Cenei

Cenei is one of the oldest settlements in Banat, first recorded in 1221 as a property of the archdiocese of Ittebe, today in Serbian Banat. By 1330 it belonged to the Sărad Fortress. Cenei was the site of a battle between the Turkish and Austrian troops on 20 August 1696.^[3]

As of 1720, the natives were mostly Romanians and Serbs. Through the efforts of the Vuketići family, Cenei was colonized with Croats between 1801 and 1820.^[4] German settlers arrived here only after 1848,^[4] much later than other nearby settlements. The Hungarian population did not settle here in waves of colonists, but gradually, over a long period of time. Today's village was formed by merging Ceneiu Sârbesc ("Serbian Cenei"; Serbian: Српски Ченеј, romanized: Srpski Čenej) and Ceneiu Croat ("Croatian Cenei"; Croatian: Hrvatski Čenej) in 1902.^[4]

Cenei had a population of 2,760 inhabitants at the 2021 census, up 3.37% from the 2011 census. Most inhabitants are Romanians (72.21%), larger minorities being represented by Serbs (12.5%) and Hungarians (6.12%). For 8.18% of the population, ethnicity is unknown.^[5] By religion, most inhabitants are Orthodox (67.13%), but there are also minorities of Serbian Orthodox (12.57%), Roman Catholics (8.18%) and Pentecostals (2.46%). For 8.55% of the population, religious affiliation is unknown.^[6]

The commune of Cenei is administered by a mayor and a local council composed of 13 councilors. The mayor, Sîrgean Tanasin, from the Social Democratic Party, has been in office since 2020. As from the 2024 local elections, the local council has the following composition by political parties:^[8]

• Stefan Jäger (1877–1962), painter
• Gheorghe Jurma (b. 1945), literary critic, writer, eminescologist and editor
• Ioan Ardeleanu [ro] (1947–2007), poet, prose writer, essayist and founder of Banat magazine