Sighet known today as Sighetu Marmației is a town in Transylvania, Romania. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Sighet was the capital of Maramureș County in the Kingdom of Hungary. Following World War I, Northern Transylvania was returned to Romania and Sighet became part of it. During World War II, the town was again part of Hungary between 1940 till 1944. A significant Jewish population in the town can be traced to the early 18th century, when hundreds of Jews were already living here. Over the course of the 19th century, the Jewish population of Sighet grew, reaching roughly 10,500 Jews and 38% of the town's population at the beginning of World War II. Sighet is well known as the birthplace of Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), Holocaust survivor and author of Night. Wiesel, his family, and the rest of the Jews of Sighet and Maramureș were deported to Auschwitz in May 1944.