Politician, who fought for the rights of the minorities, writer, historian and academician.
He came from the large Jakabffy family from Transylvania. His father Imre Jakabffy was first Lord Lieutenant, then under-secretary of state. He started his studies in his home town in Lugos (today Lugoj, Romania), then he continued his studies in Budapest and earned the title of doctor in law and political sciences. He worked in Lugos as an attorney, he represented Német Bogsa (today Bocşa Montana, Romania) in Parliament (1910–18) with the programme of the Nation Liberal Party. After the First World War he had an active role in the Hungarian public life in Romania.
He had been the president of the Hungarian National Party (Országos Magyar Párt – OMP) in Banat County for years. He represented the reformatory department of the party. He rejected anti-Semitism, forced assimilation, fascism and war. He agreed with the policy line of the Hungarian People’s Union (MADOSZ) and of the labour movement. He sided with the Basks and the Catalns during the Spanish Civil War and condemned Mussolini’s anti-Slav policy. He expressed his friendship with Romanians, he rejected the attacks of the nationalistic press and based his arguments on the writings and declarations of outstanding Romanian thinkers such as Nicolae Iorga, Victor Cheresteşiu, Nicolae Titulescu. In 1928 he represented Háromszék County (Trei Scaune County) and for two mandates Szatmár County (today Satu Mare County, Roamnia) in the Romanian Parliament; from 1940 until 1944 he was the member of the Residential Council of the Hungarinan Ethnical Community in Romania.
One of his achievements was the Magyar Kisebbség Magazine, which he founded, together with István Sulyok and József Willer (the „triumvirate from Lugos”). Aftrer Sulyok left, from 1939 he edited the magazine together with Willer until 1942, when the magazine ceased to exist. In 1923 he published the magazine entitled Glasul Minorităţilor (The Voice of the Ethnic Minorities), which starting from 1926 published Herman and French articles as well. He also published his sociological, political cultural and historical works entitled Bánsági és Erdélyországi Füzetek (Fascicules of Banat County and Transylvania), then Délerdélyi és Bánsági Tudományos Füzetek (Scientific Fascicules of Southern Transylvania and Banat county)
As a politician he represented the Hungarian ethnic minorities several times at the Ethnic Minorities Conference in Geneva. He tried to find a peaceful solution to the Italian and German fascist’s policy. As a magazine editor, he promoted the socio-graphical and sociological research, he organized the study of ethnic minorities, he was a keeper of both local and national history traditions. His most outstanding works: A románok hazánkban és a Román Királyságban (The Romanians in Our Country and in the Romanian Kingdom – a cultural and socio-political study, 1918); Régi krassóiak (The Old Inhabitants of Krassó -1919); Napló az 1918. évi forradalom eseményeiről (Diary About the Events of the Revolution in 1919 -1920); Emlékirat a lugosi magyarság sérelmeiről (Memorial about the Offences of the Hungarians in Lugos – 1921); Erdély statisztikája (The Statistics of Transylvania – 1923); Tibiscum (1924); Az 1790–91-iki magyar országgyűlés előzményei Krassó vármegyében (The Preliminaries of thre Hungarian Parliament in 1790–91 in Krassó County – 1925); Az 1848. év eseményei Krassó vármegyében (The Events of the Year 1848 in Krassó County – 1928); Adatok a románság történetéhez a magyar uralom alatt (Information Concerning the Romanians Under Hungarian the Domination – 1931); A bánsági magyarság húsz éve Romániában (The Twenty Years’ History of The Hungarians in Romania – written together with Páll György, 1939); Kérelmek, határozatok, tervek, javaslatok és törvényes intézkedések az erdélyi nemzetiségi kérdések megoldására másfél évszázad alatt (Resolutions, Decisions, Proposals and Legal Actions to Solve the Problem of the Ethnic Minorities in Transylvania During 150 Years -1940); A Bánság magyar társadalmának kialakulása a XIX. század folyamán ( The Formation of the Hungarian Society In Banat County during the 19th century – 1940); Krassó-Szörény vármegye története különös tekintettel a nemzetiségi kérdésre (The History of Krassó-Szörény County With A Specific Regard to the Ethnic Minority Problems of 1940).
In 1938 he was elected collaborating member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
The royal dictatorship was introduced and the OMP was banned, so in 1938 he refused to join the Hungarian People’s Union in Romania (RMN) and retired from the political life. In 1944 he was detained as a national minority hostage in order to obtain the safety of Emil Haţieganu, who got stuck in Northern-Transylvania. He was released after eight months, but was held in house detention in Haţeg. He could leave Haţeg in 1954. He settled down in Satu Mare and lived retired for the rest of his life.
In Lugoj there is a marble tablet in his memory.
