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History

The village was originally founded at the meeting point of the snow-capped mountain of Haromszek as a simple military base. Comandau has been inhabited since 1889 - born at the same time as the saw factory, which was founded by David Horn. The factory was in operation for exactly 110 years (between 17th October, 1889 and 17th October, 1999) and today we may observe only what was left from it. The factory stopped operating completely, what remain from it is the railway and the workshops. The settlement was recognized as a village in 1936, it appears on the map as Comandau. With a population of 1018, of whom 211 are children; its territory amount is 4451 hectares and there are 395 houses. 

Geographical localization 

It is situated in the basin-like hollow of a valley at the confluence of the three brooks named Kupan, Toplica and Rozsdas, all of them rushing towards the valley of Nagy-Baszka. The village which is the highest-lying settlement ( 1071 m) of the historic Haromszek (today Covasna County) and was originally founded at the meeting point of the snow-capped mountains of Haromszek as a simple military base. Later was used as a logging area and it is constantly changing and shaping up to a recreation resort our days. On the Romanian maps Kommando is present as "Comandau".Climate

In Comandau area the climate is continental climate, with four seasons with east European influences and low temperatures. In the autumn the sky is as usual clear. The annual precipitations are between 1000 – 2000 mm/year. The summers are quite colds, with maximum temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius. In the winter the snowfall is considerable, regularly the snow depth is between 0.60 – 1.20 m and the winter keeps as usual 4 – 5 months.

Natural resources

The forest and implicitly the touristic potential represent the most valuable natural resource of the location. There exists a youth camp with 18 wooden houses, each of them with 4 beds, a central bungalow and a cantina.

Population

In Comandau are living 1100 inhabitants in 390 houses. 628 people from them represent the active work force but only 68 of them have constant jobs. The rest of the people are living from seasonal work like collecting mushrooms and other forest plants.

Turism

In Comandau are living 1100 inhabitants in 390 houses. 628 people from them represent the active work force but only 68 of them have constant jobs. The rest of the people are living from seasonal work like collecting mushrooms and other forest plants.

Kommando is the highest settlement of the historical haromszek, or today’s Kovaszna county, it is situated exactly where the Carpathians form the sharpest angle, people say it is on the top of the world. Kommando is the most famous logging industrial settlement of Sekler’s land, it is situated in the picturesque valley of the Baszka sream surrounded by mountains at about 20 km far from Kovaszna. A well maintained wood way leads from the town to Kommando through the wonderful Tundervolgy (Fairy Valley).

BEMUTAT

Kommando is an independent village, its name was given by the old bordrer guards as this place used to be a boder guarding unit when the borders of the country were here. The settlement itself is quite a young one, but its history goes back many centuries. In the 17th century this place used to be a huge forest which belonged to the Mikes family from Zagon, who got this land as a gift from the Hungarian king for their services and loyalty. Mikes Pal’s fortune was confiscated after he fought against the emperor’s army as Tokoly Imre’s follower and leader, and the forest land was divided into pieces. In 1764 there was already a Sekler Borderguard Unit functioning here which stopped its activity in 1848 and from 1867 there was established a Customs Unit instead. The owner of the forest, Zathureczky Gyula sold the wood in 1882 to a businessman from Pest who originated from Felvidek, Horn David, who later on started enormous building work in the mountains and founded the Tranylvanian Wood Industry joint stuck company.

 

The first lumberyard was named after the owner Gyulafalva, in a few years a second sawmill was established and that was the date when Kommando actually came to life. For the workers, the number of whom was constantly growing, they built hutments-like buildings which were enough for fourty families. In 1889 there were people of nine different ethnic backgrouds living here together. In Horn’s time there were already three sawmills functioning , a school, hospitals, the lumberyards had electricity while in Brasso the streelights were still lit by gas.  At the same time with the building of the factories Horn dreamt of circular railways and gradients among the mountains, and he started the construction works too, but after a while he had to sell his business because of financial reasons. The railway system was finished ten years later, two gradients were built still in Horn’s time and two more were built by the Groedel family, the new owners. The gradient is the genial idea of the 19th century engineering. It was built based on the plans of engineer Lux Emil and it was used to transport wood from the forests. It functions according to the idea of falling on declined plan and it did not use any fuel. From these gradients we can see only the remainders of the one built on the Sisak mountain, which stands as a unique exhibit of the history of industry in Europe. On the 1268 meter long course there were two carts and between the highest and lowest parts there were 327 meters; the carts which were loaded with wood used their own weight as they were descending to pull the empty carts up on the parallel railways. This construction was the only connection with the other settlements for years, because during the 108 years of its life it did not only transport wood, but also people.

This was the only transportation means of the Kommando people until 1970, when the wood road between Kovaszna and Kommando was finished. The gradient had to be fixed several times, it burnt down twice and from 199 it stopped working. The dolly-type industrial railway was the most important woof railway in the historical Hungary. The railway system was longer then 120 kms in the golden era of wood industry, which was very interesting taking into account the characteristics of the area; but now only a small part of it exists. Sometimes tourists are taken on tours on the old railways.

Wood industry meant economic power to Kommando, and at the end of the 19th century the settlement began to develop. Famous experts lived here who established civilized and culturally demanding lifestyle here. The owners of the sawmills, the third generation of the Groedel family were so indebted that they could not pay their workers any longer in 1931. The son named Bubi of a merchant called Lichtenstein sponsored the workers for a year trying to keep them there. The last Groedel paid their debt. The workers started a strike in 1936 and their movement was dissipated by the provost legion called by the owners. In the same year the settlement was named a village. In the memory of the strike as a sign of respect there is  a memorial board on the wall of the old office made by the succession. After the second World War there was only one functioning sawmill at Kommando, which still had good profit mainly because of the isolation of the village. The sawmill from Gyulafalva was closed before the whole village became part of Kommando.

The Kommando factory’s decay started in 1960. According to a law the machines could not be repaired locally and the tools that were sent away for repairing work, many had not been ever sent back. A final blow was the storm in 1995 when 2.5 million stere wood collapsed and parts of forests were completely destroyed. Until the regeneration of the forests rules were introduced to limit the amount of wood cutting which lead to the bankruptcy of wood industrial companies. The factory worked exactly 110 years, it was closed on the 17th of October in 1999 at 10 am. Smaller sawmills still work in the area, but most of the private wood is transported from here by trucks. Kommando’s birth and life was marked by wood industry, so its decay had a big impact on the life of the local people.

But they soon realized the touristic values of the place due to its surroundings and so the basics of catering trade were established here too. Comfortable pensions, different commercial units await their visitors now. The settlement is renewing slowly, more and more houses are being built and more and more visitors come to discover the beauties and values of this region.

 

The village hall had always been the most important scene of civic life. It was built by Lichtenstein, the merchant in 1922, later a Casino functioned in it. Nowadays it hosts the mayor's office as well as the cultural home. In the village park we can see a memorial column of the heroes of the revolution from 1849-49. An other memorial pays respect to those who died in the first World WAR. This picturesque settlement is worth visiting both in winter and summer especially for those who like hiking in the mountains, going on trips, are interested in industrial history and culture or just want to relax. The simple beauty of the settlement is enriched by its natural treasures.

The ancient pine forests on the mountains give us a wonderful view, we can find here natural rarities as the peat moss bogs, hundreds of different types of mushroom make it worth visiting this place. The forest gives opportunity to the locals to get some profit from collecting and selling mushroom and fruit.

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