by Hilde Bücher (nee) Weber

The two places Ketfel and Kleinsiedel grew together in the course of the time, since Gelu has the name for the municipality since 1968 (Ketfel already received this name in 1926) and belonged to Warjasch. 

Ketfel and Kleinsiedel are about 35 km north of Temeschburg because of the line, which connects Temeschburg with Perjamosch. Neighbouring villages are, in the east, Warjasch in the west, Baratzhausen and Knees in the south and Kleinsanktpeter in the north.

Due to the favorable geographical location in the heart of the Banat, in the midst of the juicy pastures, those that went to Szegedin through from two sources to be fed and nearby the much driven on road by water-rich swamps to Budapest.

In papal registers from 1454-1465 it appears Ketfel was under the name Ketfueli as possession of the Hungarian count Tari. The name comes from the Hungarian one and means as much as two halves (- 2, fel - half one ket). One does not know exactly whether the name refers to the division of the place by the brook or to the division of the place at two different leaning gentlemen.

Archaeological prove, shows that humans already lived in this area. Sometimes the settlements were destroyed by frequent robbery and again settled on another place. Thus one assumes that the place Ketfeltoel was appropriate for about 1 km in the valley of the Sikszoe, south of the today's Ketfel. One assumes that some of the cattle breeder, which lived here moved to, Boehmen, Walachei and Serbia to a smaller or larger prosperity. 

How and when the Serbian population came to Ketfel, cannot be proven clearly. One assumes that itself already in 15. Century some families established here and that in the following centuries always-new Serbian settlers were added. However it is safe to say that already in 1666 there was a church with a minister.

At the end of the 18th and at the beginning 19^th Centuries. The church books in Knees and Warjasch show German settlers living in Serbian houses.

After the establishment of Kleinsiedel and Ketfel the German inhabitants increased, built their own houses and a cemetery.

Kleinsiedel belonged to the 19 tobacco municipalities, which developed in the years 1840-1848. On 3 October, 20 German families from Warjasch, Perjamosch, in 1843 they signed a lease in the house of chambers for a tobacco land.  

The contract was signed for 20 years, each family beside a yard place, they received 2 yoch gardens and 1 yoch meadows from 1 yoch, 12 yoch of field by which a third of the surface had to be planted year by year with tobacco.

The conditions of the contract were hard. Like that it was released to each tenant to establish at own expense on the yard place a house, a barn and an auxiliary building, as well as a well and fences. If it should not come to expectation, the lease would not be renewed and a new tenant would take place.

In addition, in the following years the Kleinsiedel had to accept many setbacks. The burden of debts was so large that in the 80's the banks had to make a conversion of debts, whereby the pending interest the capital was slammed shut, which replacement time extended and which was made smaller replacement rate.

Only at the beginning 20. Century better implements led the transition from stem to root crops to the fact that the harvests became ever more productive and the livestock's became larger. By the connection of the place 1907 to the railroad, the sales prospects rose, which led to a modest upswing and which to small settlers independence brought.

The first public building, which the tobacco community accomplished in 1846, was the city hall. It served as administrative centre for Kleinsiedel until 1944. Afterwards it was used purpose-alienated up to the 1960s.

Not until 1907 a church was built, which was blessed as Holy Martin. Since 1862 belonged Kleinsiedel was filial to Kleinsanktpeter, parish.  

Hilde Bücher (nee) Weber