Elek (, ) is a town in

Békés County Békés (, , ro, Județul Bichiș) is an administrative division (county or ''megye'') in south-eastern Hungary, on the border with Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and Hajdú-Bihar. The ...

, in the

Southern Great Plain The Southern Great Plain ( hu, Dél-Alföld) is a statistical (NUTS 2) region of Hungary. It is part of Great Plain and North (NUTS 1) region. The Southern Great Plain includes three counties: * Bács-Kiskun * Békés * Csongrád-Csanád See al ...

region of south-east

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

. Jews lived in the city as early as the 19th century and in 1944 many of them were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.Hungarian Jewish census
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Geography

The town covers an area of and had a population of 5,567 in 2002.

History

* 1232 : First mentioned * 1566-1696 : Ottoman rule (

Ottoman wars in Europe A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia i ...

) * 1724 : settling of German colonists (predominantly from

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper F ...

) * 1739 :

Bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium ('' Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as ...

* 1894 :

Artesian aquifer An artesian aquifer is a confined aquifer containing groundwater under positive pressure. An artesian aquifer has trapped water, surrounded by layers of impermeable rock or clay, which apply positive pressure to the water contained within th ...

* 1920 : Elek becomes border town (

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It formal ...

) * 1946 : Expulsion of German inhabitants, about half the population * 1996 : Elek given town status

Twin towns

Elek is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Gerolzhofen Gerolzhofen () is a town in the district of Schweinfurt, Bavaria, Germany. The town is the former center of the district of Gerolzhofen and has about 7,000 inhabitants. The mayor of Gerolzhofen is Thorsten Wozniak (CSU). GerolzhofenStadtpfarrkirc ...

, Germany (1990) * Alerheim, Germany (1992) * Leimen, Germany (1992) * Sebiș (Borossebes), Romania (1992) *

Gerlingen Gerlingen (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Gaerlenge'') is a town in the Ludwigsburg (district), district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 9 km west of Stuttgart, and 15 km southwest of Ludwigsburg. Gerlingen is h ...

, Germany * Laudenbach, Germany (1994) *

Veľké Kapušany Veľké Kapušany (; hu, Nagykapos) is a small town on the eastern plains of Slovakia, not far from the Ukrainian border. Name The name "Kapušany" is probably derived from the Hungarian word ''kapu'', meaning "gate". History The territory of t ...

(Nagykapocs), Slovakia (1996) * Grăniceri (Ottlaka), Romania (1997) * Dumbrava (Igazfalva), Romania (2019)

References

External links

* in Hungarian Populated places in Békés County Romanian communities in Hungary Jewish communities destroyed in the Holocaust {{Bekes-geo-stub tr:Elek