Victor Deleu – primar al oraşului Cluj (1932–1933)
Victor Deleu as Mayor of Cluj (1932–1933)

Summary/Abstract: Victor Deleu holds an important place amongst the personalities in the hall of fame from Sălaj. Our study relies on the period between Victor Deleu’s entering into office as mayor of Cluj, namely between June 10th, 1932 and November 18th, 1933, after this date he was replaced by members of the new liberal government. As mayor of one of Transylvania’s largest towns, he developed significant urban planning projects during a harsh time, which came to overlap with the Great Depression. Nevertheless, Victor Deleu had found the necessary means and ways to make himself useful to the citizens that had elected him, implementing a series of economic and socio-cultural initiatives, all of which having been enthusiastically welcomed by the town’s population.Starting with his first day in office, he visited the town’s properties and institutions. It took him only two months to bring clarity to the town’s finances, to clean up the town by turning the community pool and its park into real recreational spaces for the citizens. Together with his team, he developed an ambitious town planning project, which, amongst other, included the streets’ alignment, erecting new buildings and modernizing the communication means. The harsh economic crisis years, which led to the population’s impoverishment, urged the administration to implement new urgent measures in the field of social assistance for children, old people, poor people and jobless ones. Victor Deleu implemented means of helping the jobless, but he also decided to move the almshouse from an improper space to a modernized former farmhouse. He opened public kitchens, where poor children were offered bread and milk, and he also helped develop summer camps for disadvantaged children and a guidance institution for young people’s spiritual guidance. In order to invigorate the town’s commercial and industrial landscape, Victor Deleu organized sample exhibits and markets to draw as many visitors as possible, from inside and outside the country.

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