title: Elek
text: # Elek
  
  Elek (German: Renndorf, Romanian: Aletea) is a town in Békés County, in the Southern Great Plain region of south-east Hungary. Jews lived in the city as early as the 19th century and in 1944 many of them were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
  
  ## Geography
  
  The town covers an area of 54.94 $km^2$ (21.21 sq mi) and had a population of 5,567 in 2002.
  
  ## History
  
  * 1232 : First mentioned
  * 1566-1696 : Ottoman rule (Ottoman wars in Europe)
  * 1724 : settling of German colonists (predominantly from Franconia)
  * 1739 : Bubonic plague
  * 1894 : Artesian aquifer
  * 1920 : Elek becomes border town (Treaty of Trianon)
  * 1946 : Expulsion of German inhabitants, about half the population
  * 1996 : Elek given town status
  
  | Year | Population |
  | - | - |
  | 1802 | 1,200 |
  | 1835 | 2,500 |
  | 1890 | 5,700 |
  | 1930 | 8,400 |
  | 1940 | 9,300 |
  | 2000 | 5,500 |
  | 2010 | 4,985 |
  | 2019 | 4,816 |
  
  ### Twin towns
  
  Elek is twinned with:
  
  * Gerolzhofen, Germany (1990)
  * Alerheim, Germany (1992)
  * Leimen, Germany (1992)
  * Sebiș (Borossebes), Romania (1992)
  * Gerlingen, Germany
  * Laudenbach, Germany (1994)
  * Veľké Kapušany (Nagykapocs), Slovakia (1996)
  * Grăniceri (Ottlaka), Romania (1997)
  * Dumbrava (Igazfalva), Romania (2019)
  