Nițchidorf (literally " Niczky's village"; german: Nitzkydorf; hu, Niczkyfalva, originally ''Kutas'') is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Timiș County Timiș () is a county ('' județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. T ...

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 ...

. It is composed of three villages: Blajova ( hu, Balázsd or ''Balázsfalva''), Duboz ( hu, Temesdoboz) and Nițchidorf.

Geography

The commune totals an area of 6,412 ha, of which 5,398 agricultural land and 1,014 non-agricultural land. It is located in the plain area of

, in the hydrographic basin of the

Timiș River Timiș may refer to: *Timiș County, a county in western Romania *Timiș (river), a river in western Romania and Serbia *Ținutul Timiș, a former administrative unit of Romania *Temes County, a former administrative county (comitatus) in the hist ...

, bordering

Caraș-Severin County Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Reșița ...

and the hilly area on the river corridor.

History

Traces of a fortress were discovered on the nearby Schlossberg ("Castle Hill"; ro, Dealul Cetății). According to Hungarian historians and

Felix Milleker Felix Milleker ( Serbian- Cyrillic: Феликс Милекер, Serbian-Latin: Feliks Mileker, Hungarian: Felix Mil(l)eker; pronounced Feliksz Mileker or magyarised Bódog Milleker; 14 January 1858, Vršac, Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of ...

, quoted by , there was a medieval settlement here, attested in 1370 with the name ''Kwtus''. In 1410 it appears as an annex of the parish of Duboz. During the Turkish occupation of

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

(1552–1718), the locality disappeared. The current village was founded in 1784–1786 during the third wave of colonization of

, under Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 unt ...

. At first, only 200 families were settled here. The origin of the settlers was from

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Schwarzwald The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, etc. Later came settlers from today's

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 ...

and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. It was named after Count

Kristóf Niczky Count Kristóf Niczky de Niczk (February 11, 1725 in Sümeg – December 26, 1787 in Buda) was an influential Habsburg bureaucrat under Maria Theresa and Joseph II. Biography He rose to the rank of count in 1765. He was Temes County's first ...

, the then prefect who took care of its colonization. So it was called ''Niczkydorf'' or "Niczky's village". The Romanians from the neighboring villages called it ''Nichișoara'', and today's name is the Romanianized form of the original one. For two centuries it was an almost exclusively German, Roman Catholic village. The Swabians built the Roman Catholic church in 1825. There was also a mill, which burned down in 1930. After the union of Banat with Romania, the village remained German. The exodus of the Germans began after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and accelerated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Today, Nițchidorf is mostly Romanian.

Demographics

Nițchidorf had a population of 1,523 inhabitants at the 2011 census, down 4% from the 2002 census. Most inhabitants are

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 ...

(88.77%), larger minorities being represented by

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

(3.22%),

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 ...

(1.71%) and

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

(1.38%). For 4.4% of the population, ethnicity is unknown. By religion, most inhabitants are

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

(84.24%), but there are also minorities of

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

s (3.48%),

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

s (3.02%),

Adventist Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Wil ...

s (2.63%) and

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

s (1.12%). For 4.46% of the population, religious affiliation is unknown.

Notable people

* Sebastian Kräuter (1922–2008), Roman Catholic bishop * (b. 1950), writer, translator and journalist *

Herta Müller Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Nițchidorf (german: Nitzkydorf, link=no), Timiș County in Romania, her native language is G ...

(b. 1953), writer and recipient of the 2009

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nitchidorf Communes in Timiș County Localities in Romanian Banat Former Danube Swabian communities in Romania