Aiud

Aiud ( pronunciation ^?^/^I , German Strasbourg am Mieresch , Hungarian Nagyenyed , Latin Brucla , in the Middle Ages Egidiopolis ) is a town in the Alba district in Transylvania , Romania .

Geographical location

The small town of Aiud is located on the rivers Aiud and Mureş ( Mieresch ), the European route 81 and the railway line Alba Iulia – Târgu Mureş about 100 kilometers northwest of Sibiu ( Hermannstadt ); the district capital Alba Iulia ( Karlsburg ) is located approx. 27 kilometers south of Aiud.

history

View of Aiud

After the Dacians , the region came under Roman rule. The Roman garrison camp of Brucla was located in the municipality of Aiud .

In the 9th century Bulgaro Turks settled in the area , who left a burial ground in the village of Ciumbrud (ung. Csombrod).

In the 13th century, Transylvanian Saxons settled in the area and founded a settlement that was first mentioned in 1293. In the medieval documents, this is called Enietten or Engeten, which comes from the Hungarian (also Angeten or Anjet in the Saxon dialect). Later the modern German name Strasbourg also appears.

During the Transylvanian peasant uprising under Antal Budai Nagy (Rum .: răscoala de la Bobâlna, "uprising of Bobâlna") from 1437 to 1438, Aiud was taken by the rebels.

During the Reformation in the 16th century, Calvinism established itself among the previously Catholic residents of Aiud , while the Saxons of the other regions of Transylvania converted almost entirely to Lutheranism . Aiud became one of the centers of Calvinism in Transylvania, which was otherwise mainly spread among the Hungarian population (see Reformed Church in Romania ). The Reformed Saxons of Aiud therefore had close contact with their Hungarian denominations and as a result Magyarized themselves ethnically and linguistically. The Reformed / Calvinist Lyceum founded by Prince Gábor Bethlen in Karlsburg / Alba Iulia in 1622 was relocated to Aiud / Strasbourg in 1662 by Prince Michael I. Apafi .

During the Kuruzenkrieg , Aiud, which was occupied by an Austrian garrison, was besieged on March 13, 1704 by troops of Franz II Rákóczi and subsequently captured. Much of the city was destroyed and burned down. 30 students of the reformed high school, who showed solidarity with the rebels, were killed.

In 1849 the city fell victim to the chaos of war again. The Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49 also spread to Transylvania. The city of Aiud showed solidarity with the rebels against Austrian rule, while the Romanian population was skeptical of the uprising, which was supported by Hungarian nationalist demands. On January 8, 1849, a Romanian peasant army led by Ioan Axente Sever appeared in front of the city and began the siege. Romanian sympathizers led by the Orthodox Pope Simion Prodan set fire in the city. The siege lasted until January 17th and the fighting and the fire killed around 600 residents of the city, which was not captured. The dead were thrown over the wall into the ditch. Axente Sever was arrested in February 1849 and put on trial. But when the anti-Austrian revolution failed in August 1849, he was acquitted.

After the First World War, Aiud and all of Transylvania came to the Kingdom of Romania . During the communist dictatorship after 1947, a notorious prison for political prisoners was established in Aiud, in which numerous well-known opposition members were imprisoned. Numerous Romanians from neighboring communities and other regions of the country were also resettled in the city in order to change the ethnic structure.

During excavations in Aiud in 1973, a puzzling 2.3 kg aluminum wedge, the aluminum wedge of Aiud, was found. The wedge was temporarily exhibited in 2013 in the National Museum of Transylvanian History ( Muzeul Național de Istorie a Transilvaniei ) in Cluj-Napoca . In 2000, investigations clearly showed that the item was part of a Messerschmitt aircraft from the Second World War.

population

In 2002 Aiud had 28,934 inhabitants, of which 78.09% were Romanians , 16.54% Hungarians , 5.05% declared themselves to be Roma , 0.15% as German and 0.32% belonged to other ethnic groups. In terms of religion, 76.32% belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church, 13.06% were Calvinist Reformed, 4.13% Greek Catholic, 2.12% Roman Catholic and 4.37% belonged to other denominations, especially Protestant Free Churches.