Metadata : Gendarme Directorate of the Courland Governorate (Jelgava, Kurland Governorate)
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 4569
- Title:
- Gendarme Directorate of the Courland Governorate (Jelgava, Kurland Governorate)
- Title (official language):
- Kurzemes guberņas Žandarmērijas pārvalde (Jelgava, Kurzemes guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gendarme Directorate of the Courland Governorate
- Date(s):
- 1854/1917
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 2,238 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains records of the Gendarme Directorate of the Courland Governorate which refer to various political, public and criminal matters. The materials include: circulars of the different Russian security agencies; correspondence on operational, organisational and financial matters with the local Gendarme Directorate officials, the Okhrana (secret police), the military command and more; prosecution files on participation in armed actions; papers on possessing and distributing illegal materials; data on surveillance of the activities of various parties, organisations and political activists; records on persons suspected in anti-government actions; police lists of wanted persons, and more.
The collection contains various Jewish-related records, the bulk of which refer to the period of the early 20th century. An important part of these records relates to the activities of the Bund party. It includes prosecution files concerning the belonging of individuals to the Bund, correspondence and various data on the Libava branch of the Bund party (inventory 2, file 32; inventory 7, files 142, 182, 193). For example, the file of 1913-1916 includes prosecution materials on charges against Iser-Ber Gurvich, Ovsey Levin and others of belonging to the Bund and appeals regarding the Mendel Beilis trial (inventory 8, file 19). The collection also contains materials on the Libava and Jacobstadt-Kreutzburg Jewish workers' circles, and on the participation of a few Jews in the armed uprising in Goldingen in 1906 (inventory 1, file 185). According to the data of the Gendarme Directorate’s agents in 1903 there were 60 members in the Libava Jewish working group (inventory 1, file 26). Members of the group were engaged, for example, in reading general educational literature and materials on the workers’ question and in establishing contacts with similar circles in other cities. Among other Jewish-related materials of the collection, there are papers on the distribution of flyers, bulletins and newspapers in Russian, Latvian and Yiddish. For example, the file of 1903-1904 includes materials on the distribution of the Russian social-democratic newspaper “Iskra” by Polangen resident Hona Gutman (inventory 1, file 40). In addition, the collection contains correspondence in 1909-1910 on Israel Israelson and others involved in the illegal transfer of emigrants across the border (inventory 1, file 596), and various materials on surveillance of Jews suspected of anti-government activities and political disloyalty.
- Archival history:
- During the 19th century most of the Courland governorate records were kept in Jelgava (Mitava) castle.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1867 new regulations on the Special Corps of Gendarmes (the political police) were approved by the Russian emperor Alexander II. This was dictated by the need to create an extensive network of territorial gendarmerie bodies for a more effective fight against the revolutionary movement. Instead of gendarme districts, each of which included a few governorates in the Russian Empire, gendarme directorates were created in each of the governorates. The Gendarme Directorate in the Courland Governorate was also established in 1867. The main functions of the gendarme directorate were: suppressing unrest, search and arrests, inquiry and investigation of political affairs, secret surveillance of the population, search for persons evading the authorities, counterintelligence; etc.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of eight inventories that are arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
- Reference number:
- 4569
- Title:
- Gendarme Directorate of the Courland Governorate (Jelgava, Kurland Governorate)
- Title (official language):
- Kurzemes guberņas Žandarmērijas pārvalde (Jelgava, Kurzemes guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gendarme Directorate of the Courland Governorate
- Date(s):
- 1854/1917
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 2,238 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains records of the Gendarme Directorate of the Courland Governorate which refer to various political, public and criminal matters. The materials include: circulars of the different Russian security agencies; correspondence on operational, organisational and financial matters with the local Gendarme Directorate officials, the Okhrana (secret police), the military command and more; prosecution files on participation in armed actions; papers on possessing and distributing illegal materials; data on surveillance of the activities of various parties, organisations and political activists; records on persons suspected in anti-government actions; police lists of wanted persons, and more.
The collection contains various Jewish-related records, the bulk of which refer to the period of the early 20th century. An important part of these records relates to the activities of the Bund party. It includes prosecution files concerning the belonging of individuals to the Bund, correspondence and various data on the Libava branch of the Bund party (inventory 2, file 32; inventory 7, files 142, 182, 193). For example, the file of 1913-1916 includes prosecution materials on charges against Iser-Ber Gurvich, Ovsey Levin and others of belonging to the Bund and appeals regarding the Mendel Beilis trial (inventory 8, file 19). The collection also contains materials on the Libava and Jacobstadt-Kreutzburg Jewish workers' circles, and on the participation of a few Jews in the armed uprising in Goldingen in 1906 (inventory 1, file 185). According to the data of the Gendarme Directorate’s agents in 1903 there were 60 members in the Libava Jewish working group (inventory 1, file 26). Members of the group were engaged, for example, in reading general educational literature and materials on the workers’ question and in establishing contacts with similar circles in other cities. Among other Jewish-related materials of the collection, there are papers on the distribution of flyers, bulletins and newspapers in Russian, Latvian and Yiddish. For example, the file of 1903-1904 includes materials on the distribution of the Russian social-democratic newspaper “Iskra” by Polangen resident Hona Gutman (inventory 1, file 40). In addition, the collection contains correspondence in 1909-1910 on Israel Israelson and others involved in the illegal transfer of emigrants across the border (inventory 1, file 596), and various materials on surveillance of Jews suspected of anti-government activities and political disloyalty.
- Archival history:
- During the 19th century most of the Courland governorate records were kept in Jelgava (Mitava) castle.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1867 new regulations on the Special Corps of Gendarmes (the political police) were approved by the Russian emperor Alexander II. This was dictated by the need to create an extensive network of territorial gendarmerie bodies for a more effective fight against the revolutionary movement. Instead of gendarme districts, each of which included a few governorates in the Russian Empire, gendarme directorates were created in each of the governorates. The Gendarme Directorate in the Courland Governorate was also established in 1867. The main functions of the gendarme directorate were: suppressing unrest, search and arrests, inquiry and investigation of political affairs, secret surveillance of the population, search for persons evading the authorities, counterintelligence; etc.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of eight inventories that are arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
