Freidorf

Freidorf (German for "free village"; Hungarian: Szabadfalu) was one of the first German settlements in Temes County, Kingdom of Hungary. It was recorded in 1369 as Zabadfalua, Zabadfalu, in 1415, 1482 as Zabadfalu, in 1808 as Freydorf, Frajtok, in 1851, 1888 as Freidorf, Szabadfalva, from 1913 as Szabadfalu.[1] In 1920, it became part of Romania; since 1950 it is a district of the city of Timișoara. Freidorf maintains historic architecture, old German-style homes, and many green spaces.

Catholic church in Freidorf

History
Freidorf in the Josephine Map of Banat, 1769-72

The first inhabitants of Fraidorf came from the province of Alsace, from a village, which was also called Freidorf. The neighborhood was originally a German commune, founded in 1723 and exempt from taxes, which gave it the name Freidorf. They consist of the Catholic church, the school and a windmill. Initially it was a rather small village, built on the estate of General Wellis, commander of the citadel of Temeswar, with little land and about 500 inhabitants. In the documents it appeared to be mentioned in 1728 as Neudorf. Starting with 1732, it was also populated by Italian silk craftsmen. In 1796 the first records on the Bega Canal in Freidorf have appeared. The condition of the canal is described by the pontoon corporal, Franz Ulrichsberger, in a report of October 20, 1796, written in Temeswar following an inspection carried out by Order of the Banat General Military Command: "From Temeswar to Freidorf you can navigate the canal with full load. From Freidorf to Deutschsanktmichael, the fully loaded vessels cannot pass, only if they will be partially unloaded, the cause of the slightly lower water level being that in several places the canal has up to 86 embankments."

House in Freidorf built in 1929
In this place was the house where the Olympic swimming champion, the actor Johnny Weissmuller, was born on July 2, 1904.

Freidorful also played an important role during the Hungarian Revolution, the Struggle for Freedom, between 1848 and 1849. Timisoara was besieged by Hungarian troops, but the military leadership of the city remained loyal to the Austrian emperor. The leader of the Hungarian army, General Bem, set up camp in Freidorf. He had settled in the Parish House, while his aides stayed in the houses in the village. Among them was Sándor Petőfi.

In the park that exists today, and which bears his name, there is a 150-year-old monument that commemorates the fact that in Freidorf, General Bem elevated Sándor to the rank of major. Every year, on March 15, hundreds of Hungarians gather in the park to lay wreaths at the monument in honor of Sándor Petőfi.

In 1836, the population was decimated by a cholera epidemic, and since 1850 Hungarian and Romanian families began to come here. They mainly focused on in vegetable growing, raising animals and producing bricks, all production being destined for the expanding city. In 1889, a monument dedicated to Sándor Petőfi was unveiled, who was promoted to major, right in the military camp between Timișoara and Freidorf. In 1904, the first actor to play Tarzan, the Olympic winner athlete Johnny Weissmuller, was born in this neighborhood.

In 1967, Comtim was built in Freidorf, the largest industrial producer of pork in Romania. After 1990, the factory was closed.

In 1998, an association of emigrants, all former inhabitants of Freidorf, contributed to the construction of a monument in the Freidorf Cemetery, in memory of the Germans who fell on the battlefield in the First World War. The consecration of the monument took place on October 3.

On January 28, 2004, the Freidorf Neighborhood Advisory Council was established, the second in Romania and Timișoara. (The first was the Council of Ciarda Roșie, Timișoara) In the summer of the same year, a memorial plaque was inaugurated in Freidorf, located on an old house, because the building where Johnny Weissmuller was born was demolished in the '80s. Also, in 2004, the international consortium Smithfield Foods bought what was left of the old Comtim. On April 2, 2009, after twenty years, the County reopens its gates. The first presentation store, located in Freidorf, is open.

Geography

Soils
The Freidorf Pumping Station

In Freidorf, being located in an area of low and plain land, chernozems and alluvial soils predominate. As proof that the village, like the entire municipality of Timișoara, has developed on a swampy ground, the groundwater is at a very high level, it is at a depth of about 3 m. The pond in Freidorf, named after the inhabitants Szabo Pond is a remnant of the old ponds that once occupied large areas. It can be seen that Petofi Sandor Park is also located in the place of a former pond due to the level differences between the road and the park. Between the embankment of the railway leading to Cruceni and the dam of the Bega canal, the land is still very swampy. In the 1970s, the communist regime ordered the digging of several drainage canals in that area. They meet in the basin of a pumping station that pumps excess water into the Bega Canal. Currently, the Freidorf Pumping Station, which belongs to A.N.I.F Timiș, is no longer operational, this can have very serious consequences in case of large floods.

Confessional structure
  • Freidorf Roman Catholic Parish – Timișoara
    • Patron Saint Day: August 16, Saint Roch (Roca); (celebrated on the first Sunday after August 16);
    • Number of believers: 300, of which 200 Hungarians, 45 Germans, 40 Romanians, 10 Bulgarians, 5 Croats (in 1970 there were 2,300 believers, of which 1,800 Germans);
    • Liturgies: Sunday, 9:30, in 3 languages (Romanian, Hungarian, German) and daily at 7:00 in Romanian.

Educational institutions
  • Kindergarten no. 7, the kindergarten has an extended program
  • Kindergarten with Normal Program No. 15
  • General School with Grades I - VIII Nr. 29 Timișoara
  • Industrial School Group of Car Transports.

Older discoveries

In 1984, when excavations were made at the foundations of some factories, human bones were revealed. Archaeologists have excavated and established that the archaeological site is located on the southern edge of the neighbourhood and includes an alleged Daco-Roman settlement from the third to fourth centuries, superimposed by a necropolis from the fifth century AD. Since 1986, systematic research has been carried out, which continues today.

