Metadata: Daugavpils City Council (Vitebsk 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
- Reference number:
- 4983
- Title:
- Daugavpils City Council (Vitebsk governorate)
- Title (official language):
- Daugavpils pilsētas dome (Vitebskas guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Daugavpils City Council
- Date(s):
- 1794/1919
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 2,092 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection includes records of Dvinsk (Dinaburg, Daugavpils) city council from the end of 18th century until 1919. The city council, as legislative branch of the self-government system and chief municipal body, was responsible for a broad range of municipal issues. Its activities included issues of construction, urban infrastructures, public health, education, social welfare, transport issues, various economic and financial affairs. Accordingly, the materials in the collection reflect the life of the city in these different spheres and contain various data on the city’s residents. Many of the files include important Jewish-related materials evidencing the daily life of the Jewish population and the process of integration of Jews into the commercial structure. Through the use of books of the recording of the city population, copies of books of civil records, revision lists, and other similar documents is possible to obtain information about the Jews who lived in the city and the district. From the materials contained in the collection, it is also possible to study the conscription of Jews, including the conflicts within the Jewish communities connected with conscription. For example, in 1852-1855 a complaint was received from a group of Kreslavka (Krāslava) (Dinaburg district) Jews on the actions of Wulf Ravin, who was empowered to direct the conscription of the Jews (inventory 2, file 119). The group of Kreslavka Jews complained that in 1851 Ravin drafted poor Jews, who were not in the draft lists, to replace the rich. The collection also includes draft lists, records on the approval of persons authorised to compose the draft lists, files of transferring Jews from one draft station to another, and more. Among the valuable Jewish materials should be noted the report of the Jewish kahal for 1840 (inventory 2, file 15), and the papers of the kahal for 1844, issued to the Jews, who were on the waiting list for conscription. Various documents relating to the collection of korobka tax (kosher meat tax), and candle tax from the Jews in Dvinsk are also included in the collection. The sources provide information on the indirect tax burden on the broad sections of the Jewish population in the city, on the methods of spending the collected funds and on the process and methods of tax collection by Kahal (until 1844), and by the city authorities until 1917. In addition, the collection contains materials on the maintenance of the Jewish almshouse, synagogue, mikveh (a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion), Jewish schools, lists of pupils, and pupils' applications for financial assistance. Especially important for understanding the contribution of Jews to the commercial, industrial and financial development of the city are documents relating to their economic activities. The collection contains various papers regarding the receipt of certificates for doing business and the maintenance of workshops, files on the leasing of stores to Jews, other urban facilities and city land. Among economic documents are, for example, papers from 1902 of leasing Jewish public banks (inventory 2, file 852) and the file from the years 1902-1905 on opening a local branch of the tea trade company Wissotzky and Co (inventory 2, file 845). Important components of this part of the collection are papers on taverns, teamsters, shops and documents relating to Jewish craftsmen in such spheres as joinery, jewellery making, watchmaking and more. Materials relating to the economic activities of the Dvinsk Jews also include: applications for joining the merchant guilds, powers of attorney for the right to conduct business, petitions for departure to the inner provinces of the empire (beyond the Pale of Settlement), books and lists of merchants and more. Materials of 1876 relate to the elections to the city councils including lists of voters in Dinaburg and Jewish residents in the towns of Dagda, Vishki (Višķi), Kreutzburg (Krustpils), Livengof (Līvāni) and more also stored in the collection (inventory 2, file 436).
- Archival history:
- Many of the records originating in the Latgalian area of Vitebsk governorate were originally consolidated in Vitebsk and Vilnius, and later in Mogilev and Minsk. During the interwar and Soviet periods, many local records from Latgalia, including Varaklani in Rezekne district, were brought to Riga. Books of civil records of the Varaklani Jewish community from the period 1868-1899 are stored in the fonds 5024 (collection of Latvian Jewish Rabbinate Metric books) of the Latvian State Historical Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- After the accession of Latgalia to Russia in 1772, the authorities in Dinaburg (Dvinsk, Daugavpils) had to conform with the laws of the Russian Empire, where city councils (dumas) were established in 1785. Councils were composed of elected representatives of urban estates but were elected only by townspeople who had some income from property. It is important to note that city councils were not independent bodies and any issues, even the council's meetings, required the approval of the governors. In 1870, reform was carried out. Electoral rights were expanded and the councils became relatively independent. In 1892, in the framework of the counter-reforms of Alexander III, the new city regulations came into effect, which significantly decreased eligibility to vote in the council elections. The councils lost part of their powers and the dependence on the governors was significantly extended. At the beginning of the 20th century, the only Jewish deputy of the Dvinsk city council was Yakov Movshenzon. In 1917 M Rabinovich was an active member of the city’s municipal self-government (in 1918 he was the mayor of Dvinsk). In January 1919 the district executive committee of the Dvinsk Soviet of Workers' Delegates became the main authority in the city instead of the Dvinsk city council.
- 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, 2018