Mátészalka 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 Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern 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 an ...

of eastern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. It is on the Kraszna River, 52 kilometers from the city of Nyiregyhaza.

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 or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...

of 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 17,015 people (2011). The town was the birthplace of actor

Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...

' father, Emanuel Schwartz.

Population

In 2001, the population of Mátészalka was nearly 96% Hungarian, 3% Romani, and 1% German. Although, in recent years. People from America, India, Canada, and China have moved into Mátészalka (2021)

History

Mátészalka was created from the merger of two large villages: Máté, founded in 1231 and Szalka, created in 1268. From the fifteenth century, Mátészalka was a market settlement. From 1920 - 1950 it was the seat of the authorities of some of the committees Szatmár, Ugocsa and Bereg remaining in Hungary after the Trianon Treaty. In 1969 Mátészalka received city rights. The city is the seat of the regional ''Szatmári Múzeum''. The actor

was born Bernard Schwarz, and his parents were from Mátészalka. His daughter,

Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...

, helped to refurbish the synagogue, which is where her grandparents worshipped. She also attended the opening of the Tony Curtis Memorial Museum and Cafe, which is located in Mátészalka. About 1,500 Jews from the town were taken to Auschwitz in 1944, after the Nazis occupied Hungary that March. In 1946, about 150 Jews returned, but many left after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

Twin towns – sister cities

Mátészalka is twinned with: *

Carei Carei (; , ; /, yi, , ) is a city in Satu Mare County, northwestern Romania, near the border with Hungary. The city administers one village, Ianculești ( hu, Szentjánosmajor). History The first mention of the city under the name of "Karul ...

, Romania *

Humenné Humenné (; hu, Homonna; ukr, Гуменне) is a town in the Prešov Region ("kraj") in eastern Slovakia and the second largest town of the historic Zemplín region. It lies at the volcanic Vihorlat mountains and at the confluence of the ...

, Slovakia *

Kolbuszowa Kolbuszowa ( yi, קאלבאסאוו) is a small town in south-eastern Poland, with 9,190 inhabitants (02.06.2009). Situated in the Sandomierz Forest in the Subcarpathian Voivodship (since 1999), it is the capital of Kolbuszowa County. Kolbus ...

, Poland *

Mukachevo Mukachevo ( uk, Мукачево, ; hu, Munkács; see name section) is a city in the valley of the Latorica river in Zakarpattia Oblast (province), in Western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of Mukachevo Raion (district), the city ...

, Ukraine *

Oberkochen Oberkochen is a municipality (officially a town, despite its size) in the Ostalbkreis, in Baden-Württemberg, in Germany, central Europe. Name The name "Oberkochen" consists of the two German words "ober", meaning "above" or "upper", and "Ko ...

, Germany * Vittoria, Italy *

Zevenaar Zevenaar () is a municipality and a city in the Gelderland province, in the eastern Netherlands near the border with Germany. Population centres * Angerlo * Babberich * Giesbeek * Lathum *Ooy * Oud-Zevenaar *Zevenaar History The earliest signs ...

, Netherlands

References

External links

* in Hungarian Populated places in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County {{Szabolcs-geo-stub