Valea lui Mihai (; hu, Érmihályfalva) is a town in

Bihor County Bihor County () is a county ( județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea. Toponymy The origin of ...

Crișana Crișana ( hu, Körösvidék, german: Kreischgebiet) is a geographical and historical region in north-western Romania, named after the Criș (Körös) River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru, and Crișul Repede. In Roma ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Geography

It is located around 66 km north-east of

Oradea Oradea (, , ; german: Großwardein ; hu, Nagyvárad ) is a city in Romania, located in Crișana, a sub-region of Transylvania. The county seat, seat of Bihor County, Oradea is one of the most important economic, social and cultural centers in the ...

, 9 km from the Hungarian border in

History

In 1312, under

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

, it was allowed new trade privileges and then in 1459 was also allowed tax benefits privileges for its citizens. Later it was part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, which resulted in its depopulation, but the inhabitants subsequently returned. Thereafter, it was part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

up until the

Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary ...

. Then it became part of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

within

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. After the breaking-up of Austria-Hungary in 1918/1920, the town became part of

. As a result of the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award, also known as the Vienna Diktat, was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all ...

it became a part of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

between 1940 and 1945. Since then it has been part of Romania. It was declared a town on three separate occasions: in 1844, 1930 and 1989, the last time as a result of the

Romanian rural systematization program The Romanian rural systematization program was a social engineering program undertaken by Nicolae Ceaușescu's Romania primarily at the end of the 1980s. The legal framework for this program was established as early as 1974, but it only began in ...

Jewish history

Jews from Galicia settled around 1780, engaging in agriculture and commerce. A junior high school was opened in 1873. Anschel Bak opened a printing press in the late 19th century. Fifty Hungarian

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

rabbis held a convention in the town in 1898. In 1930, there were 1535 Jews, or 19% of the total. During the interwar period, Jews were the leaders of local industry, employing hundreds of workers. Some Zionist youth groups were founded in the 1930s. In 1935, the town was the site of the HaNoar HaTzioni national convention. The Jewish population was sent to the

Oradea ghetto The Oradea ghetto was one of the Nazi-era ghettos for European Jews during World War II. It was located in the city of Oradea ( hu, Nagyvárad) in Bihor County, Transylvania, now part of Romania but administered as part of Bihar County by the King ...

in May 1944 and subsequently deported to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. Some of the survivors returned briefly to the town after the war.Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder (eds.), ''The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: Seredna-Budna—Z'', p. 1372-73.

New York University Press New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University. History NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Directors * Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1932 ...

, 2001,

Population

According to the last census from 2011 there were 9,668 people living within the city. Of this population, 81.03% are ethnic

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

, while 13.23% are ethnic

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Culture of Romania, Romanian culture and Cultural heritage, ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they l ...

and 1.3% others.Romanian 2002 Census
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Image gallery

File:Catholic Church of Valea lui Mihai (Ermihalyfalva).jpg, The Roman Catholic church of the town File:Érmihályfalva (Valea lui Mihai) - street.JPG, Street in Valea lui Mihai File:Er-Mihalyfalva File6013.jpg, ''Er-Mihalyfalva'' on Hungary stamp issued in 1871

References

External links

Valea lui Mihai - ShtetLink
Populated places in Bihor County Localities in Crișana Towns in Romania Hungary–Romania border crossings Hungarian communities in Romania {{bihor-geo-stub