Gemerská Poloma () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and large

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Rožňava District Rožňava District (''okres Rožňava'') is a Districts of Slovakia, district in the Košice Region of eastern Slovakia. Until 1918, the district was mostly part of the Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary, county of Kingdom of Hun ...

. It is located in the

Košice Region The Košice Region (, ; ; ) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions. The region was first established in 1923 and its present borders were established in 1996. It consists of 11 districts ( okresy) and 440 municipalities, 17 of which ...

of middle-eastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

History

The area of Gemerská Poloma was variously part of

Great Moravia Great Moravia (; , ''Meghálī Moravía''; ; ; , ), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to emerge in the area of Central Europe, possibly including territories which are today part of the Czech Repub ...

and the

medieval Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coro ...

. In 1241 the area was subject to

Mongol invasion The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire, the Mongol Empire (1206–1368), which by 1260 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

. The first historical mention of the village was in 1282; as "Poloma". At the end of the 14th century, Poloma was divided into two distinct villages: ''Malá Poloma'' ("Small Poloma") and ''Veľká Poloma'' ("Big Poloma"). The two villages were ultimately united together again in 1958. The original name of the village comes from ''polom'', meaning "broken" in Slovak. The story says that there was a big storm one day nearby the current village in the mountains and ruined the dwellings of the inhabitants. They therefore chose to move away from the place and settle down closer to the river on the current village site. Gemerská Poloma was invaded by the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...

in 1557 and belonged to the

Bebek family The Bebek family (also Bubek) was an ancient Hungarian noble family. The history of this family is connected with the areas in present-day Slovakia, notably in Gemer region, where they had their dominion. History The first mention of this fa ...

Štítnik Štítnik () is a village and municipality in the Rožňava District in the Košice Region of middle-eastern Slovakia. Geography The village lies at an altitude of 345 metres and covers an area of 34.54 km2. It has a population of about 1485 ...

until the end of the 16th century. Several people died from the cholera epidemic in the period 1873–1875. Before the establishment of independent

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1918, Gemerská Poloma was part of

Gömör and Kishont County Gömör-Kishont (, , ) was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its capital was Rimaszombat (present-day Rimavská Sobota). Most of its territory is now part of Slovakia, while a smaller ...

within the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. From 1939 to 1945, it was part of the

Slovak Republic Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's ...

. On 23 January 1945, troops of the Romanian 4th Army entered Gemerská Poloma and it was once again part of Czechoslovakia.

Geography

The

lies at an

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

of 342 metres and covers an

area Area is the measure of a region's size on a 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 open surface or the boundary of a three-di ...

of 57.635 km². It has a population of about 2020 people. The river Slana passes on the southern part of the village. There are three important mountains surrounding the village: Turecka on the south, Volovec on the south-west and Sulova on the north.

Culture

The village has a public

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

(non-functional) and a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

pitch. The most important people born in Gemerska Poloma are Peter Kellner-Hostinský and Peter Madáč. Peter Kellner-Hostinský (1823-1873) was an important writer, philosopher, historitian, economist. Peter Madac was a famous doctor of medicine and a specialist in physics.

Genealogical resources

The records for genealogical research are available at the state archive "Statny Archiv in Kosice, Slovakia" * Roman Catholic church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1777-1897 (parish A) * Lutheran church records (births/marriages/deaths): 1784-1865 (parish A)

References

External links