Kunmadaras

Kunmadaras is a large village in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Hungary.

Kunmadaras
Large village
Village hall and First World War monument
Coat of arms
Kunmadaras
Coordinates: 47°25′41″N 20°47′38″E
Country Hungary
CountyJász-Nagykun-Szolnok
DistrictKarcag
Area
 • Total153.64 km2 (59.32 sq mi)
Population
 (2009)
 • Total5,507
 • Density36.22/km2 (93.8/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
5321
Area code(s)(+36) 59
Websitekunmadaras.hu

History

The first written record of the existence of the village is from 1393. According to it Sigismund gave this area to the possession of György Madaras, that is where the name comes from. During the Ottoman occupation the village was destroyed.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the number of the population began to increase again, new houses, buildings were built. In 1811 it became a market town.

In 1944 the German army had a military airfield built at the edge of the village. During the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1944 the Soviet air force took over the airfield.

Jewish pogrom

In 1946 there occurred the Kunmadaras pogrom, inspired by a blood libel rumour[1] that Jews were making sausages out of children. Two Jews were killed and fifteen were injured.[2]

Military role in the socialist period

Between 1956 and 1991 Soviet army troops were stationed here. According to a book by Károly Vándor, this airfield was one of the military facilities in which nuclear weapons were held during the Cold War. The Soviet 328th independent Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, Southern Group of Forces, was stationed at Kunmadaras until 1990–91, whereupon it was withdrawn back to the Odessa region and disbanded.[3]

Population

In 2001 the inhabitants of the village declared themselves as 95% Hungarian and 5% Romanis.

References
  1. Applebaum, Anne (2012). Iron curtain: the crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956 (1st United States ed.). New York: Doubleday. pp. 138–139. ISBN 9780385515696.
  2. Hidas, Peter I. "Canada and the Hungarian Jewish Refugees 1956–1957". John Carroll University, AHEA Conference, 9-11 April 1999. Sympatico.
  3. Holm, Michael. "328th independent Guards Vislenskiy orders of Suvorov and Bogdan Khmelnitskiy Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment". The Luftwaffe, 1933–1945.

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