A freemason, the first Serbian banker and the founder of 10 mines, Djordje Vajfert (Georg Weifert) is remembered mostly as the owner of the largest brewery in Serbia.
In 1926, the first World Congress of the Freemasons after World War I was held in Belgrade. Turbulent negotiations about where it should be organized preceded the Congress on which the reconciliation between the mason world and the German lodge was to be made, since it was considered that the German Freemasons haven’t done their best to stop the Great War. The German delegation insisted on the congress being held in Germany, and not in the capital of the country that was attacked first in the War, which is why they pressured Djordje Vajfert (ger. Georg Weifert), a Master Mason of the Yugoslav Lodge.
Vajfert was the first Serbian banker and governor, but also the owner of the largest brewery in the country and the founder of 10 mines in Serbia.
According to the story, a younger mason asked Vajfert during the negotiations process how he, a German from Lower Austria, could possibly vote for Belgrade instead for some city in Germany. Vajfert replied: “Sir, I am a German by birth, but a Serb by choice”.
Photo: Portrait of Georg Weifert by Uroš Predić
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