It happened on 8 September 1940, when a Hungarian soldier with the support of some natives tortured and killed eleven people (two women and nine men) of Romanian ethnicity from a nearby village, who were passing through the area.

[1][2][3][4] At the Second Vienna Award of 30 August 1940, as a result of German–Italian arbitration, Romania was forced to cede to Hungary the northwestern part of Transylvania, which included Sălaj County, as well as the Székely Land.

Under the terms of the award, Romania had 14 days to evacuate those territories and hand them over to Hungary, but Hungarian troops came across the border earlier, on 5 September.

On the morning of 8 September 1940, a group of eleven people of Romanian ethnicity were leaving the village of Szilágynagyfalu (Nușfalău), after spending the night there at the house of the mayor, Gheorghe Imrea.

1 of the Northern Transylvania People's Tribunal (which sat in Cluj and was presided by Justice Nicolae Matei[6][7]), in a public sentence from 13 March 1946.