Dej (; ; ; Desh) is a municipality in Transylvania, Romania, north of Cluj-Napoca, in Cluj County. It lies where the river Someșul Mic meets the river Someșul Mare. The city administers four villages: Ocna Dejului (Désakna), Peștera (Pestes), Pintic (Oláhpéntek), and Șomcutu Mic (Kissomkút).

The city lies at the crossroads of important railroads and highways linking it to Cluj-Napoca, Baia Mare, Satu Mare, Deda, Bistrița, and Vatra Dornei.

History

Artifacts dating back to 5500 BC and belonging to the Starčevo–Körös–Criș culture, as well as artifacts dating back to the 15th century BC and belonging to the Wietenberg culture from the Bronze Age have been discovered on the territory of Dej. Also in the Bronze Age, the exploitation of salt deposits in the area of today's city began and developed. During the Iron Age, the Geto-Dacian civilization arose and spread over a vast territory. The Someș Valley was an integral part of this historical evolution, as evidenced by archaeological discoveries in the area, such as the Dacian fortress at Dealul Florilor. After the Dacian Wars, Emperor Trajan transformed most of Dacia into a Roman province; the territory of the city became part of the province of Dacia Superior, and later Dacia Porolissensis.

According to Gesta Hungarorum, Vlach political formations located in the north and northwest of Transylvania, led by Gelou, Glad, and Menumorut were conquered by the Hungarian tribes at the beginning of the tenth century. During the Menumorut voivodeship, the defense of the salt road was ensured by the fortresses from Ocna Dej and Cuzdrioara and the fortified points from Uriu and Urișor. The extension of the Kingdom of Hungary to the center and south of Transylvania was achieved with the help of Székely and German settlers. The first German settlers arrived in the Dej area in the years 1141–1143, entering from Satu Mare to Dej, Bistrița, Cluj, and Reghin. After leaving Holland and Flanders because of the floods of the sea, they settled in this region and founded the city of Dej. and Deésvár occurred, the earlier has been used until eventually it was changed to Dés. It had a royal charter as a free city and was the capital of Szolnok-Doboka County.

thumb|left|The Battle of Dés on November 24, 1848. Major Miklós Katona's troops are defeated by Karl von Urban's army.

During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 the city of Dés was the scene of military confrontations between units of the Hungarian army and units of the Austrian army, which included Romanian border regiments and Romanian peasants, under the command of colonel Karl von Urban. The biggest battle for control of Dés took place on 24 November 1848 in the Bungăr forest, and continued on the territory of the city. The Hungarian forces led by major Miklós Katona were put on the run by Von Urban, towards Nagybánya. More than 150 people fell in this battle; in their memory, the monument "The Sleeping Lion" was erected in 1889. The Dej Prison, located in the northern part of the town, was completed in 1894.

thumb|Entrance to the Ocna Dej salt mine, 19th century

On the 1st of December 1918, eleven delegates from Dej took part in the Romanian National Assembly in Alba Iulia, which proclaimed the union of Transylvania with Romania. In the aftermath of World War I and the ensuing Hungarian–Romanian War, the Romanian Army entered the city on 21 December 1918, and later the city became part of Romania. The interwar period brought important transformations to the city of Dej that allowed its development and modernization under the leadership of its mayor, Cornel Pop, who assumed the position in May 1920. From 1925 to 1938, the city was the county seat of Someș County, after which it became part of Ținutul Crișuri. On May 3, the city authorities launched the action of ghettoization of Jews in the Bungăr forest, where 3,700 Jews from Dej and 4,100 Jews from other localities in the county were imprisoned. During the operation of the Dej ghetto, Jews were mistreated, tortured, and starved. The deportation of the Jews to the Nazi death camps was done with freight wagons, in three stages: the first transport on May 28th when 3,150 Jews were deported; the second on June 6th, when 3,360 Jews were deported; the third on June 8th, when the last 1,364 Jews were deported. Most of those deported were exterminated in the Auschwitz–Birkenau camp, with just over 800 deportees surviving. At the 2011 census, there were 33,497 people living within the city; of those, 81.8% were ethnic Romanians, while 11.3% were ethnic Hungarians, 1.0% Roma, and 0.1% others.

Natives

  • Nicolae Blatt
  • Dan Bucșa
  • Zsigmond Czakó
  • Ciprian Deac
  • Adrian Falub
  • Liviu Goian
  • Cătălin Itu
  • Ana Novac
  • Paul Papp
  • Adriana Săftoiu
  • Lavinia Șandru
  • Itamar Singer
  • Raoul Șorban
  • Károly Ferenc Szabó
  • Géza Teleki
  • Călin Zanc

<gallery>

File:Dej 1902.png|Dej in 1902

File:Town hall dej.jpg|The City Hall

File:Town square night.jpg|City Square at Night

File:Street night.jpg|Avram Iancu Street

File:Dej synagogue.jpg|Synagogue in Dej

File:Biserica catolica dej.jpg|The Roman Catholic Church

File:Greek catholic churchdej.jpg|Greek-Catholic Church in 1 Mai

File:Cnam dej.jpg|Andrei Mureșanu National College

</gallery>

References