Medgyesegyháza ( sk, Medeš) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in Békés County, in the Southern Great Plain

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

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 ...

Geography

It covers an

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

of 64.32 km² and has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 3558 people (2015).

History

The Jews in the city

The Jewish community in the city was established in the second half of the

19th century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...

and most of them were engaged in the

grain trade The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

. The

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

was built in

1870 Events January–March * January 1 ** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England. ** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed. * January 3 – Construction of the Broo ...

and the community had a

Jewish school A Jewish day school is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide children of Jewish parents with both a Jewish and a secular education in one school on a full-time basis. The term "day school" is used to differentiate s ...

. In

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

, young Jews from the city were sent to forced labor and sent to the front of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, where the Hungarians fought alongside the Germans. Four townspeople were killed. In

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

, after the Germans entered Hungary, all the local Jews were rounded up and finally transferred to Békéscsaba. Most of them were taken to the

Auschwitz extermination camp 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 ...

. After the war, 20 survivors returned to the town. The community was reorganized, but many dispersed within a short time.

Politics

The current mayor of Medgyesegyháza is Dr. Béla Nagy (Independent). The local Municipal Assembly has 6+1 members divided into this political parties and alliances:

Twin towns – sister cities

Medgyesegyháza is twinned with: *

Kolárovo Kolárovo (before 1948: ''Guta''; hu, Gúta or earlier ''Gutta'') is a town in the south of Slovakia near the town of Komárno. It is an agricultural center with 11,000 inhabitants. Basic information The town of Kolárovo is located in the Pod ...

, Slovakia

References

External links

* in Hungarian Populated places in Békés County Slovak communities in Hungary Jewish communities in Hungary Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust {{Jewish-hist-stub