Transport

From the point of view of transport routes, Freidorful has both land (road, railway) and naval transport routes, thanks to the Bega Canal, to which are added the special transports. We also mention the existence of urban transport, which is over half a century old.

Rail transport

Rail transport is over a century old in Freidorf. The locality near Timișoara benefited from the advantages of this type of transport with the inauguration of the Timișoara - Modoș railway line, on July 31, 1897. At the time of the opening of the line passing through Freidorf, it was very important because it connected the capital of Banat and Zrenjanin, which is the largest city in Serbian Banat. The first station that Freidorful had (the one put into use in 1897, in the same year as the railway), and which still exists today, is located next to Contemporanul Street, 340 m southwest of the new station. and it was built during the 1970s. Currently, the railway that passes through Freidorf is the Timișoara-Cruceni Railway (highway CFR 926) which connects the municipality of Timișoara with the locality of Cruceni.

The new station building in Freidorf
Trams on line 3 in Freidorf
Bega Canal in Freidorf, seen from Podul Modoș

Over time, the train stop in Freidorf has had several names, depending on the political-historical context. Thus, at the time of the inauguration of the line that crosses the former locality, the station was called Szabadfalu (this being the official name of the locality at that time). After the First World War, so in the interwar period, the station in Freidorf will be called Sâmbăta Station, a fact attested both by the "Romanian Railways Map" of 1921 and by the Railway Map of 1938. After the Second World War, the name was "Freidorf", and later it was changed to the current name of "West Timișoara".

Shipping

Naval transport, although currently very poorly developed, is still practiced on the Bega Canal. In the past, heavy beet barges came to the canal for the Banat Sugar Factory. The peasants were also brought from the villages on the Bega by various ships, to trade the fruits and vegetables in Timișoara. Currently, the works that were started at the Bega Canal, aim to reopen the navigation.

Road transport

The car transport is very developed, Freidorful being crossed by the county road 526 that connects the Municipality of Timișoara with the localities of Utvin and Sânmihaiu Român, then continuing to the border with Serbia.

In the past, public transport was provided by tram line 3, which was dismantled in November 2009. Today, Freidorful has the E7 and E7 barat bus lines, which have as post points the Post Office (E7, E7b), Sándor Petőfi Park in Freidorf. (E7b) and Comtim Slaughterhouse.

Industry

At the exit from the Freidorf neighborhood to Utvin, the Banat Sugar Factory (FZB) was built on the site of an older factory during the communist period, and a small working-class neighborhood was developed around it, on Polonă Street. At the same time, in 1965, the foundations of the new Comtim slaughterhouse were laid. It operated until 1989. In 2004 the county was bought by the international consortium Smithfield Ferme. In 2009, 20 years after the collapse, pigs are being slaughtered again, and the old company is experiencing a new development.

Wastewater Treatment Plant in Timișoara

The Wastewater Treatment Plant from Timișoara was built between 1909 and 1911 according to the projects of the engineer Stan Vidrighin. It was inaugurated on October 26, 1912. Initially it had a capacity of 570 l / s. This capacity was increased to 1000 l / s in 1968. Between 1979 and 1981, the works were carried out at the station. The water purification capacity is increased to 2000 l / s. Currently, the treatment plant has an average annual flow of 51 million m3, respectively average monthly flow of 1600–1900 l / s. The "absolute" flow records were set in August 2005 (23,600 l / s) and in August 2007 (22,500 l / s).

Freidorf shipyard

Few people know that in the interwar period, in Freidorf there was a small shipyard on the Bega Canal. Among the ships built here we mention:

  • "Kato" barge built in 1924. Fir wood construction. Dimensions: length 24m, width 4 m, depth 2.20 m, pitch: 56,160 t. Immersion: With maximum load is 120 cm;
  • Barge (barge) "Suzana", built in 1926. Fir wood construction. Dimensions: length 25 m, width 4.50 m, depth 2.00 m, pitch: 62.625 t. Immersion: With maximum load is 100 cm. From the time of its launch (1926) until it was radiated (1967), it sailed on the Bega Canal between Timișoara and Otelec, transporting "goods, birds and foodstuffs" (maximum capacity 73 tons), never being rented, requisitioned militarily or economically.

Freidorf Industrial Park

Freidorf Industrial Park is located in the southwest of Timisoara. The total area of the park is 47.9 ha. The land is in the private property of the Timișoara City Hall. Available infrastructure:

  • Electricity: 3 MW
  • Natural gas: In the N part of the park there are two medium pressure gas pipelines.
  • Drinking water: 527 m3 / day
  • Sewerage: 422 m3 / day
  • Garbage collection: 97,000 t / year (available capacity)
  • Telephone network - Fiber optics.

Among the companies that have opened factories in Freidorf are:

  • SC Kromberg & Schubert Romania
  • GTM Logistics Europe
  • SC Contitech Romania
  • SC Boma Company
  • H.G. Vermogenverwaltung GmbH & Co.
  • ELBA.

Festivity

In the first week of September of each year, the Freidorf Advisory Council, supported by the Local Council, Timișoara City Hall and the House of Culture of the municipality, organizes the Freidorf Neighborhood Days.

Notable people
Johnny Weissmuller in 1925

Notable people that were born or lived in Freidorf include:

References
  1. "Szabadfalu". Archived from the original on 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  2. Puhl, Widmar. 1993. Dichter für die Freiheit: von der subversiven Kraft der Literatur in Osteuropa. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, pp. 76, 151.
  3. Hesse, Wolfgang, & Katja Schumann (eds.). 2006. Mensch!: Photographien aus Dresdner Sammlungen. Marburg: Jonas Verlag, p. 275.
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