Metadata: Tax Board of Bauska
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs <br/><br/> (Latvijas PSR Centrālais valsts vēstures arhīvs)
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 67 613 118
- Web address:
- https://www.arhivi.gov.lv/
- Reference number:
- LVVA.812
- Title:
- Tax Board of Bauska
- Title (official language):
- Bauskas Pilsētas Nodokļu Valde
- Creator/accumulator:
- Tax Board of Bauska
- Date(s):
- 1861/1914
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Extent:
- two inventories, 611 files including 25 Jewish-related documents
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
Jews came to Bauska from Lithuania in the 17th century. They were given legal permission to settle in this town only after 1820 even though a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery were already located there in the18th century. The Jewish community of Bauska existed up to the beginning of the Second World War. By 1850 Jewish residents made up over 50% of the entire population of Bauska. Many Jews were merchants, carters, workshop owners and pedlars.
The present collection consists of two inventories, including 482 files in German and 90 files in Russian. These documents were received by the Bauska City Tax Board between 1861 and 1914. The Jewish-related part of the collection includes five records in German from the first inventory and 20 records in Russian from the second inventory.
The first inventory contains records of rabbinical elections, as well as several payments to Bauska's rabbi. The second inventory includes records of various charges and fees levied on the Jews of Bauska.
The five Jewish-related files in the first inventory in German from 1861 to 1881 include two records concerning the rabbinical elections in the town of Bauska (1861, 1878), one document on the rent and heating costs for the rabbi of Bauska (1880), as well as two records regarding the fee payment to the town rabbi (1881).
The Jewish-related section in the second inventory contains twenty files in Russian which date from 1890 to 1913. Most of these files concern apportionments and collections of estimates, taxes and public fees levied on the Jewish population of Bauska (1890-1913). In particular, the major part of these files includes records on candle taxes (9 records, 1892-1913). Although all sorts of taxation for religious objects were prohibited in the Russian Empire at that period, the candle tax was renewed in 1844, following the creation of Jewish state schools within the Pale Settlement. The main goal of these schools, which employed both Jewish and Christian teachers, was to assimilate the Jewish population. Therefore, money received from candle taxes were intended for the support and development of Jewish education. Two further files in the second inventory are joint estimates of Christians and Jews in Bauska (1890, 1892). The three remaining documents deal with administrative and business matters, such as reconstruction of the Jewish ritual bath in Bauska (1902), elections of a Jewish member of the tax authority (1903), and renewal of passports for Jews (1904) in Bauska.
- Archival history:
- No information
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The present collection was primarily assembled and preserved by the Tax Board of Bauska (Bauskas Pilsētas Nodokļu Valde). During the first four years (1795-1799), this institution acted under the jurisdiction of the Bauska City Council. After 1799, the Tax Board was administered by the magistrate and later, from 1877 to 1915, by the city government of Bauska. The Jewish community in Bauska was under the control of the city council. The Jews were, however, allowed to elect a Jewish alderman to the tax board.
According to the Law, issued by Catherine II in 1794, Jewish merchants had to pay a double tax in contrast to taxes levied on Christians registered in the same category. In cases of refusal, Jews were forced to leave the Russian Empire and pay this double tax for three years. By 1844, this double tax levied on Jews was abolished by the decision of Nicholas I. However, Jews in Bauska, Courland and the whole Russian Empire had to deal with a korobka tax which required them to pay for every animal killed in accordance with the laws of kashrut.
- Access points: locations:
- Bauska
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Aviva Katourkina, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
