The Nușfalău massacre occurred in the

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 ...

of Szilágynagyfalu (today Nușfalău,

Sălaj County Sălaj County (; ) (also known as ''Land of Silvania'', ''silva, -ae'' means "forest") is a Counties of Romania, county (''județ'') of Romania, located in the north-west of the country, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

) in

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania (, ) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920-1946), Kingdom ...

. It happened on 8 September 1940, when a Hungarian soldier with the support of some natives tortured and killed eleven people (two women and nine men) of

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

ethnicity from a nearby village, who were passing through the area.

Background

At the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of Maramureș and part of Cri ...

of 30 August 1940, as a result of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

–

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

arbitration,

was forced to cede to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

the northwestern part of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

, which included

, as well as the

Székely Land The Székely Land or Szeklerland (, , Old Hungarian script, Székely runes: 𐲥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗𐳌𐳞𐳖𐳇; and sometimes ; ; ) is a historic and ethnographic area in present-day Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hung ...

. Under the terms of the award, Romania had 14 days to evacuate those territories and hand them over to Hungary, but Hungarian troops came across the border earlier, on 5 September. On 7 September, the

Hungarian Second Army The Hungarian Second Army (''Második Magyar Hadsereg'') was one of three field armies raised by the Kingdom of Hungary which saw action during World War II. All three armies were formed on March 1, 1940. The Second Army was the best-equipped Hu ...

arrived at

Șimleu Silvaniei Șimleu Silvaniei (; , ) is a town in Sălaj County, Crișana, Romania with a population of 13,948 people (2021 census). It is located near the ancient Dacian fortress Dacidava. Three villages are administered by the town: Bic (''Bükk''), Cehei ...

and Ip, and on 8 September at

Zalău Zalău (, unofficial and former official name: (; or , , ) is the seat of Sălaj County, Romania. In 2021, its estimated population was 52,359. History Ancient times Zalău is situated in the area inhabited by "Free Dacians", away from the h ...

, the seat of Sălaj County.

Massacre

On the morning of 8 September 1940, a group of eleven people of Romanian ethnicity were leaving the village of Szilágynagyfalu ( Nușfalău), after spending the night there at the house of the mayor, Gheorghe Imrea. These people were from the village of Kozmaalmás,

Bihar County Bihar was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary and a county of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711), Principality of Transylvania (since the 16th c ...

(today Almașu Mare, part of Balc,

Bihor County Bihor County (, ) is a county (județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea (Nagyvárad). Toponymy ...

), some away. The group was composed of two women (Silvia Costaș and Maria Costea) and nine men (Traian Bencheu, Gavril Bogza, Dumitru Costaș, Nicolae Costaș, Dumitru Gaceu, Aurel Jarca, Vasile Matei, Dumitru Somei, and Gavril Turdea). While they were leaving the place, they were stopped by Zoltán Szinkovitz, a native Hungarian from the village, and a Hungarian soldier. They took the Romanians to the center of the village and started registering them and confiscated their personal belongings. Then, the Romanians were beaten and injured with a

bayonet A bayonet (from Old French , now spelt ) is a -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , now spelt ) is a knife, dagger">knife">-4; we might wonder whethe ...

. Next, the two women were released, while the nine men were taken in a military car away from Zăuan. There, they were killed with a lunge in the heart with the bayonets. The two women were captured by two other Hungarian natives and were taken to the site of the massacre, where they were also killed. The corpses of the 11 victims were quickly buried and covered only with leaves; a proper burial in the cemetery of Nușfalău took place a few days later, at the insistence of the villagers, after the corpses had begun to decompose.

Trial

The facts were established by Decision no. 1 of the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal (which sat in

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

and was presided by Justice Nicolae Matei), in a public sentence from 13 March 1946. One of the accused, Zoltán Szinkovitz, was convicted of inciting and participating in the Nușfalău massacre. Two other ethnic Hungarians, Ioan Szabo and Ioan Fabian, were found guilty of aiding and abetting the crimes, and were punished, but the Hungarian soldier who bayonetted the male victims was never identified. One of the accused, Ioan F. Tütös (who was also present at the Nușfalău massacre), was acquitted of the charges.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Massacres in 1940 World War II massacres 20th century in Transylvania World War II crimes in Romania Massacres in Transylvania 1940 murders in Romania Massacres of Romanians September 1940 in Romania 1940 murders in Hungary Hungarian war crimes History of Sălaj County Deaths by bayonet Deaths by stabbing in Romania Mass stabbings in Europe

Background

Massacre

Trial

See also

References