Vișeu De Sus

Vișeu de Sus (; german: Oberwischau; hu, Felsővisó; ; , Ober Vishoi, Ojberwischo) is a town in Maramureș County, Maramureș, Romania, located at the confluence of the rivers Vișeu and Vaser.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Romanian census, the total population of the town was 15,037. The town is situated in a hilly area and therefore most of the people live in the valleys with their settlements as follows:

* Țipțerai and Valea Poieniței
* Valea Vinului (1000 inhabitants)
* Valea Vaserului (800 inhabitants)
* Valea Peștilor (500 inhabitants)
* Valea Scradei (700 inhabitants)
* Vișeu de Mijloc (1900 inhabitants)
* Valea Botoaia, Arşiţa (500 inhabitants)
* Rădeasa (900 inhabitants)

Administration and local politics

Town council

The town's current local council has the following multi-party political composition, based on the results of the votes cast at the 2020 Romanian local elections:

Forestry railway

Vișeu de Sus is the terminus of a forestry railway system that extends deep into the Vaser river valley approaching the Ukrainian border. Timber is cut on the hillsides at the head of the valley and brought down by rail for cutting in the sawmill at Vișeu. The waste wood is burned in the locomotive boilers. The nearest national railway (CFR standard gauge) passenger station is at Vișeu de Jos, 4 km away, on the line 409 from Salva to Sighetu Marmației. The passenger branch to Borșa (via Vișeu de Sus itself), although closed to passengers in 2009, remains mostly intact (as of 2014) for freight.

The railway serves also for public transport between Vișeu de Sus and Paltin (terminus station for public). Trains go every day during spring and summer (from 20 June to 18 September), the departure is at 9 am. The stations on the way from Vișeu de Sus are: Novat, Novat Delta, Glimboaca, Cozia and Paltin.

Trains may be delayed or cancelled without prior warning due to bad weather or Mountain Rescue advice.

History

The town of Viseu de Sus, according to most authors of monographs, is documented from February 2, 1365 (Ketwyssou). This first mention of Vișeu de Sus as a settlement appears in the diploma of the King Louis I of Hungary. According to other authors, the settlement was documented since 1549, under the name of "Vișeul Nou" (The New Vișeu) or "Între Râuri" (Between Rivers), being situated at the confluence of the two rivers – name met until the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1373, the border of Vișeu de Sus and Borșa is marked, and in 1385 appears the inferior Vișeu (Vișeu de Jos). The year 1453 is the one in which János Hunyadi, the Voivode of Transylvania and the governor of Hungary, gives Vișeu de Sus to the three knezes Ștefan, Petru Mândru and Nan (Nașcu) and their brothers.

The evolution of the town itself starts after the year 1770, when there is established forestry centers with workers in Vişeu and Borșa – "țipțeri" colonists – from Spiš, brought to Vișeu by order of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1743, in Vișeu de Sus there are settled miners from Saxony and establishes exploitation of ores. In 1773, in Vișeu there is established a logging exploitation center, colonized with "sași" from Spiš.

In 1775, in Vișeu there are settled German families from Austria (Salzburg and Tyrol). Between 1776 and 1794, the first colonists from Salzkammergut come. In 1778, 25 families from Gmunden settled in the village, mostly with many children. In 1780 the first construction by the newcomers were made such as: First mill in the east side of the city; the construction of the dam above Măcârlău begins, construction which would end in 1784, year when other families from Bavaria settle in Vișeu de Sus. Jews from Galicia also settled in Vișeu de Sus in the 18th century and worked primarily in the lumber industry.

In 1788, the elementary school of the treasury in Vișeu de Sus is established, and in 1790 the dam at Făina is built, as well as the first Roman Catholic parish in Vișeu. In 1798, the first general school is open. The work of the "țipțeri" is materialized also with the first timber factory (built in 1809), the state store (deposit) built in 1817. Between 1809 and 1810, the new neighborhood "Țipțerai" is formed and populated.

The population of German and Austrian origin rose drastically and permanently, based on documents. In the 1930 census of Romania there were registered 2.753 Germans, making up 24,84% of the total population. At the census of 1977, there are 3,430 Germans in Vișeu de Sus, making up 16.97% of the total population. In 1920, the Jewish population of Vișeu de Sus was 3,912, making up 34% of the population.

The Zipser Germans were brought to Vișeu firstly as forestry workers. At 14, boys started their work in the forest. At Valea Vaserului, the Zipsers planted spruce. They took care of nurseries, deforested forests, sent rafts on the water to Sighet, Vișeu and Borșa, they built rafts, roads and wooden bridges. At easier works, women would help too. The hardest and dirtiest job was cutting down the forest and clearing the spruce trunks, and the most tempting for men was rafting.

Considering the long time the workers had to spend in the forest, an establishment in Valea Vaserului was a need. The settlement on Vaser affected many Zipsers, some changed their names at the time with others of Magyar resonance.

The Jewish population was also engaged in the lumber industry. Between 1918 and 1939, Jewish-owned lumber mills employed hundreds of Jews and non-Jews.

In Vișeu de Sus, the exploitation of wood has an antiquity that is confused with the antiquity of the city. Even the legend says that more than a thousand years ago, a father and his son went to cut wood from the forest. Unhappiness caused a stick to hit his son dead. In memory of his son, the father built a church on this site. Houses were later built around the church and thus a human settlement took shape, which was called, at first, "Între Râuri" ("Between Rivers"), because it stretched between the river Vișeu and Vaser. Many of the "țipțieri" colonists practices were followed by Romanians. At the forest, they worked all week long, except on Saturdays when they went down the valley, and sometimes for those who lived further away, the work period was extended to 2–3 months. The "Butinars" (forestry workers) slept in cottages called "finnish", they had the fire in the middle, and the beds were arranged radially so that they could warm up more easily and dry their clothes in the winter. Today, in Valea Vaserului, the wood is transported by narrow gauge railway.

World War II

The situation of the Jews of Vișeu de Sus declined in September 1940, when Hungary took control of the region and Jews were sent to concentration camps in Hungary. During April 1944, the remaining Jewish residents of Vișeu de Sus were sent to ghettos along with the Jews of the surrounding region. Approximately 8,000 Jews were held in a ghetto near Vișeu de Sus. All the Jews were deported from area ghettos to Auschwitz in May 1944. In 1947, there were 800 Jewish survivors living in Vișeu de Sus, but by 1972 the Jewish community ceased to exist.

In 2011, a museum dedicated to the Jews of Vișeu de Sus opened at the site of the former home of Alexander Elefant, a former Jewish resident and timber factory owner. The exhibition presents the history of the Jewish community in Vișeu de Sus up until World War II when they were forcibly deported and sent to Auschwitz.

Geography

Vișeu de Sus is located at the confluence of the rivers Vișeu and Vaser to the SE, Vișeu de Jos to the W and Poienile de sub Munte to the NW. It also borders Maramureș Mountains Natural Park to the south-east. The town administers (ha) 44,306, making it the second-largest town by area in Romania.

Relief

The relief is ''mountainous'', made of a plateau surrounded by hills, with the altitude differing from 400 m to 1042 m (vârful lui Dan - English: Dan's peak). The relief has a major impact on the tourism in the zone, due to its views.

Vaser