Metadata: Police Court (Ordnungsgericht) of Kreis Fellin
Collection
- Country:
- Estonia
- Holding institution:
- Historical Archives of Estonia
- Holding institution (official language):
- Eesti Ajalooarchiiv
- Postal address:
- Tartu, Nooruse 3, 50411
- Phone number:
- +372 738 7521
- Web address:
- www.ra.ee
- Email:
- tartu@ra.ee
- Reference number:
- EAA.952.1
- Title:
- Police Court (Ordnungsgericht) of Kreis Fellin
- Title (official language):
- Viljandi sillakohus
- Creator/accumulator:
- Police Court of Kreis Fellin
- Date(s):
- 1727/1890
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 4,488 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The Police Court of Kreis Fellin served as the lowest court which dealt mostly with minor crimes and policing. The collection is related to the period when Kreis Fellin (Russian: Феллинский уезд, presently Viljandy county) was a part of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. The collection comprises 8 Jewish-related cases from 1863-1882. One of these cases is a regular statistical report on the number of Jews living in the Kreis from 1867-876. The rest of the Jewish-related cases are criminal proceedings in which Jews are accused of illegal trade (dated 1865 and 1874), theft (three cases, 1872-1873, 1880 and 1881-1882) and one case of rape (1863). The collection also includes an investigation into the murder of a Jew (1863).
Additional examples of Jewish-related files: Documents relating to statistical messages of Jews and Raskolniks, 1867/1876 (inventory 1, file 721); Investigative cases against the Jew Naikum Blumenthal, who were admitted to the city of Tuckum [Tukums], for illegal trade, 1865 (inventory 1, file 2549); Cases of inquiry against the citizens of Jacobstadt [Jēkabpils] Herz Gelbart and several other Jews for illegal trade, 1874 (inventory 1, file 2571); Lawsuits filed by Hans Kimmel against the Jew Abraham Wulf Hirschson for intentional punishment of Hans' wife Trino, 1863 (inventory 1, file 2879); Investigation cases regarding the body of the murdered Jew Israel Glückmann from Tuckum found under Heimthal [Heimtali], 1863 (inventory 1, file 3176); Investigation cases against the Jew Micael Bleimann for theft, 1872/1873 (inventory 1, file 3781); Cases of investigation against the Jew Julius Bleimann for theft, 1880 (inventory 1, file 4126); Investigative cases against the Jew Sellmann Schegel from Schauli, 1881/1882 (inventory 1, file 4147).
- Archival history:
- Initially records from the province (Governorate) of Livonia were stored in its capital, Riga. After 1914, a part of the records were moved to Tartu and Riazan. Currently the entire collection is split between the Estonian Historical Archives and the Latvian State Historical Archives, although most of the Estonian-related cases are kept in the National Archives in Tartu.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Police Court of Kreis Fellin (German: Fellinsches Ordnungsgericht; Estonian: Viljandi sillakohus) was the lowest court which dealt with misconducts (minor crimes) and civil cases. It also controlled public order and domestic trade, taxes and fines. The court was active (with some temporary suspensions) from 1727 until 1890 when the German Court system was abolished in the Governorate of Livonia.
- Subject terms:
- Crime
- Legal matters
- Sexual violence
- Statistics
- Trade and commerce
- System of arrangement:
- The collection is arranged thematically in Estonian while the subsections and the records themselves are in German. Within the subsections reports are presented in chronological order. Jewish-related cases can be found in the section “Materials and acts” (“Materialid ja aktid”) in the subsection “Materials on Statistics (Acts)” (“Materialid statistika kohta (Aktid)”. The crime proceedings belong to the section “Court proceedings” (“Kohtuprotsessi toimikud”), within the subsections “Crimes against property” (Thefts) (“Verbrechen und Vergehen wider das Eigentum” (Diebstähle)), “Crimes against the life, health and honor of private persons” (“Vergehen wider das Leben, Gesundheit und Ehre der Privatpersonen” (“Notzucht”)) and “Offences against public peace and order” (“Verbrechen und Vergehen wider die öffentliche Ruhe und Ordnung”). The case on the murder of a Jew can be found in the subsection “Investigations of deaths and accidents” (“Untersuchung der Todes- und Unglücksfälle”).
- Finding aids:
- General data on the collection is available on the web page of the Historical Archives of Estonia: www.ais.ra.ee. The collection is also briefly described in: Центральный исторический архив Эстонской ССР. Путеводитель. Москва-Тарту, 1969. С. 76-77.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Antonina Martynenko