The Head of Vilnius City and District

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Lithuania

Holding institution:: Central State Archives of Lithuania

Holding institution (official language):: Lietuvos centrinis valstybės archyvas

Postal address:: O. Milašiaus 21, LT-10102, Vilnius

Phone number:: (8 5) 247 7830

Web address:: http://www.archyvai.lt/lt/lcva.html

Email:: lcva@archyvai.lt

Reference number:: f. 401

Title:: The Head of Vilnius City and District

Title (official language):: Vilniaus miesto ir apskrities viršininkas

Creator/accumulator:: Head of Vilnius City and District

Date(s):: 1920/1940

Language:: Lithuanian; German; Polish; Russian; Latvian

Extent:: 7,258 files

Type of material:: Textual material; Photographic images

Physical condition:: good

Scope and content:: The archive of the head of Vilnius city and district is composed mostly of materials from the period between autumn 1939 and autumn 1940. During this time, the region was annexed to Lithuania, which was occupied by the Soviet Union.

A substantial part of the collection includes personal files and data on local government workers in Vilnius and people who applied for citizenship and residence and work permits in Lithuania. Another substantial part of the collection includes data on various societies and organisations in Vilnius, including a large body of materials documenting the liquidation of such organisations after the Soviet takeover.

The Jewish-related materials in the collection include personal files on Jewish refugees and travellers applying for citizenship and residence and work permits in Lithuania. However, the most significant Jewish-related documentation can be found in the files documenting the liquidation or Sovietisation of pre-World War II societies and organisations. These files include data on more than 150 Jewish businesses, charity enterprises, guilds and cultural, religious, sporting and educational societies. In many cases the files include statutes from the liquidated organisations (in some cases from both the Tsarist and interwar periods), as well as correspondence relating to the liquidation process in 1940. In some cases financial and other data can also be found in the files.

The archive includes several dozen files documenting Jewish communal charitable organisations such as burial fraternities, mutual assistance societies and interest-free loan funds. These organizations functioned in many of Vilnius’s synagogues. Modern Jewish charitable and relief societies are also represented in the collection, including IKOPO (Jewish Committee for the Relief of War Victims), the Jewish Immigration Society, OZE (or TOZ, the Society for Safeguarding the Health of the Jewish Population), the Jewish Deaf-Mutes Society of Vilnius, the Jewish Society for the Protection of Women and the Society of Jewish War Widows and Handicapped. The files include the statutes of these organisations, correspondence on their liquidation and in some cases also data on their activities. For instance, the file on IKOPO includes a brief account of the society's history, while the files of the Widows and Handicapped Society include financial accounts and equipment lists.

The archive also comprises liquidation files of educational and cultural organisations: the Vilnius branches of such organisations as the Society for Handicraft and Agricultural Work among the Jews (ORT); Tarbut; TSYSHO (Central Jewish School Organisation); Yavneh; a Jewish society for special education; The S. An-ski Historical-Ethnographical Society; YIVO; and Jewish libraries including the Strashun library and the library of the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment among the Jews of Russia (OPE). In some cases the files include statutes and other data on the organisations' activities. For example, the files of the liquidated Jewish libraries include property inventories (although not book catalogues). The closure of local branches of Jewish sports associations – Maccabi, Hapoel and others – is represented in the collection.

Jewish print houses, newspapers and bookshops were also liquidated. In some cases, along with correspondence on these enterprises' liquidation, some factual data can be found. For instance, the papers on the Romm print house liquidation include an inventory of printing equipment.

Among other liquidated organisations can be found Jewish guilds and professional organisations, such as the guild of Jewish soda and vegetable peddlers in Vilnius and professional organisations of Jewish photographers, lawyers and teachers as well as the union of Jewish veterans of war.

Jewish political parties and associations were also disbanded during 1940: the files mention political organisations such as the Vilnius branches of the Zionist Organization and Agudat Yisra'el, youth movements such as Betar and Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir and fundraising organisations such as the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet) and Jewish Foundation Fund (Keren Hayesod).

Archival history:: In 1949 the archive of the head of Vilnius city and district was registered at the Central State Archive of the Lithuanian SSR, predecessor of the modern Central State Archive of Lithuania. No data on the fate of the archive in earlier years is available.

Administrative/biographical history:: The head of Vilnius city and district was the chief Lithuanian official appointed in the region of Vilnius after its annexation to Lithuania. He supervised a broad array of issues, from policing and security to healthcare and education. After the Soviet takeover, the head of the city and district implemented the policy of Sovietisation. The exact dates of the establishment of this position and its abolishment under Soviet rule are unknown.

Access points: locations:: Lithuania; Poland; USSR; Vilnius

Subject terms:: Aid and relief; Jewish political activity; Libraries; ORT (Organisation for Rehabilitation through training); Printing; Sovietisation; Trade and commerce; World War II; Zionism--Zionist youth movements

System of arrangement:: The collection consists of eight inventories, which are arranged in thematic order.

Access, restrictions:: The collection is open for reference at LCVA.

Finding aids:: Inventories and indexes in Lithuanian are available at the Lithuanian Central State Archive in Vilnius. The inventories are also accessible at the Lithuanian Archives' website. Partial inventories and descriptions in Polish are available at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People.

Links to finding aids:: https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx

Yerusha Network member:: Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People

Author of the description:: Alex Valdman, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2015

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