My great-grandfather, Vilmos Balázs (1872 Opályi [Matészalka], Hungary – 1941 Gheorgheni), was a Jewish beer wholesaler. He married Etelka Hirschfeld from Racoș, and after Etelka passed away in 1911, he married Berta Hirschfeld, Etelka’s sister. He was born Vilmos Blasz, but in 1906 he changed his surname to Balázs and moved with his family to Gheorgheni. In 1922, he began caring for, organizing, and planting trees in the Jewish cemetery of the town. In 1927, he was a member of the synagogue’s construction committee.