Elek (, ) is a town in
Békés County, in the
Southern Great Plain region of south-east
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 ...
.
Jews lived in the city as early as the 19th century and in 1944 many of them were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
Hungarian Jewish census
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Geography
The town covers an area of and had a population of 5,567 in 2002.
History
* 1232 : First mentioned
* 1566-1696 : Ottoman rule (Ottoman wars in Europe
A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...
)
* 1724 : settling of German colonists (predominantly from Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch'').
The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...
)
* 1739 : Bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...
* 1894 : Artesian aquifer
* 1920 : Elek becomes border town (Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in ...
)
* 1946 : Expulsion of German inhabitants, about half the population
* 1996 : Elek given town status
Twin towns
Elek is twinned with:
* Gerolzhofen, Germany (1990)
* Alerheim, Germany (1992)
* Leimen, Germany (1992)
* Sebiș
Sebiș ( hu, Borossebes) is a town in Arad County, western Transylvania, Romania. Situated 82 km from the county capital, Sebiș is one of the most important urban centres in the Crișul Alb valley. It administers three villages: Donceni (''D ...
(Borossebes), Romania (1992)
* Gerlingen, Germany
* Laudenbach, Germany (1994)
* Veľké Kapušany (Nagykapocs), Slovakia (1996)
* Grăniceri (Ottlaka), Romania (1997)
* Dumbrava (Igazfalva), Romania (2019)
References
External links
* in Hungarian
Populated places in Békés County
Romanian communities in Hungary
Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust
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