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Sighetu MarmatieiRomania Sighet, also spelled Sighetul Marmatiei (Hungarian: Máramarossziget, Ruthenian: Sihota), formely Sighet, is a city in Maramures county near Iza river, in Romania. The city has 44,185 inhabitants (14.8% Hungarians, 3.3% Ruthenians; 1992 census). It's name is derived from Hungarian 'sziget', island. Neighboring communities are: Sarasau, Sapânta, Ocna Sugatag, Giulesti, Vadu Izei, Rona de Jos and Bocicoiu Mare communities in Romania, Bila Cerkva community and Solotvino "town type community" in Ukraine (Transcarpathia). History The city has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. There is a very important rout in the Theiss Valley. The first mention of the settlement is from the 11th century. King Ladislas IV of Hungary settled Romanians in this territory between 1272 and 1290. The Dragos family in Maramures was the founder of the Principality of Moldavia. In 1352 the city was a free Royal Town and the capital of Máramaros County. From 1556 - like the Castle of Huszt - the settlement was a residence of the Prince of Transylvania. From 1570 - 1733 the town and the county was part of the Principality of Transylvania. In 1733 King Charles III reallocated it and Máramaros County to Hungary from Transylvania. Sighetu Marmatiei was one of the Romanian and Ruthenian cultural and political centers in Hungary. In 1910 the settlement was a town in the Máramaros County of the Kingdom of Hungary. Sighetu Marmatiei came under Romanian administration (see Kingdom of Romania) at the end of WWI (see Treaty of Trianon), and again under hungarian administration in 1940 as a result of the Second Vienna Award. The Hungarian administration lasted until 1944 and in these years more than 20,000 Jews from Sighet would be sent to Auschwitz (including the Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, born in Sighet) and other extermination camps. Nowadays there are only about 100 Jews living in Sighetu Marmatiei. The Jewish community was formerly led by the Teitelbaum family who also led that of the Satmar (Moshe Teitelbaum was Sigheter Rebbe before succeeding his uncle Joel Teitelbaum as Satmar Rebbe). The Treaty of Paris at the end of World War II reversed the Vienna Awards, and Sighetu Marmatiei returned to Romania. The settlement was a town 1952 - 1960 in Baia Mare Region, a city 1960 - 1968 in Maramurea Region and since 1968 in Maramurea County. The Hungarians, to this day, remain bitter about the transfer of the county. In fact, many of the inhabitants have many cultural attachments to Hungary. In the 1960s the Securitate (Communist secret police) ran a prison for "class enemies" in Sighet which is now a museum. The well-known Hungarian naturalist-realist painter Simon Hollósy was born in the town on February 2, 1857. Links This page was retrieved and condensed from
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighetu Marmatiei)
November 2005
Unfortunately I do not have any of my photos of this place left, although we had four cameras between us and we have taken many, many photos wherever we went, two of my most favoured cameras: a JVC video camera I favoured because of the quality of photos it produced, ease of use and its excellent compression rate, and my Panasonic camera for its miniature size. Both had large, 512 MB SD Cards and many thousands of photos on them were stolen from my bag, later into our trip, by some 'lowlife', with my wallet and money. You'll see this message a few times, because my JVC and Panasonic cameras' cards had many-many pictures stored on them. Site Index Back to Top Photos Index Thanks for coming, I hope you
have enjoyed it, will recommend
it to your friends, and will come
back later to see my site developing
and expanding.
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