass was born in Valaszut at the Banffy mansion of Valaszut, distinct from the nearby Banffy castle of Bonchida.

Albert Wass's parents divorced early, and he was mostly brought up by his grandfather, Bela Wass.

Albert Wass graduated from the Reformed Church Secondary School in Cluj on Farkas Street and subsequently earned a diploma in forestry from the Academy of Economics in Debrecen, Hungary.

Albert Wass continued his studies of forestry and horticulture in Hohenheim, Germany, and Sorbonne, Paris, where he received additional diplomas.

Albert Wass returned to Transylvania in 1932, as his father fell ill.

Albert Wass had to attend obligatory military service in the Romanian Army and later settled to run the family estate in the Transylvanian Plain.

Albert Wass had six children ; Csaba died at age three.

Huba Albert Wass de Czege, born in 1941 in Kolozsvar had a significant career in the US Army, achieving the rank of brigadier general.

Albert Wass is known as a principal designer of the "AirLand Battle" military doctrine and took part in the planning of Desert Storm against Iraq in 1991.

Albert Wass became the aide-de-camp of General Lajos Veress in 1944.

Albert Wass was accused for, as the alleged instigator, for the shootings at Muresenii de Campie, when Hungarian soldiers, led by Lieutenant Gergely Csordas, killed 11 Jews.

Albert Wass said Romanian Communists were trying to frame him because of his strong Hungarian nationalist position.

Albert Wass continued to insist that he had nothing to do with the killings, and claimed he was the victim of a "Zionist-Romanian" conspiracy.

In 2008, his son, Andreas Albert Wass, appealed to the Romanian courts to annul the sentence, but the Romanian courts found that no new evidence was presented and as such, the sentence was upheld.

In 1951, Albert Wass emigrated to the United States, together with four of his sons.

Albert Wass founded the American Hungarian Guild of Arts, managing its academic work and publishing activities, and editing its newsletter.

Albert Wass launched his own publishing house, the Danubian Press, which published not only books but English language magazines of the American Hungarian Guild of Arts, too.

Albert Wass claimed several times, the Securitate, the National-Communist Romanian secret police, made several attempts to intimidate, and even trying to assassinate him.

Albert Wass received a notification from Interpol that Ceausescu had sent 12 Securitate agents as diplomats to the embassy in Washington and the consulate in Cleveland.

Albert Wass claimed: "One of their tasks is to put me off my feet", he said a representative of the FBI office in Florida informed him that an assassination attempt was being planned in Cleveland, and asked him not to go to the event of the Transylvanian day.

At the request of the FBI, Albert Wass made a reservation at the Holiday Inn Hotel.

Albert Wass committed suicide on February 17,1998, at age 90 in his Florida residence after a long struggle with a medical condition.

Albert Wass's life has never been examined thoroughly in court, so as a consequence it is a predominant view among Romanians that Albert Wass is a criminal, responsible for the murdering of Romanians and Jews and his condemnation by the Tribunal is just.

Two statues of Albert Wass have been moved to the interior of the Hungarian churches in Reghin and Lunca Muresului.

Albert Wass has commemorative statues in several localities in Hungary, where he is considered by some on the Right to be a hero and a victim of the regime.

The works of Albert Wass is part of the Hungarian national curriculum since 2012.

Albert Wass was even elected member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences as appreciation for his knowledge in forestry.

Albert Wass's writings were patriotic but did not exacerbate the tensions between the Romanian and Hungarian population during the recover of Northern Transylvania as a consequence of the Second Vienna Award.