The Gmina (Commune) Boards of the Governorate of Suwalki

Collection description

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

Scope and content:: The collection contains the documents from the gmina (commune) boards which existed in the Kalvarija, Kudirkos, Naumiestis, Marijampole, Sejny, Suwalki and Vilkaviskis districts of the former governorate of Suwalki. Documents include circulars of the governor of Suwalki, orders from chiefs of districts, lists of conscripts, census lists, documents on the expulsion of foreign citizens, lists of peasant families, registration of incoming and outgoing correspondence, lists of ranks, civil records and other materials.

The documents include the vital records (birth, marriage and death) of Jews who lived in Garliava, Marijampole, Kudirkos, Naumiestis and other localities throughout the governorate.

Files which contain data on the election of a rabbi in Zapyskis and on the expulsion of Jews from the district of Sejny in 1915 are also included.

Archival history:: Prior to the 1917 revolution, the records of the Russian administration in the former governorate of Suwalki were kept in a government depository. In the early 1920s they were transferred to the newly established Vilnius State Archive, which became a part of the Central State Archive of the Lithuanian SSR in 1940. In 1957, together with other pre-revolutionary documentation, these materials were included in the Central State Historical Archive of the Lithuanian SSR, predecessor of the modern State Historical Archive.

Originally, the materials of each from the 30 Gmina Boards in the former Governorate of Suwalki comprised separate archival units (in most cases, these fonds included only few files). In 1962 these separate units were combined into the newly created fond no. 1014.

Administrative/biographical history:: In Poland under Russian rule the gminas were the lowest administrative units of government. They were ruled by elected boards that functioned according to regulations enacted in 1864.

Subject terms:: Expulsion; Military; Rabbis; Vital records; Vital records--Birth records; Vital records--Death records; Vital records--Marriage records; World War I

System of arrangement:: The collection consists of three inventories arranged according to chronological/thematic order. Originally, the materials of each from the 30 Gmina Boards in the former Governorate of Suwalki comprised separate archival units (in most cases, these fonds included only few files). In 1962 these separate units were combined into the newly created fond no. 1014.

Finding aids:: Basic information in Lithuanian and inventories in Russian and Lithuanian are available at the Lithuanian archives' website. A geographical and subject index (in Russian) for the vital records included in the collection was created in 1992. In 2007 a name and geographical index (in Lithuanian) with an introduction (in Lithuanian, Russian and English) was created for all the Jewish vital records kept in the archive, including the records from fond no. 1014.

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:: Galina Baranova, Lithuanian State Historical Archives, and Alex Valdman, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2014