Veľké Kapušany (; hu, Nagykapos) is a small

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 ...

on the eastern plains of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, not far from the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

border.

Name

The name "Kapušany" is probably derived from the Hungarian word ''kapu'', meaning "gate".

History

The territory of the town has been settled since time immemorial (findings from the

Neolithic period The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

). From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was 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 ...

. The first written references to the settlement stems from 1211 ("Kapos") and 1214 ("Copus"). The settlement was awarded town status in 1430. The town was the second largest settlement (after

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod ( uk, У́жгород, , ; ) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and the B ...

) of the

Ung County Ung County (in Latin: ''comitatus Unghvariensis''; Hungarian: ''Ung (vár)megye''; also in Slovak: ''Užský komitát/ Užská župa / Užská stolica''; ro, Comitatul Ung) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its ...

and frequently served as a temporary or permanent station for migrants (Germans, Rusyns, Poles, Hungarians etc.) from the east to the west. In the town square there is a garden with a plaque commemorating the day the Germans marched into Veľké Kapušany in 1944. This is significant as both

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and Romas were persecuted and murdered by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

during World War II. At that time, Veľké Kapušany was part of Hungary (based on the

First Vienna Award The First Vienna Award was a treaty signed on 2 November 1938 pursuant to the Vienna Arbitration, which took place at Vienna's Belvedere Palace. The arbitration and award were direct consequences of the previous month's Munich Agreement, which ...

). The following villages were merged with the town: Malé Kapušany (after 1913), Veškovce (1964).

City parts

*Veľké Kapušany proper *Veškovce

Characteristics

Wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wood pro ...

, food and building materials industries and Slovak and Hungarian high schools are located there as is a railroad transfer facility for goods on the broad gauge railroad to

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 ...

. Many Communist remnants remain, notably the apartment buildings of the Communist era, where mainly poor Roma people now live. The rest of the population lives in mostly comfortable-looking homes and farms outside of the main thoroughfare but still within the town's borders. There are several churches, but no synagogue in Veľké Kapušany. On the outskirts of the town there is a heavily damaged Jewish cemetery.

Ethnic groups

According to the official census from 2001, the population include 56.98% Hungarians, 35.92% Slovaks, and 4.32% Roma.Mestská a obecná štatistika SR
In 1910, 33.8% of the population was Jewish.

Twin towns – sister cities

Veľké Kapušany is twinned with: *

Vásárosnamény Vásárosnamény is a small town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. It also includes Vitka since 1969, and in 1939 Gergelyi and Ugornya formed by uniting Gergelyiugornya. Postal history Pri ...

, Hungary

Gallery

File:Veľké Kapušany town hall mestský úrad Nagykapos városi hivatal 1.jpg, The town hall in central Veľké Kapušany File:Nagykapos02.JPG, Slovak and Hungarian language '' gymnasium'' high school in Veľké Kapušany File:Nagykapos - Petőfi Sándor - Túri Török Tibor alkotása.jpg, Memorial bust of

Sándor Petöfi Sándor is a Hungarian given name and surname. It is the Hungarian form of Alexander. It may refer to: People Given name * Sándor Apponyi (1844–1925) was a Hungarian diplomat, bibliophile, bibliographer and great book collector * Sándor B ...

at Dobó Square File:Nagykapos03.JPG, Greek Catholic Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God File:Veškovce.JPG, Reformed church in Veškovce, a rural borough that is part of the municipality File:Veľké Kapušany, nádraží, vůz 812.060.jpg, Veľké Kapušany train station, with a ZSSK Class 812 DMU

References

External links

Official siteVel'ké Kapušany - ShtetLink
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velke Kapusany Cities and towns in Slovakia Hungarian communities in Slovakia