Jewish Religious Community of Mikulov

Collection description

Scope and content:: The fonds contains a confirmation of the privileges of the Jews of Mikulov (1780), police regulations (1772), a list of births (1763–1847), an index to birth, marriage and death registers (1767–1912), fragmentary circumcision registers (1st half of the 19th century), an index to a graves register (1900), election records, lists of Jewish inhabitants of Mikulov, lists of Jewish houses, records on the bestowal of Familiant status, construction matters, Jewish trade matters, material relating to crafts, military matters, court and criminal matters, financial matters, tax matters, fragmentary records of a Jewish school, and lists of archival records compiled by Dr. A. Engel.

A number of the files probably come from the collection of the Jewish Museum in Mikulov. The fonds also includes records of the Central Jewish Museum for Moravian Silesia in Mikulov-a visitors' book (1936–1938), cash books, the statues of a Jewish association, minutes of meetings, official memoranda and correspondence.

Archival history:: The records were sent to the archives of the Jewish Museum in Prague from Brno during the Second World War as part of shipments of material from Jewish religious communities that had been disbanded.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Jewish Religious Community of Mikulov was probably founded in the first half of the 15th century. Of exceptional importance, it was the largest Jewish community in Moravia until the middle of the 19th century and the seat of the Moravian Chief Rabbinate from the mid-sixteenth century until 1851. Moravian synods were held there from the 17th century onwards. A yeshiva was active in Mikulov from the 17th century to the latter half of the 19th century. A Hebrew printing press operated there from 1762 to 1779, Moravia's first Jewish institute for the deaf was active there from 1844 to 1852, and the Central Jewish Museum for Moravian Silesia was active there from 1935 to 1938. The Jewish Religious Community of Mikulov was disbanded after the annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938 but resumed its activities after the Second World War.

System of arrangement:: The fonds contains register units and is arranged as follows: books/registers and files (court and financial) of the Jewish community, a register of the local synagogue, registers of the local burial society (chevra kadisha), books/registers and files of Jewish associations, files of a Jewish school, a books/registers and files of the Central Jewish Museum for Moravian Silesia in Mikulov.

Finding aids:: Dolista K, Heřman J: Židovská náboženská obec Mikulov, Prozatímní inventární seznam, 1971, 28 s., ev č. 87.

Links to finding aids:: http://c.jewishmuseum.cz/files/documents/archiv-sbirky-a-fondy/inventare/087ZNOMikulov-prozatimniinventarniseznam.pdf