Poarta Albă

Poarta Albă (literally in English: White Gate) is a commune in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. The commune is a port on the Danube–Black Sea Canal.

Poarta Albă
Commune
Coat of arms
Location in Constanța County
Poarta Albă Location in Romania
Coordinates: 44°13′N 28°24′E
Country	Romania
County	Constanța
Subdivisions	Poarta Albă, Nazarcea
Government
• Mayor (2020–2024)	Vasile Delicoti[1] (PNL)
Area	65.53 km2 (25.30 sq mi)
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population  (2021-12-01)[2]	5,587
• Density	85/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zone	EET/EEST (UTC+2/+3)
Postal code	907245
Area code	+40 x41
Vehicle reg.	CT
Website	www.primariapoartaalba.ro

Villages

The following villages are included in the Poarta Albă commune:

• Poarta Albă (historical name: Alakap, Turkish: Alakapı)
• Nazarcea (historical name: Galeșu between 1930 and 1964, Turkish: Nazarça)

History

Map of forced labor camps along the Danube–Black Sea Canal building site

In the early 1950s, a prison camp operated at Poarta Albă, part of a chain of forced labour camps set up along the length of the Canal by the communist authorities. Some 12,000 prisoners were held at the Poarta Albă camp. Many perished due to the harsh working conditions. According to a study done by the International Centre for Studies into Communism, 12.7% of all political prisoners in Communist Romania did some time at Poarta Albă.^[3]

Among the political prisoners who did time at the Poarta Albă labor camp were Alexandru Claudian, Vladimir Constantinescu, Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu, Gherman Pântea, and Ovidiu Papadima.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, Poarta Albă had a population of 5,208, of which 4,792 were ethnic Romanians (96.69%), 4 Hungarians (0.08%), 35 Roma (0.71%), 53 Turks (1.07%), 55 Tatars (1.11%), 5 Lipovans (0.10%), 5 others (0.10%), and 7 with undeclared ethnicity (0.14%).^[4]

Transportation

The Poarta Albă train station serves the CFR Line 800, which connects Bucharest to Constanța and Mangalia on the Black Sea coast.

Natives

• Murat Iusuf

References

1. "Results of the 2020 local elections". Central Electoral Bureau. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
2. "Populaţia rezidentă după grupa de vârstă, pe județe și municipii, orașe, comune, la 1 decembrie 2021" (XLS). National Institute of Statistics.
3. "Recensământul populaţiei concentraţionare din România în anii 1945 – 1989 (date preliminare)" (in Romanian). Retrieved April 18, 2020.
4. "Constanța County at the 2011 census" (PDF) (in Romanian). INSSE. February 2, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.

External links

• Sub semnul gulagului, by Aurel Popa.