History
Dej is an old salt mining town built on a hilly ground. The first documents attesting the existence of this city go back to 1061 and 1214. Massive salt reserves were found in the area in Roman times. The Dej fortress was built sometime between 1214 and 1235.
King Andrew II of Hungary raised Dés to the privileged status of a free royal town. In 1241 the city was invaded by Tatars. The old mines were exhausted by 1717; the new mines are still in operation today. Some of the galleries of the salt mine are believed to be more than 15 kilometers long. The population of Dej used to consist mostly of Transylvanian Saxons, who settled here from Germany; their number decreased over centuries.
In 1638, Dej was the site for the show trial staged against the members of the Sabbatarians (Hungarian: Szombatosok), a sect formed during the Protestant movement; they were sentenced to death. The execution took place in Beszterce (Bistriţa).
In 1717, an attack by the Tatars of Crimea struck Dej.
From 1876 to 1920 Dej was capital of the Szolnok-Doboka County in the Kingdom of Hungary; from 1920 to 1940, capital of the Someş County in Romania.
Dej was home to the Deyzh Hasidic dynasty through the 19th and the first half of the 20th century until the town's Jews were deported.
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