Elek (German: Renndorf, Romanian: Aletea) is a town in Békés County, in the Southern Great Plain region of south-east Hungary. Until the Second World War, the town was home to the largest concentration of Germans in the county, with its population consisting almost entirely of Swabians. 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.
Contents
Geography
The town covers an area of 54.94 km2 (21.21 sq mi) and had a population of 5,567 in 2002.
History
1232 : First mentioned
1566-1696 : Ottoman rule (Ottoman wars in Europe)
1724 : settling of German colonists (predominantly from Franconia)
1739 : Bubonic plague
1894 : Artesian aquifer
1920 : Elek becomes border town (Treaty of Trianon)
1946 : Expulsion of German inhabitants
1996 : Elek gains town status
Twin towns
Elek is twinned with:
Gerolzhofen, Germany (1990)
Alerheim, Germany (1992)
Leimen, Germany (1992)
Sebiș (Borossebes), Romania (1992)
Gerlingen, Germany
Laudenbach, Germany (1994)
Veľké Kapušany (Nagykapocs), Slovakia (1996)
Grăniceri (Ottlaka), Romania (1997)
Dumbrava (Igazfalva), Romania (2019)