Târgu Frumos (also spelled ''Tîrgu Frumos'', sometimes ''Târgul / Tîrgul Frumos''), ) is a town in
Iași County
Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a cou ...
,
Western Moldavia
Western Moldavia (, ''Moldova de Apus'', or , also known as Moldavia, is the core historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1878, the P ...
,
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 ...
. Eleven villages were administered by the town until 2004, when they were split off to form
Balș,
Costești, and
Ion Neculce communes.
History
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, in March and May 1944, this area was the scene of the
two Battles of Târgu Frumos, part of the
First Jassy-Kishinev Offensive.
According to the 1930 census, 1,608 Jews lived in Târgu Frumos. In the fall of 1940, all Jewish men, from 18 to 50 years old, were subjected to forced labor. Many were sent to the work camp Tudoreni-Rechita, situated in Botoșani County, while others were deported to Transnistria. Târgu Frumos was also a 24-hour stop of the "Death train" going to the Călărași camp. On July 1, 1941, when the train arrived in Târgu Frumos, 654 bodies were removed from the train and transported to the local Jewish cemetery where they were buried.
Demographics
, 10,475 people inhabited the town, 81.6%
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, ...
, 9.14%
Lipovans
The Lipovans or Lippovans are ethnic Russians, Russian Old Believers living in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria who settled in the Principality of Moldavia, in the east of the Principality of Wallachia (Muntenia), and in the regions of D ...
, and 9.08%
Roma. At the
2021 census, Târgu Frumos had a population of 9,597; of those, 70.92% were Romanians, 4.77% Roma, and 2.72% Lipovans.
Natives
*
Gabriela Crețu (born 1965), politician
*
Garabet Ibrăileanu
Garabet Ibrăileanu (; May 23, 1871 – March 11, 1936) was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, University of Iași professor (1908–1934), and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, fo ...
(1871 – 1936), literary critic
*
Dumitru Theodor Neculuță (1859 – 1904), poet and socialist activist
*
Belu Zilber (1901 – 1978), communist activist
Gallery
Image:GarabetIbraileanu.PrimarySchool.Tg.Frumos.ROMANIA.JPG,
Image:IonCreanga.PrimarySchool.Tg-FRUMOS.ROMANIA.JPG,
Image:Roman.Catholic.Church.Tg.Frumos.ROMANIA.JPG, 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 ...
Church
See also
*
Battle of Târgu Frumos
References
Towns in Romania
Populated places in Iași County
Localities in Western Moldavia
Market towns in Moldavia
{{Iași-geo-stub