Artifacts dating back to 5500
BC and belonging to the
Starčevo–Körös–Criș culture, as well as artifacts dating back to the 15th century BC and belonging to the
Wietenberg culture from the
Bronze Age have been discovered on the territory of Dej. Also in the Bronze Age, the exploitation of
salt deposits in the area of today's city began and developed. During the
Iron Age, the
Geto-Dacian civilization arose and spread over a vast territory. The
Someș Valley was an integral part of this historical evolution, as evidenced by archaeological discoveries in the area, such as the
Dacian fortress at Dealul Florilor. After the
Dacian Wars,
Emperor Trajan transformed most of Dacia into a
Roman province; the territory of the city became part of the province of
Dacia Superior, and later
Dacia Porolissensis. According to
Gesta Hungarorum,
Vlach political formations located in the north and northwest of Transylvania, led by
Gelou,
Glad, and
Menumorut were
conquered by the Hungarian tribes at the beginning of the tenth century. During the Menumorut
voivodeship, the defense of the salt road was ensured by the fortresses from Ocna Dej and
Cuzdrioara and the fortified points from
Uriu and
Urișor. The extension of the
Kingdom of Hungary to the center and south of Transylvania was achieved with the help of
Székely and
German settlers. The first
German settlers arrived in the Dej area in the years 1141–1143, entering from
Satu Mare to Dej,
Bistrița,
Cluj, and
Reghin. After leaving
Holland and
Flanders because of the floods of the sea, they settled in this region and founded the city of Dej. and
Deésvár occurred, the earlier has been used until eventually it was changed to
Dés. It had a
royal charter as a free city and was the capital of
Szolnok-Doboka County. During the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848 the city of Dés was the scene of military confrontations between units of the Hungarian army and units of the
Austrian army, which included Romanian border regiments and Romanian peasants, under the command of colonel
Karl von Urban. The biggest battle for control of Dés took place on 24 November 1848 in the Bungăr forest, and continued on the territory of the city. The Hungarian forces led by major Miklós Katona were put on the run by Von Urban, towards
Nagybánya. More than 150 people fell in this battle; in their memory, the monument "The Sleeping Lion" was erected in 1889. The
Dej Prison, located in the northern part of the town, was completed in 1894. On the 1st of December 1918, eleven delegates from Dej took part in the Romanian National Assembly in
Alba Iulia, which proclaimed the
union of Transylvania with Romania. In the aftermath of
World War I and the ensuing
Hungarian–Romanian War, the
Romanian Army entered the city on 21 December 1918, and later the city became part of
Romania. The
interwar period brought important transformations to the city of Dej that allowed its development and modernization under the leadership of its mayor, Cornel Pop, who assumed the position in May 1920. From 1925 to 1938, the city was the county seat of
Someș County, after which it became part of
Ținutul Crișuri. On May 3, the city authorities launched the action of
ghettoization of Jews in the Bungăr forest, where 3,700 Jews from Dej and 4,100 Jews from other localities in the county were imprisoned. During the operation of the
Dej ghetto, Jews were mistreated, tortured, and starved. The deportation of the Jews to the
Nazi death camps was done with freight wagons, in three stages: the first transport on May 28th when 3,150 Jews were deported; the second on June 6th, when 3,360 Jews were deported; the third on June 8th, when the last 1,364 Jews were deported. Most of those deported were exterminated in the
Auschwitz–Birkenau camp, with just over 800 deportees surviving. Towards the end of
World War II, Romanian and
Soviet armies entered the city on October 15, 1944. The territory of Northern Transylvania remained under Soviet military administration until March 9, 1945, after the appointment of
Petru Groza as
Prime Minister. After the
elections of November 1946, residents of villages near Dej revolted against the falsification of the election results by the communist authorities and launched the first revolt against the new regime, being stopped by armed troops at the Someș bridge. The name of the city was related to the name of the first
Romanian Communist Party leader,
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej who lived here in 1931 and worked at the railway station. When he became the de facto ruler of the country, Gheorghe Gheorghiu officially took the name of the city and supported the economic development of the locality. The
communist regime brought with it fundamental transformations in the political, administrative and economic life of the city. Many previous leaders fell victim to the regime, as happened with the former mayor, Cornel Pop, who died in
Văcărești prison in 1953. Another personality, ex-Prime Minister
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod, a native of nearby
Bobâlna, was arrested in March 1945 by the dreaded
Securitate and died under house arrest in 1950. In December 1950, Someș County was abolished, and Dej District was organized in its place within the
Cluj Region. Following the administrative reform of 1968, the city of Dej was declared a municipality within Cluj County. A tragic event in the history of the city were the catastrophic
floods of May 1970, when all the low areas of the city were under water and 6 people drowned. After the
Romanian Revolution of 1989, state-owned enterprises were privatized, an environment for developing a market economy was created, new production units with domestic and foreign capital were set up, and many small and medium-sized enterprises emerged in Dej. The educational institutions, the municipal hospital, the cultural institutions were modernized, new churches were built, and the infrastructure of the city was updated. == Demographics ==