Metadata: Commissioner of the Council for the Religious Cult Affairs of the Council of Ministers of USSR for the Georgian SSR
Collection
- Country:
- Georgia
- Holding institution:
- Central Archive of Contemporary History
- Holding institution (official language):
- უახლესი ისტორიის ცენტრალური არქივი
- Postal address:
- 1, Vazha-Pshavela, Tbilisi, Georgia
- Email:
- info@archives.gov.ge
- Reference number:
- f. 1880
- Title:
- Commissioner of the Council for the Religious Cult Affairs of the Council of Ministers of USSR for the Georgian SSR
- Title (official language):
- Уполномоченный Совета по делам религиозных культов при Совете Министров СССР по Грузинской ССР
- Creator/accumulator:
- Commissioner of the Council for the Religious Cult Affairs of the Council of Ministers of USSR for the Georgian SSR
- Date(s):
- 1944/1990
- Date note:
- start date approximate
- Language:
- Russian
- Georgian
- Extent:
- more than 850 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of the Commissioner of the Council in Georgian SSR includes statistical data, reports and correspondence on religious communities and places of worship, as well as various administrative and legal materials.
The Jewish-related materials of the collection include the following types of documents:
1. Data on synagogues, gathered by the Soviet authorities: Lists and registration cards of synagogues in Georgia; reports on specific synagogues, such as reports from the early 1960s on the synagogues in the town of Kulashi, or a 1967 report on the re-opening of a synagogue on the town of Senaki. Materials on synagogues on various parts of Georgia can be also found in files from the 1970s and the 1980s (on Jewish communities' appeals on opening and renovating synagogues see below).
2. Data and documents on Jewish religious communities, including yearly reports on the local Georgian and Ashkenazi communities: The reports contain financial data, statistics (including on emigration) and other information, including, in some cases, names of the communities' governing boards. The reports are mostly found in inventories #1 and #3. Some files (especially from the 1970s and the 1980s) also include data on the celebration of Jewish festivals.
For instance, papers from 1966 include a handwritten letter, describing the conduct of the head of an Ashkenazi community in Tbilisi, including his contacts with foreign tourists and other "misdeeds." Files from other years also include letters describing contacts with foreign visitors, anti-Israeli letters and newspaper articles written by Jews from Georgia. Some files include data on alleged financial offences in the Jewish communities, such as a 1970 letter on the community of Ashkenazi Jews in Tbilisi. Papers from 1966 include complaints listed by members of the Jewish community of Sukhumi who were allegedly threatened by local criminal elements.
3. Administrative papers, appeals to the Soviet authorities and subsequent correspondence: These include registration papers of different communities from the 1940s and the 1950s (mostly in inventory #5); requests by Jewish groups and communities to re-open synagogues in various parts of the Georgian SSR (mostly from the 1950s, included in inventory #1).
For instance, a file from 1952 includes letters by Jews from Sukhumi and following correspondence on a replacement of a prayer house that was demolished by the authorities and correspondence; similar materials on appeals by Jews from Kulashi and Akhaltsikhe; the same file includes a complaint by Jews from Tbilisi on the confiscation of matzah flour. In 1966 same Jews from Tskhinvali submitted a plea to allow them the renovation of a synagogue (including a basic plan of the building).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Council for the Religious Cult Affairs of the Council of Ministers of USSR was established in 1944 (until 1946, the Council of Ministers was called Council of Peoples' Commissars). Commissioners of the Council for the Religious Cult Affairs were appointed for the Councils of Ministers of the Soviet and Autonomous republics of the USSR, including Georgia. In 1965 the Council for the Religious Cult Affairs was transformed into the Council for Religious Affairs. The council was active until the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
As its counterparts in other parts of the USSR, the Commissioner of the Council in Georgian SSR was responsible for the registration of religious organisations and places of worship, for surveillance after religious groups and communities, and for the implementation of the Soviet laws and directives in the sphere of religion. The collection reflects activities from the mid-1940s until 1990.
- Access points: locations:
- Akhaltsikhe
- Kulashi
- Tskhinvali
- System of arrangement:
- The collection includes 5 inventories.
- Access, restrictions:
- The collection is open for reference at the Central Archive of Contemporary History of Georgia.
- Finding aids:
- A list of files and a catalogue are available at the Central Archive of Contemporary History. A list of Jewish-related files is available at the CAHJP in Jerusalem.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Alex Valdman (Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People), 2017