Dudeștii Noi


Dudeștii Noi is a commune in Timiș County, Banat, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Dudeștii Noi, part of Becicherecu Mic Commune until 2004, when it was split off.

Geography

Dudeștii Noi is situated at the south-eastern part of the Banatian moorland as part of the Great Hungarian Plain, 84–99 m above sea level. The village has a population of 2,501, with 46 inhabitants per km² on an area of 54 km², and is located off rural highway no. 6 Timișoara-Sânnicolau Mare, 13 km north-west of Timișoara, with railway access since the end of the 19th century. Dudeștii Noi has continental climate, with cold winters and hot summers, as well as short springs. The average annual temperature is 10.6 °C. The farmlands are highly fertile and have Loess soil with a low water table.

History

, Romans, Goths, Huns, Gepids, Awards, Serbs, Slovenes, Mongols and Turks attacked or settled in the Banat over the centuries while thrusting aside or annihilating each other in mutual confrontations. The name of the village, Bessenovo, originated from an earlier settlement by the Pechenegs. It was first documented in the papal registers in 1333. In 1551, the Ottomans entered the Banat. The occupation only ended when Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Austrian troops took Timișoara on October 13, 1756. By now the whole area had become depopulated, impoverished and marshy. In the Treaty of Passarowitz the Banat of Temeswar was subordinated to the Hofkammer in Vienna as crown land of the Kaiser on July 21, 1718. Field Marshal Claudius Florimund Count de Mercy was assigned in 1720 with the administration, reclamation and administration of the Banat. Initially he recruited immigrants predominantly from his native country Lorraine for the province entrusted in his care. The Lorrainian Johann Oßwald, living in the Banat since 20 years already, recruited 60 German-Lorrainian families from the area around Mainz and Trier to settle in Beschenowa. 1748, as part of the Great Swabian Migrations of the Danube-Swabians, this first group of voluntary Imperial colonists arrived, most of which came on floats called Ulmer Schachtel traveling on the river Danube from the German town of Ulm for about two or three weeks. 1750 a further group of settlers arrived. The name of Neubeschenowa was adopted to distinguish the village from Altbeschenowa, Bulgarian Dudeştii Vechi, also located in the Banat. Following the unrests by the Salpeters in the shire of Hauenstein, Black Forest, several families were deported by force and resettled in Neubeschenowa. Several decommissioned soldiers also settled in the community in 1763. The family of Habsburg-Lorraine signed over politically the Banat of Temeswar to Hungary in 1778.
August 9, 1849 saw the deciding battle of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 close to Neubeschenowa. 30,000 soldiers of the Austrian army with 108 cannon, led by Count Julius Jacob von Haynau met at the Nyarad Creek the 55,000 soldiers and 108 cannon strong Hungarian army under the command of the Generals Henryk Dembiński and Józef Bem. The victory of the Austrian troops ended the siege of Temeswars after 107 days, and the Banat becomes Austrian crown land once again. Following the Ausgleich between Austria and Hungary in 1867, the Banat and Transylvania come under Hungarian rule again. 325 emigrants left Neubeschenowa for North America 1906–1908, of which 65 returned later. The emigrants transferred 375,000 Kronen back home.
During World War I, 127 persons died or were missing in action. Following the collapse of the k.u.k. monarchy, the Banat Republic was proclaimed in 1918. In 1918–1919, most of the Banat and Neubeschenowa became now part of Romania. The first National Socialist labour camp of the Hitler Youth of Banat was held in Neubeschenowa during the summer of 1933. During World War II, 37 men die in the service of the Romanian army, and 83 men in the German Army. After Romania changed sides and joined the Allies, 19 families fled in September 1944, and all remaining inhabitants were evacuated to the neighbouring community of St. Andreas during September 29 – October 10. During the organised Expulsion of Germans from Romania after World War II, 297 men and women were deported for reconstruction works to Ukraine in January and February 1945, of which 68 died in the coal mines as forced labourers. The remaining German population was expropriated. The first Romanian colonists arrived in July, and in 1947 almost every house in Neubeschenowa was occupied by Romanians. 1951–1956 saw the deportation of 62 families to the Bărăgan Plain to a makeshift shanty town by the name of Bumbacâri , north-east of Bucureşti, after the Soviet model of the Gulag. 22 of the 170 deported did not return.
Following the Family Reunion Treaty between Germany and Romania in 1978, and later after the fall of the Ceauşescu regime in December 1989, most of the Danube Swabian/German population of Neubeschenowa left in 2 large waves of emigration, mainly to Germany. The community participated actively in the events that led to the Romanian Revolution of 1989. Since 2004, Alin Adrian Nica, member of the Partidul Naţional Liberal, is Mayor of Dudeștii Noi.

Development of Population

Religious sites

Roman Catholic

In 1334 the first rectory was founded, which was restored in 1749. In 1750–1751 the church was built. Patron saint of the parish was Saint Wendelin. In 1751 the first cemetery was consecrated. Since 1754, the parish celebrated the religious holidays of Saint Wendelin of Trier, Saint Roch of Montpellier, Saint John of Nepomuk, Saint Quirinus of Tegernsee, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus devotion. 1764 acquisition of the first organ at a cost of 150 Guilder. 1765 the first church bell was cast in Graz, in the honour of Saint George. 1767 saw the first church clock. 1780 the parish acquired three new church bells. 1784 both church and rectory were renovated. 1818 three new church bells were acquired, for 2,800 guilders.
In 1824 the foundation stone of the new rectory was laid. In 1832 a new organ was bought, cost: 5,000 guilders. In 1857 the metal Cross was placed in front of the church. Thieves looted the rectory in the same year and escaped with 1,074 guilders. The church was renovated again in 1997, but then damaged through bad weather during the summer of 1998. In 1838 a new cemetery was consecrated, followed by the construction of the Chapel of Saint Roch in 1844.

Orthodox

In 1971 the church dedicated to Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki was constructed.

Other sites

Traditions

The Heimatortsgemeinschaft Neubeschenowa, the Home Town Community, upholds the German traditions of Neubeschenowa. The goals of the association are to foster relations between original residents and fellow countrymen living abroad, as well as to preserve traditional customs. The community meets regularly since 1957, and biannually since 1981 in the area of Augsburg, Germany. Holy Masses are said and Church Services are held during those gatherings, followed by traditional Church Consecration Festival dance presentations and parades in traditional costumes, to the tunes of traditional oompah-style brass bands.

Personalities