Archive of the City of Brno-Oeconomica Registry

Collection description

Creator/accumulator:: City of Brno - Economic section, District Committee of the Inner City of Brno

Scope and content:: The fonds contains mainly documents concerning the economic history of Brno during the period 1792–1851. It includes important archival materials concerning the Jewish history after 1848, namely the fate of the Jewish canteen in the city, the taxing of Jews, the establishment and early history of the Jewish cemetery, and generally about Jews living in the city: The Jewish Religious Community requests to buy land of the municipal homestead adjacent to the road to Žabovřesky to establish a Jewish cemetery on it (1852); Proposal that Jews tolerated in Brno contribute towards the municipality’s expenses by paying a tolerance tax (1843–1849); Information about Jews dwelling in Brno (1849); Jewish canteen in Křenová Street generally, and negotiations about a permission to open other Jewish canteens in Brno suburbs (1798–1856); Jakub Ernst, owner of house № 58 in Křenová Street, cedes the house including the Jewish canteen, to his son Jan Ernst, later negotiations to cancel various easements imposed upon this house (1829–1851). Besides that, the fonds contains also materials concerning the Jewish history before 1848, especially from the end of the 18th and beginning of 19th Century.

Archival history:: In 1934 the Oeconomica Registry was moved to the Brno City Archives, following attempts made in the previous decades in the Municipal Registry to rearrange it in order to make it easier to work with. The Brno City Archives’ Nazi Occupation administration removed from the Registry personal files; more systematic attempts to arrange the fonds were made during the period 1945-1950 and in 1966, however, the definite arrangement was only completed in 1969-1972.

Administrative/biographical history:: In 1792 administration of the property of the Royal City of Brno was transferred to the Municipal Office and the Economic Administration was abolished. At the same time a new economic section of the Municipal Registry was established-Oeconomica. This Registry survived the reorganisation of municipal administration of 1849-1851 and was not closed down, with the Inner Brno District Committee, as the legal successor and heir of the property of the former Royal City of Brno, continuing to run it. Nevertheless, the new Municipal Committee of the city enlarged by suburbs (so called “large municipality”) in 1851 established its own registry, and in 1864 administration of the municipal property was transferred to the Brno Municipality’s local council, reducing the District Committee’s agenda to a minimum. As a result of this, the Oeconomica Registry too, was transferred under the competencies of the “large municipality”, to which documents were filed until 1896, when the Registry was closed down together with the registry from the period 1851–1896.

Subject terms:: Cemeteries; Jewish community; Kashrut; Land; Real estate; Residency issues of Jews; Taxation; Taxation--Tolerance tax

Finding aids:: Boček L, Vodička J: Město Brno. Stará spisovna-Oeconomica (1226) 1792-1896 (1897). Inventář I-IV, 1973, 808 s., ev. č. 39.