Mátészalka


Mátészalka is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. It is on the Kraszna River, 52 kilometers from the city of Nyiregyhaza.
Before World War II, there was a Jewish community in the town. At its height, there were 932 Jews in the community most of them were murdered by the German Nazis in the Holocaust. The first Jews settled in Mateszalka in the middle of the eighteenth century under the patronage of the estate owner, Sandor Karolyi, who settled Jews on his estate in order to develop it. His son, Ferenc Karolyi, inherited a part of his father's estate in 1784, which included most of the town. He continued his father's practices, and encouraged Jewish settlement in the town.

Geography

It covers an area of and has a population of 17,015 people.
The town was the birthplace of actor Tony Curtis' father and mother Manny and Helen Schwartz.

History

Mátészalka was created from the merger of two large villages: Máté, founded in 1231 and Szalka, created in 1268. From the fifteenth century, Mátészalka was a market settlement. From 1920 - 1950 it was the seat of the authorities of some of the committees Szatmár, Ugocsa and Bereg remaining in Hungary after the Trianon Treaty. In 1969 Mátészalka received city rights. The city is the seat of the regional Szatmári Múzeum.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Mátészalka is twinned with: