Editing Deva, Romania (section)

==History==
Documentary evidence of the city's existence first appeared in 1269 when [[Stephen V of Hungary|Stephen V]], [[King of Hungary]] and [[Voivodeship|Duke]] of [[Transilvania]], mentioned "the royal castle of Deva" in a privilege-grant for the [[Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)|Count]] Chyl of [[Câlnic, Alba|Kelling]] ({{langx|ro|comitele Chyl din Câlnic}})<!-- http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/cultura/a_calnic.html -->.<ref name="cetatea-a">{{cite book | last= Octavian | first= Floca |author2=Ben Bassa | title= Cetatea Deva
|series = Monumentele patriei noastre | year = 1965 | publisher=Editura Meridiane
|location = București | language  = ro|pages= 14}}</ref> In the 14th century Deva with its surrounding villages were part of a [[Romanian district]], and the citadel had four seats under its jurisdiction (Deva, [[Ilia, Hunedoara|Ilia]], [[Șoimuș]], the estates of Criș and the surroundings of [[Brad, Hunedoara|Brad]]), which were part of the royal domain and were ruled by [[Knez (Vlach leader)|knezes]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Ioan Andrițoiu|author2=Ioan Petru Albu|title=Deva și împrejurimile în sec. IV-XIV|year=2007|page=65|publisher=Sargetia. Acta Musei Devensis|orig-year=1969|url=https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/reviste/sargetia/dl.asp?filename=06-Sargetia-Acta-Musei-Devensis-VI-1969_062.pdf|access-date=31 March 2025|language=ro}}</ref>  Partially destroyed by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] in 1550, it was afterward rebuilt and the fortress extended. In 1621 Prince [[Gabriel Bethlen]] transformed and extended the [[Magna Curia Palace]] (also known as the Bethlen Castle) in [[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] style.
 
In 1711–1712, Deva was settled by a group of [[Roman Catholic]] [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]] merchant refugees from the unsuccessful anti-[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Chiprovtsi Uprising]] of 1688. The refugees were originally mostly from [[Chiprovtsi]] and [[Zhelezna]], though also from the neighbouring [[Kopilovtsi, Montana Province|Kopilovtsi]] and Klisura.<ref name="orasuldeva">{{cite web|url=http://orasuldeva.ro/orasul/index.php/populatia|title=Populatia|date=2012-04-11|publisher=Orasul Deva|language=ro|access-date=28 August 2012}}</ref><ref name="balkanski">{{cite book|last=Балкански|first=Тодор|title=Трансилванските (седмиградските) българи. Етнос. Език. Етнонимия. Ономастика. Просопографии|trans-title=The Transylvanian (Sedmigradsko) Bulgarians. Ethnicity. Language. Ethnonymy. Onomastics. Prosopographies|publisher=ИК "Знак '94"|location=Велико Търново|year=1996|language=bg|pages=111–115|isbn=9789548709163}}</ref> However, the refugees came to Deva from [[Wallachia]] and from [[Vinţu de Jos|Alvinc]] (now ''Vinţu de Jos'', Romania), where a similar colony had been established in 1700.<ref name="telbizov">{{cite book|last=Телбизов|first=Карол|title=Български търговски колонии в Трансилвания през XVIII век|trans-title=Bulgarian merchant colonies in Transylvania in the 18th century|publisher=Издателство на Българската академия на науките|location=София|year=1984|pages=17|isbn=9780814793787|oclc=490158032|language=bg}}</ref>

They numbered in 1716<ref name="telbizov68">Телбизов, p. 68</ref> 51 families and three [[Franciscan]] friars, established their own neighbourhood, which was known to the locals as ''Greci'' ("Greeks", i.e. "merchants"). Their influence over local affairs caused Deva to be officially called a "Bulgarian town" for a short period, even though the maximum population of the colony was 71 families in 1721.<ref name="telbizov68"/> The Bulgarians received royal privileges of the [[Austrian Empire|Austrian crown]] along with their permission to settle and their acquisition of land and property. The construction of Deva's Franciscan friary commenced in 1724 with the funding and efforts of its Bulgarian population, so that the monastery was commonly known as the Bulgarian Monastery. However, the [[Great Plague of 1738]] and the gradual assimilation of the Deva Bulgarians into other ethnicities of Transylvania prevented the colony from growing and by the late 19th century the Bulgarian ethnic element in the town had disappeared completely.<ref name="orasuldeva"/><ref name="balkanski"/> 

===Jewish history===
[[File:RO HD Sinagoga din Deva.jpg|thumb|Deva synagogue]]
Jews first settled in the town in the 1830s, organizing a community in 1848. Rabbi Moshe Herzog (1893-1898) delivered patriotic sermons in Hungarian. The synagogue was rebuilt in 1925. In 1923, the strictly [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] established their own congregation under Hayyim Yehuda Ehrenreich, a rabbinical scholar whose periodical ''Otzar ha-Hayyim'' became renowned in Jewish academic circles. In 1927, he set up a press that printed classical Hebrew works.<ref name="spector"/>

Zionist organizations were especially active in the mid-1920s. In 1930, there were 914 Jews, or 8.7% of the total. On 5 December 1940, during the [[National Legionary State]], Jewish merchants were forced to give up their shops to members of the ruling [[Iron Guard]]. In June 1941, when [[Operation Barbarossa|Romania entered World War II]], 695 Jewish refugees from surrounding villages were brought to Deva. In the war's aftermath, many remained there. There were 1190 Jews in 1947; the majority emigrated to Israel after 1948.<ref name="spector">Shmuel Spector, Geoffrey Wigoder (eds.), ''The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust: A—J'', p. 308. [[New York University Press]], 2001, {{ISBN|0-8147-9376-2}}</ref>