Murska Sobota

Murska Sobota (pronounced [ˈmúːɾska ˈsóːbɔta] (listen),[1] Slovenian abbreviation: MS [məˈsə̀];[1] German: Olsnitz;[2] Hungarian: Muraszombat[2]) is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the centre of the Municipality of Murska Sobota near the Mura River in the region of Prekmurje and is the regional capital.

Murska Sobota
Town
Murska Sobota
Flag
Coat of arms
Murska Sobota
Location of tMurska Sobota in Slovenia
Coordinates: 46°40′N 16°10′E
Country Slovenia
Traditional regionPrekmurje
Statistical regionMura
MunicipalityMurska Sobota
First mention1297 (as Belmura)
Town rightsaround 1479
Government
 • MayorAleksander Jevšek (SD)
Area
 • Total14.5 km2 (5.6 sq mi)
Elevation
190 m (620 ft)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total11,107
 • Density770/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02 (CEST)
Post code
9000
Area Code+382 02
Websitewww.murska-sobota.si

Name
Murska Sobota Castle

Officially, the town is known as Murska Sobota, although informally it is usually simply referred to as Sobota by its inhabitants and Murska by people from other parts of Slovenia. The settlement was first attested in written documents in 1297 as Belmura (and as Murazombatha in 1348 and Murazumbota in 1366).[3] The traditional German name of the town is Olsnitz, which is derived from the old Slovene name Olšnica. The modern Slovene name is a translation of the Hungarian name Muraszombat, which was the official name of the town until 1919. In Hungarian, szombat means 'Saturday', referring to the town's practice of holding fairs every week on that day. Murska Sobota was a district (Hungarian: járás) town of Vas County in the Kingdom of Hungary until 1918. It was occupied by Hungary again during World War II, from 1941 to 1944. Between 1944 and 1945 it was under Nazi German occupation and it was liberated by Soviet troops in May 1945. It was also part of the Balatin Sanjak, which belonged at first to the Budin Eyalet, later the Kanije Eyaleti, before the Treaty of Karlowitz.

History
Rakičan-Batthyány Castle

Murska Sobota used to be Yugoslavia's northernmost town, and throughout history it has shifted across borders between Slovenia, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. Hungarians still represent a 3,000-person minority. In 1919, the Republic of Prekmurje was declared here and the town was the capital of the new state. In 1991, during the Ten-Day War between Slovenia and the Yugoslav Federal Army, Murska Sobota was bombed from the air, with no casualties or visible damage. Today, it is a quiet town with an economy based on regional administration, light industry, commerce, and spa tourism. In April 2006, the town became the see of the newly created Roman Catholic Diocese of Murska Sobota, which is a suffragan to the archdiocese of Maribor.

Jewish community of Murska Sobota

The once significant Jewish community of Murska Sobota was eliminated by Nazi Germany. Before the World War II, a synagogue built by Lipót Baumhorn stood in Murska Sobota. It was consecrated on 31 August 1908 and demolished in 1954 by the local communist authorities after they purchased the building from a decimated Jewish community. The last rabbi in Murska Sobota was Lazar Roth.[4] He was murdered at Auschwitz.

On 26 April 1944, all of the Jews were ordered to gather in the Murska Sobota synagogue, with hand luggage only. There, they were locked up overnight without food or water, and the next morning all the Jews of Murska Sobota were transferred to Čakovec and then to Nagykanizsa, the main concentration camp before their final destination of Auschwitz.[5]

On 29 January 2010, the first Holocaust memorial in Slovenia was unveiled at the Murska Sobota railway station. It is dedicated to the exile of Jews from the Prekmurje region.[6][7]

Climate

Annual rainfall in Murska Sobota is among the lowest in Slovenia. Characterized by the instability of rainfall, severe droughts are frequent.

Climate data for Murska Sobota
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 16.4
(61.5)		 21.7
(71.1)		 25.6
(78.1)		 27.9
(82.2)		 31.4
(88.5)		 35.0
(95.0)		 35.6
(96.1)		 37.9
(100.2)		 30.6
(87.1)		 27.9
(82.2)		 21.9
(71.4)		 19.8
(67.6)		 37.9
(100.2)
Average high °C (°F) 2.5
(36.5)		 5.8
(42.4)		 11.0
(51.8)		 15.6
(60.1)		 20.8
(69.4)		 23.7
(74.7)		 25.9
(78.6)		 25.6
(78.1)		 21.2
(70.2)		 15.2
(59.4)		 8.0
(46.4)		 3.5
(38.3)		 14.9
(58.8)
Daily mean °C (°F) −1.2
(29.8)		 0.9
(33.6)		 5.3
(41.5)		 9.8
(49.6)		 15.0
(59.0)		 18.0
(64.4)		 19.7
(67.5)		 19.0
(66.2)		 14.8
(58.6)		 9.4
(48.9)		 3.9
(39.0)		 0.0
(32.0)		 9.6
(49.3)
Average low °C (°F) −4.9
(23.2)		 −3.4
(25.9)		 0.1
(32.2)		 3.9
(39.0)		 8.6
(47.5)		 11.9
(53.4)		 13.5
(56.3)		 13.0
(55.4)		 9.4
(48.9)		 4.7
(40.5)		 0.3
(32.5)		 −3.1
(26.4)		 4.5
(40.1)
Record low °C (°F) −26.9
(−16.4)		 −26.4
(−15.5)		 −18.0
(−0.4)		 −5.8
(21.6)		 −4.2
(24.4)		 −0.1
(31.8)		 5.1
(41.2)		 2.1
(35.8)		 −3.5
(25.7)		 −8.6
(16.5)		 −16.6
(2.1)		 −22.4
(−8.3)		 −26.9
(−16.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 31
(1.2)		 36
(1.4)		 47
(1.9)		 55
(2.2)		 72
(2.8)		 104
(4.1)		 97
(3.8)		 93
(3.7)		 81
(3.2)		 71
(2.8)		 70
(2.8)		 48
(1.9)		 805
(31.7)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 8.9 8.2 10.3 11.9 12.6 14.4 12.3 11.4 10.3 10.2 10.7 10.6 131.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours 65 103 148 177 233 236 265 253 182 130 72 57 1,913
Source: Slovenian Enivironment Agency (ARSO), sunshine hours are for: Murska Sobota 1971-2000 [8] (data for 1971-2000)

International relations
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Slovenia

Twin towns – Sister cities

Murska Sobota is twinned with:

See also

References
  1. "Slovenski pravopis 2001: Murska Sobota".
  2. Radkersburg und Luttenberg (map, 1:75,000). 1894. Vienna: K.u.k. Militärgeographisches Institut.
  3. Snoj, Marko (2009). Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan. p. 276.
  4. History of the Jews in Murska Sobota
  5. Jews of Murska Sobota
  6. "Memorial to Exiled Jews Unveiled in Murska Sobota". STA. 29 January 2010.
  7. "A memorial dedicated to the exile of Jews from the NE region of Prekmurje is unveiled at the Murska Sobota train station". STA. 29 January 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  8. "Murska Sobota Climate normals 1971-2000" (PDF). ARSO. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.