Sečovce

Sečovce (Slovak pronunciation: [ˈsetʂɔwtse]; Hungarian: Gálszécs;^[4] Ukrainian: Сечівці)^[5] is a town in the Trebišov District in the Košice Region of south-eastern Slovakia.

The town was first mentioned in year 1255 on the list of king Béla IV of Hungary. In 1494, a Roman Catholic church was built in the Gothic architecture style. Since the 15th century, there was gradual development of trade, including markets with shoemakers, saddlers, potters and furriers. The first post-office was opened in 1783, telegraph office in 1868, telephone office in 1890, train station in 1904, and museum in 1954, which was moved to Trebišov in 1981.

The municipality lies at an altitude of 136 metres (446 ft)^[3] and covers an area of 32.65 km² (12.61 sq mi) (2024).^[6]

It has a population of 8538 people (31 December 2024).^[10]

Prior to 1945, the town had a large Jewish population, most of which was deported by the Nazis. Also, prior to 1945, the town consisted primarily of ethnic Hungarians, with a small Slovak minority, but the Hungarians were forceably deported right after the war in order to ethnically cleanse the area and to make room for Slovaks from the north. Those who remained have assimilated and now consider themselves for the most part to be Slovak.

In year 2021 was 8526 people by ethnicity 7762 as Slovak, 1458 as Romani, 476 as Not found out, 51 as Rusyn, 43 as Czech, 25 as Other, 23 as Hungarian, 16 as Ukrainian, 9 as Russian, 8 as Vietnamese, 4 as German, 3 as Polish, 2 as Irish, 2 as Austrian, 1 as Serbian, 1 as Moravian, 1 as Croatian and 1 as English.

Note on population

The difference between the population numbers above and in the census (here and below) is that the population numbers above are mostly made up of permanent residents, etc.; and the census should indicate the place where people actually mainly live. For example, a student is a citizen of a village because he has permanent residence there (he lived there as a child and has parents), but most of the time he studies at a university in the city.

In year 2021 was 8526 people by religion 3743 from Roman Catholic Church, 1820 from Greek Catholic Church, 1736 from None, 589 from Not found out, 160 from Evangelical Church, 139 from Calvinist Church, 123 from Other, 99 from Apostolic Church, 33 from Eastern Orthodox Church, 33 from Jehovah's Witnesses, 17 from Ad hoc movements, 13 from Christian Congregations in Slovakia, 5 from Other and not ascertained christian church, 3 from Jewish community, 3 from Islam, 3 from Church of the Brethren, 3 from Buddhism, 1 from Old Catholic Church, 1 from Paganism and natural spirituality, 1 from Hinduism and 1 from United Methodist Church.

A few factories reside in and around Sečovce - Palma Agro (vegetable oils), Silometal (metal silos and containers), Sonap (clothing), Valter (socks), Lesy SR (wood processing), and Simkovic-Protektor s.r.o./SPR Retreading Solutions (tire retreads)

• Štefan Sečovský (16th century), evangelical preacher, writer, composer, pedagogue. His original Hungarian name was Galszecsi Istvan.
• Štefan Gáboréczy (16th century), evangelical writer
• Andrej Fáy (1786 – 1864), lawyer, businessman, politician, writer, playwright
• Emery Roth (1871 – 1948), architect
• Jozef Švagrovský (1921 – 1985), paleontologist, university professor
• Gejza Šimanský (1924 – 2007), football player
• Stano Bubán (1961), painter, associate professor, Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava
• Ingrid Timková (1967), actress and director
• Adolf Schwarz (1836), Hungarian-Jewish chess player

• Municipal website
• The History of the Jewish community in Secovce, JewishGen