Rajka (german: Ragendorf, sk, Rajka, hr, Rakindrof ) is a village in Győr-Moson-Sopron County,

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 ...

. The village has large Slovak and German minorities.

Etymology

The name comes from the Slavic personal name ''Rajko'', ''Rajka'' (derived from rajь: paradise). 1297 ''Royka''.

Geography

Rajka is located in the Little Hungarian Plain north-west of

Mosonmagyaróvár Mosonmagyaróvár (; german: Wieselburg-Ungarisch Altenburg; also known by other alternative names) is a town in Győr-Moson-Sopron County in northwestern Hungary. It lies close to both the Austrian and Slovakian borders and has a populatio ...

, near the point where the borders of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), 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 ...

join. M15 motorway ( E65/ E75), Highway 150, and the

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

–

Hegyeshalom Hegyeshalom (; german: Straß-Sommerein) is a village of approximately 3600 inhabitants in Győr-Moson-Sopron County, Hungary, on the border with Austria and less than 15 km from the border with Slovakia. History A charter given by Andrew ...

–Rajka railway line all cross the village. The Hungarian-Slovak border crossing between Rajka and Čunovo was lifted on 21 December 2007, when Hungary and Slovakia acceded to the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and ...

History

Rajka was established before the 13th century.Hídfőállás, Magyar Nemzet, 10-03-2012, Tóth Szabolcs Töhötöm, Budapest, pp. 21-26, According to the Hungarian Royal Treasury (''Magyar Királyi Kincstár'') it was an ethnic German settlement in Hungary, called ''Rackendorf'' in 1495. In the 18th century it was a

market town A market town is a Human settlement, settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular marketplace, market; this distinguished it from a village or ...

(''mezőváros'') in Moson County. The Jewish community was forcibly deported in 1944. After the Soviet occupation of Hungary in 1946, 859 German civilians were expelled from Rajka. They were replaced by ethnic

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ural ...

expelled from Czechoslovakia.

Population

Mayor Vince Kiss spoke in 2012 of 1,000 Slovak citizens living in Rajka and making up one-third of the population. Most of these are ethnic Slovaks, but a significant proportion are ethnic Hungarian citizens of Slovakia or conversant with the Hungarian language. These Slovak citizens form a fragmented, dormitory community of people working or studying in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...

, the Slovak capital, and commuting there every day. According to the 2011 census, however, the population of Rajka was 2,758, of whom 1,938 (70.3%) declared themselves

, 535 (19.4%)

Slovaks The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak. In Slovakia, 4.4 ...

and 284 (10.3%)

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

by ethnicity.Hungarian census 2011, Győr-Moson-Sopron county

Gallery

File:Rajka - Ragendorf. Hungarian - german table.JPG, City limit signage in Hungarian and German File:Hungary Rajka border crossing.jpg, Rajka border checkpoint, no longer operational. File:Hungary rajka exit.JPG, Pre-Schengen passport exit stamp from Rajka border crossing. File:Hungary rajka 2.jpg, An earlier passport stamp from the same border crossing.

References

External links

Street map
{{authority control Populated places in Győr-Moson-Sopron County Hungary–Slovakia border crossings Hungarian German communities