Building Department of the Central Committee of Jews in Poland

Collection description

Holding institution (official language):: Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. E. Ringelbluma

Title (official language):: Wydział Budowlany Centralnego Komitetu Żydów w Polsce

Type of material:: Textual material; Photographic images; Cartographic material

Scope and content:: The collection has been made up artificially; apart from the dossier of the former Building Department of the Central Committee of Jews in Poland (CKŻP) and of some other units. Therefore it comprises documents generated after 1947, with the Department already wound up by then.

Building Department’s records, minutes and reports: unit 1.

Evidence of a search made in 1949-50 inside the ruins of the building at 34 Świętojerska Street for the so-called Part 3 of the Warsaw Ghetto Underground Archive (the ‘Ringelblum Archive’): unit 2.

Documentation on renovation works of buildings in Łódź, Otwock, Śródborów, Świder and Warsaw: units 3-15.

Condition and protection of cemeteries in Poland: units 16-18.

Construction projects in Lower Silesia - Legnica, Pieszyce, Walbrzych and Wroclaw (including construction of a Jewish housing estate pavilion at the Recovered Territories Exhibition): units 19-20.

Construction of monuments including the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes monument (draft specific-work contract between CKŻP and the sculptor Natan Rapaport): units 21-33.

Documentation on the activities of the ‘Odrodzenie’ housing administrative cooperative, Warsaw: units 34-39.

Documentation on renovation works carried out at theatres in Łódź and Warsaw: units 40-42.

Archival history:: With the closure of the CKŻP in 1950, the building department documentation and materials regarding the committee’s investment activity were included in the Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH) collection. The original volume of the archive and details of initial ordering or rearrangement work and sorting out of the fund remain unknown.

Administrative/biographical history:: The building department was established in March 1946 and wound up in late 1947. It was tasked with implementing the CKŻP’s construction investment plan. Once the department was shut down the supervisory function with respect to investment project affairs was taken over by other sections of the committee and after 1950 by the Jewish Social-Cultural Association in Poland (TSKŻ).

Access points: locations:: Legnica; Łódź; Otwock; Pieszyce; Śródborów; Świder; Wałbrzych; Warsaw; Wrocław

Subject terms:: Cemeteries; Holocaust; Holocaust--Ghettos; Monuments and memorials; Sculptures; Theatre

Access, restrictions:: Digitised documents are accessible in the reading room of the Jewish Historical Institute.

Finding aids:: A catalogue in Polish was compiled in 2006 and is accessible online.

A geographical index is available; for some units a personal index is also available, with approximately 38,000 records.

Author of the description:: Monika Taras; Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. E. Ringelbluma; 2015