Lenauheim of 1769–1772 The first evidence of the existence of a community in present-day Lenauheim is from the 3rd–4th centuries. Archaeological studies from 1960 have brought to light vessels made in the post-Roman period. These vessels are exhibited at the
National Museum of Banat in
Timișoara. Between 1311 and 1415 are recorded the presence of several
landlords, including Mathias von Csatád from which comes the old name of the village – Cetad. Historian Ágoston Bárány suggests that the name derives from the
Romanian word
cetate ("citadel"), invoking the existence around 1845 of some old foundations identified within the commune's borders. Although unlikely, other historians derive the word
csata (
Hungarian for "battle") from that name. On 12 May 1470, King
Matthias Corvinus donated Cetad to the Dóczy family, one of the most influential families in
southern Hungary. They settled only in 1477 and resided here until 1481 when, following the dismissal of the head of the family from the rulership of
Banat by
Matthias Corvinus, Cetad became the property of the
Révay family. However, Cetad came into the possession of the Dóczys once again in 1482. By that time, Cetad was ravaged by Ottoman incursions; a document of 23 March 1482 mentions it as a
puszta (
Hungarian for "deserted"). 202 houses were built at the behest of Councilor , and the colony thus established was given the Hungarianized name
Csatád, thus recovering the name of the old medieval settlement. In 1925, with the
Law for Administrative Unification, the name of the commune changed from Cetad to Lenauheim, after the German-language poet
Nikolaus Lenau, born here in 1802. The majority German population began to shrink after
World War II. In 1945, 141 locals
were deported to the USSR. Also during this period a large number of ethnic Germans were
deported to Bărăgan. By
Law no. 2/1968 regarding the administrative-territorial reorganization of Romania in Lenauheim commune are included the neighboring localities Bulgăruș and Grabaț, until that law independent communes, the center of the new commune being Lenauheim.
Bulgăruș Bulgăruș is first attested by Hungarian documents dating from 1452 and 1493. It was then called
Bogaros. During the Ottoman occupation of
Banat, it seems that it was completely deserted and disappeared towards the end of the 16th century. However, the name
Bogaros appears in several Turkish
defters, referring to the
praedium of the same name. At the 1717 census it is registered as uninhabited. The old hearth of the village was identified about 100 m from the current village. The village was re-established in 1769 by German colonization, according to the plan of the commander of
Timisoara Neumann. The first German (
Swabian) colonists began to settle in Bulgăruș in early 1769 and came from
Lotharingia,
Luxembourg,
Upper Austria and
Hesse. Each received a plot for house, 34
jugers of land, construction materials and was granted various privileges and tax exemptions. The
Hungarian Revolution of 1848 had a major impact on village life. Many of the inhabitants were directly involved in the events and many died in the fighting that took place in the area. In 1849 Bulgăruș was practically besieged by an army of 20,000 soldiers and 84 cannons, as well as the battleground between the revolutionaries and the imperial armies. Heavy fighting took place on 8 August 1849 between Bulgăruș and Cetad (present-day Lenauheim), resulting in numerous deaths and injuries among the villagers. The political activity of the Swabians from more than 38 German villages in Banat materialized in the
Petition of the Swabians from Bulgăruș on 2 October 1849, which demanded more liberties for the Swabians in Banat. The exodus of the Germans to
Germany took place during the communist period and after 1990. Germans were replaced by Romanians coming from different parts of the country.
Grabaț The name
Grabaț is of Slavic origin and already existed when the first Swabians arrived here, but it did not describe a specific settlement, but rather an area sporadically inhabited by Serbian cattle breeders.
Count Mercy's map of 1723 shows a praedium (estate) called
Grabatz, although the village did not exist at that time. Grabaț was founded in 1764, during the second wave of colonization of
Banat, also called the "Theresian Colonization" (). Within this colonization program, the imperial administration of
Banat ordered the creation in the
Grabatz estate of a new settlement for German (Swabian) colonists. , the administrative adviser to the Imperial Court in
Vienna, was responsible for the establishment of the colony. He first ordered the design of the settlement according to a predetermined model, with the church, the parish house, the school, the town hall and the pub being in the central point of the village, with parallel streets and equal plots for houses. A year later, in 1765, about 40 families of German colonists settled here. Most came from southwestern Germany (
Alsace,
Lorraine,
Rhineland-Palatinate,
Württemberg,
Schwarzwald and
Luxembourg), then Germans from
Săcălaz and nearby German villages. In 1769 the settlement already had 200 houses and a Roman Catholic church, built of wood. The brick church was completed only in 1780. == Demographics ==