Records of the Town of Czchów

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Poland

Holding institution:: National Archives in Krakow

Holding institution (official language):: Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie

Postal address:: ul. Sienna 16, 30–960 Kraków

Phone number:: (+48 12) 422 40 94; (+48 12) 4212790; (+48 12) 421 68 81

Web address:: http://ank.gov.pl/

Email:: sekretariat@ank.gov.pl

Reference number:: PL 29/104

Title:: Records of the Town of Czchów

Title (official language):: Akta miasta Czchowa

Creator/accumulator:: Municipality of Czchów

Date(s):: 1393/1890

Date note:: Documents date from 1393, 1424–1560, 1566–1850, 1852, 1861–1874, 1883, 1888 and 1890.

Language:: Latin; Polish; German

Extent:: 1.2 linear metres (41 volumes)

Type of material:: Textual material

Physical condition:: good

Scope and content:: The collection was compiled by the municipality of Czchów and the dominion authorities in the Austrian period. It consists of municipal records including privileges, charters, endowments and investitures from kings, as well as books, registers and other documents related to the administration of the town and election of local authorities. It also comprises municipal accounts, ordinances of the Austrian authorities and notes produced mainly by the civil jurisdiction and to a smaller extent by its criminal branch. There are a number of entries made by residents, primarily those concerning real estate and bequests or legacies.

The collection contains scarce and dispersed Jewish-related items. In DEP 375, the notes concern commercial disputes and debt claims, which seem mostly to concern Jewish residents of other localities (pp. 46-47, 111) rather than Czchów (p. 372). The local Jewish community was scarce, at least until 1811. One interesting record concerns redemption of stolen goods and a related arrangement; another item of interest is an instruction to the authorities specifying the procedure of swearing Jewish residents by oath (DEP 375, pp. 384-387). Jewish elements are also contained in a volume of circulars from the central and national authorities and the local precinct (cyrkuł), among which some notes report on the finding near the village of Śniadków of the corpse of a murdered man who might have been a Jew; there is also quite a detailed specification of objects stolen from Szymon Lebl, the general leaseholder for liquors in Cieszyn (AD 521, pp. 32-39).

The National Archives of Krakow contain other collections related to the history of Czchów from the 16th to 19th centuries (29/104; 29/524).

Archival history:: In response to an 1889 decision of the Galician authorities, which recommended that public books and registers be kept safe in the archives of Lwów and Krakow, the Municipality of Czchów removed its archives, in as late as 1917, to Krakow as a deposit. Documents, books and registers on Czchów from other sources were also transferred (DEP 376 was established in 1917 based on the archival resources retrieved from two private individuals from Wadowice and Tarnów); more arrived in 1923 and then in 1938. The municipal archive was much more abundant: as of 1811, it already contained 60 volumes of records, 53 of universal proclamations and 11 volumes of obligations and similar material (DEP 375, pp. 378-379).

Administrative/biographical history:: Czchów was a royal town in the voivodeship of Krakow; it served as the seat of the county (poviat), castellany and starosty until 1772. Under Austrian rule Czchów was incorporated in Galicia between 1772 and 1918; after 1781 it was a private town.

The date Jews settled in the town is unknown. A local kahal was set up in the late nineteenth century, with some 250 Jews inhabiting Czchów at the time.

The political and administrative system of the town of Czchów was initially based on the Środa-Śląska system (the Neumarkt-Magdeburg Law) and from 1355 on the Magdeburg system. The system encompassed an elected council with a burgomaster (burmistrz), exercising the town’s administration, plus town management, a vogt (wójt or mayor) and a bench, the latter dealing with administration of justice; these bodies reported to the starost. In major cases all of these bodies worked together. In period of Austrian rule, the local government (municipality) was replaced by a municipal administration and simultaneously a state and domanial administration of the State of Czchów.

Access points: locations:: Czchów

Access points: persons/families:: Lebl, Szymon

Subject terms:: Crime; Financial matters; Financial matters--Debt; Jewish oath; Legal matters

System of arrangement:: The collection is composed of documents, Town Council and burgomaster registers, vogt’s/aldermen’s registers from the Old-Polish period, books/registers of the municipal authorities (magistrat) and ordinances of the Austrian authorities; specifically:

Documents, 1393-1750 (Dok. Dep. 257-271, 277, 280-284, 286-290, 292, 294); Registers (books) of the Town Council and the Burgomaster, 1424-1782 (AD 514, AD 519, AD 520, AD 522); The Vogt’s/Aldermen’s registers, 1568-1697 (AD 515-AD 518, DEP 380); Registers of the municipal authorities [magistrate], 1784-1811 (DEP 375); Varia [Miscellaneous], 1476-1890 (DEP 376, AD 523); Ordinances of the Austrian Precinct [cyrkuł] of Wiśnicz, 1774-6 (AD 521).

Access, restrictions:: If a copy (microfilm, scan, photocopy) of a document exists, this is what will be made available. Access to the originals requires the consent of the Director. Scans of DEP 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, DEP 50, 51, DEP 53, DEP 430 are available in the reading room.

Finding aids:: Inventory available online.

An inventory in Polish is available in the reading room at the archive.

Yerusha Network member:: Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute

Author of the description:: Janusz S. Dąbrowski; Kraków; 2015

fullscreen: Records of the Town of Czchów

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