Urziceni (, Hungarian pronunciation: ; or ) is a commune in

Satu Mare County Satu Mare County (, , ) is a county (Counties of Romania, județ) of Romania, on the border with Hungary and Ukraine. The capital city is Satu Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as ''Szatmár megye'', in German language, Ge ...

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 ...

, right on the Hungarian border. It is composed of two villages, Urziceni and Urziceni-Pădure (''Csanáloserdő'').

Administration

The current local council has the following political composition, based on the results of the votes cast at the 2024 Romanian local elections.

Geography

The commune is located in the western part of the county, at a distance of from

Carei Carei (; , ; /, , ) is a municipiu, city in Satu Mare County, northwestern Romania, near the border with Hungary. The city administers one village, Ianculești (). Geography The municipality of Carei is situated in the north-west of Romania, aw ...

and from the county seat,

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

. The Urziceni Forest (''Pădurea Urziceni'') is a nature reserve located on the territory of the commune.

Demographics

The population was 1,509 in 2002; 68.1% of inhabitants were

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

, 22.5% were

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, and 9.3% were ethnic

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

. 86.8% were

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 5.6% were

Greek-Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite: ** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church ** The Belarusian Gr ...

, 4.2% were

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

, and 3.0% were

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

. At the 2021 census, the population of Urziceni was 1,407, of which 71.22% were Hungarians, 15.28% were Germans, 8.81% ethnic Romanians, and 1.42%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

History

Historically, the commune was mainly inhabited by Roman Catholic Germans (''Donauschwaben'' or

Danube Swabians The Danube Swabians ( ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary in east-central Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in greater numbers in the 17 ...

) who were brought in by the Hungarian ruler of the land, count

Alexander Károlyi Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

, to populate the area that had been deserted as a result of a series of wars and epidemics. The process began in 1711 when the first wave of settlers arrived from present-day

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, just north of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

. During the 20th century they gave up the usage of the German language in favour of Hungarian. Since the 1980s, the population has dwindled significantly due to emigration to West Germany, especially before the fall of the communist regime of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

, but also in the 1990s, mainly for economic reasons.

Natives

György Nonn György Nonn (9 January 1918 – 17 November 2007) was a Hungarian jurist, who served as Chief Prosecutor of Hungary The Prosecutor General () is the official charged with prosecuting cases at a national level in Hungary. The Prosecutor Gener ...

(1918 – 2007), Hungarian jurist *

József Tempfli József Tempfli (April 9, 1931 – May 25, 2016) was a Hungarian Roman Catholic bishop. He was born into an ethnic Hungarian family. Ordained to the priesthood in 1962, Tempfli served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oradea Mare R ...

(1931 – 2016), Roman Catholic bishop

References

Communes in Satu Mare County Hungarian German communities Hungary–Romania border crossings {{SatuMare-geo-stub