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Aldoboly (Dobolii de Jos) - a brief history |
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| The community of Aldoboly, for administrative purposes a part of Illyefalva and the border village of the Alsóháromszék district, has been a settlement since ancient times. Today it is of mixed Hungarian and Romanian population. At the edge of the adjacent forest, on the Bás hill, tradition has it that there once was a castle, although no trace of it remains. The village is mentioned in 1461 under the name Dobolj. On 25 July 1704, it was on the Aldoboly plain that all the arms-bearing Seklers were conscripted. On account of this activity, the labanc (pro-Habsburg Hungarian) armies attacked the village later that year, leaving only two houses and the church standing. South of this settlement lies the “Saxon” region, known as Burzenland. |
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| Since in 1940 the national boundary was drawn between Aldoboly and Illyefalva, violent battles were fought in the village in 1944 between the Romanian and Soviet armies besieging northern Transylvania, and the Hungarian and German defence forces. On the southern half of the settlement lies a heroes’ cemetery, established in 1945 mainly for the remains of soldiers who perished in the Second World War. The 600 square meter graveyard has 108 crosses, the majority bearing Romanian names. An obelisk has also been erected to the memory of the Soviet and Romanian soldiers who fell here. The village cemetery also has the graves of several heroes of the 1848 revolution against Austrian rule. |
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 An inoculating pastor
Reformed pastors who served in Aldoboly have cared not only for the soul but also for the body. József Deák came by his knowledge of inoculation the way others might learn the tailor’s trade, and during the communist era the local minister’s medical knowledge certainly came in handy. “Often I would administer five-six injections a day”, the pastor recounted, adding that no infection ever resulted. Once he was challenged by a physician whom the authorities had been sent to investigate why he was performing nursing duties without having the necessary training. Reverend Deák replied that he would immediately destroy his equipment if Aldoboly would get its own local doctor. But for this there was no money. József Deák served the village from 1940 to 1986. |
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