Gelu (Timiș)

Gelu Ketfel Kétfél Ketvelj
Help on coat of arms
Basic data
State :	Romania
Historical region :	Banat
Circle :	Timiș
Municipality :	Variaș
Coordinates :	46 ° 0 '  N , 21 ° 3'  E Coordinates: 46 ° 0 '18 "  N , 21 ° 3' 26"  E
Time zone :	EET ( UTC +2)
Residents :	1,529 (2002)
Postal code :	307456
Telephone code :	(+40) 02 56
License plate :	TM
Structure and administration (as of 2013)
Community type :	Village
Mayor :	Nicolae Birau ( USL )

Location of Gelu in Timiṣ County

Gelu (German: Ketfel , Hungarian: Kétfél , Serbian: Ketvelj , Кетфель ) is a village in Timiș County , Banat , Romania . The village of Gelu belongs to the Variaș municipality . Today's Gelu was created through the merger of the former villages of Chetfel (German: Ketfel , Hungarian: Kétfél ) and Colonia Mică (German: Kleinsiedel , Hungarian: Kistelek ).

Geographical location

Gelu is located in the north of Timiș County, on the border with Arad County , 34 kilometers from Timișoara , on the DJ692 Sânandrei - Beba Veche county road and on the Sânandrei - Periam railway line .

Neighboring places

Sânpetru Mic	Sânpetru German	Mailat
Variaș		Mănăştur
Șandra	Satchinez	Bărăteaz

history

In the papal registers from 1454-1456 Ketfüli appears as the property of the Hungarian Count Tan. Several Serbian families settled there in the 15th century .

On the Josephine land survey of 1717, the place Kötfel is registered. After the Peace of Passarowitz (1718), when the Banat became a Habsburg crown domain , Ketfel was part of the Temescher Banat . During the Habsburg colonization, some Germans were also settled here.

The Germans were tobacco farmers and founded the town of Kleinsiedel (Hungarian: Kistelep , Romanian: Colonia Mică ). Kleinsiedel was one of the 19 tobacco farming communities that were founded in the Banat between 1840 and 1848. A total of 45 German families were settled. They were given a 20 year lease. Of the 12 yoke arable land, at least a third had to be planted with tobacco, with half of the harvest being left to the cameramen and the other half being available to the village community. After 20 years, the settlers could buy the fields.

The place was called Ketfel until 1920 and was mostly a village inhabited by Serbs. On June 4, 1920, the Banat was divided into three parts as a result of the Treaty of Trianon . The largest, eastern part, to which Ketfel also belongs, fell to the Kingdom of Romania . Until 1926 the place name was Chetfel . Since then the village has been called Gelu . In 1966 Gelu was merged with the German village of Kleinsiedel . Since then, the official name for both places has been Gelu.

Demographics

As can be seen from the following tables, Ketfel was a Serbian village and Kleinsiedel was a German village.

The population development of Ketfel:

census		Ethnicity
year	Residents	Romanians	Hungary	German	Serbs
1880	1797	72	21st	234	1470
1910	1671	85	43	311	1232
1930	1565	82	30th	319	1134
1977	1642	546	26th	268	802
2002	1529	985	39	18th	487

The population development from Kleinsiedel to the merger with Ketfel:

census		Ethnicity
year	Residents	Romanians	Hungary	German	Other
1880	344	-	1	339	4th
1910	254	4th	2	242	6th
1930	271	9	3	258	1
1941	273	2	10	253	8th
1966	-	-	-	-	-

literature

• Elke Hoffmann, Peter-Dietmar Leber and Walter Wolf : The Banat and the Banat Swabians. Volume 5. Cities and Villages , Media Group Universal Grafische Betriebe München GmbH, Munich, 2011, 670 pages, ISBN 3-922979-63-7 .
• Hilde Bücher: The rise and fall of a small group of Germans in the Banat. Heimatbuch , Heimatortsgemeinschaft Ketfel-Kleinsiedel M. Inger, Pforzheim 2005.

Web links

• banaterra.eu , Ketfel / Kleinsiedel (Gelu)
• banatergottesheuser.ro , Heinz Vogel: Banater churches
• dvhh.org , Ketfel

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elke Hoffmann, Peter-Dietmar Leber and Walter Wolf : The Banat and the Banat Swabians. Volume 5. Cities and Villages , Media Group Universal Grafische Betriebe München GmbH, Munich, 2011, 670 pages, ISBN 3-922979-63-7
2. ↑ ^{a b} kia.hu , (PDF; 982 kB) E. Varga: Statistics of the number of inhabitants by ethnic group in the Timiș district according to censuses from 1880 - 2002