Metadata : Riga City Police Department (Livonia Province)
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:
- 51
- Title:
- Riga City Police Department (Livonia Province)
- Title (official language):
- Rīgas pilsētas Policijas pārvalde (Vidzemes guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Riga City Police Department
- Date(s):
- 1878/1918
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Latvian
- Extent:
- 20,818 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains documents of the Riga City Police Department. It includes: measures and circulars of the Police Department; reports on riots in Riga, strikes at factories from 1904-1905, student demonstrations, and the distribution of leaflets; lists of officials; register of incoming information; register of the Police Department’s doctor; orders from the police chief of Riga; reports on people under police surveillance due to revolutionary activities; registration books; documents on secret mobilisation; meeting minutes; activity reviews and lists of employees and residents. Also included are: orders from the administration of the Livonian province on compliance with building codes; the affairs of the revolutionary movement; information about foreigners; orders about detainees; criminal cases; cases on surveillance of companies; lists of wanted persons; detention and monitoring of people who crossed the border; and information on the city’s births, deaths, marriages, and baptisms.
The department’s files contain a lot of cases of Jews and Jewish organisations in Riga. Unfortunately, the fond does not have a general search system, no alphabetical directory, and the material is organised in different inventories of the fonds (total number of inventories: 8). For example, inventory 1, consisting of 8 parts, has several thousand Jewish names — there are personal cases of Jews applying for a residence permit in Riga. These cases provide valuable information about the individual and his/her family, and the work of the police department which created many difficulties for Jews who wanted to settle in Riga. For example, on the 17 pages of the police file of Abraham Brahman, in 1907 Ruben Brahman from Jekabpils decided to make his 16-year-old son Abram an apprentice to a hat maker master from Riga. Ruben signed a formal contract with the hat master that the master would pay Abram some money and "follow the morality" of his son. Ruben wrote a petition to the police to allow Abram to live temporarily in Riga. For five years, the police came to the hat workshop to check whether Abram was working there. Finally, Abram received permission to live permanently in Riga.
Other important documents of the fonds are registration books of Jews who wished to settle in Riga from 1869 to 1915. These books contain the name, surname, patronymic, age, family members, place of origin, what personal document was submitted and the address in Riga. The registration books contain about 12,500 entries. Also in the fonds are documents of lists of Jews, residents of Riga districts (incomplete lists), cases of expelling Jews from Riga for passport violations, cases of trade rule violations, and political and criminal cases that include Jewish surnames. There are also files of various Jewish organisations and agencies. For example,"Zionists - Jewish anti-government circle", the activities of Bund, Jewish workshops and the Riga Jewish Savings Society.
- Archival history:
- After World War II materials from the interwar period, along with earlier materials, were part of the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1787, the Riga Police force was created. which was immediately controlled by the state structures of the Russian Empire. The duties of the Riga Police included: maintaining public order; controlling trade and construction; sanitary control; and controlling public transport and fire safety. In 1862, the police departments in Livonia were reformed. After Latvia declared independence on 18 November 1918, police departments were formed in the Republic of Latvia.
- Access points: locations:
- Riga
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Jana Makarova. Edited by Aaron Lasaine, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
- Reference number:
- 51
- Title:
- Riga City Police Department (Livonia Province)
- Title (official language):
- Rīgas pilsētas Policijas pārvalde (Vidzemes guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Riga City Police Department
- Date(s):
- 1878/1918
- Language:
- German
- Russian
- Latvian
- Extent:
- 20,818 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains documents of the Riga City Police Department. It includes: measures and circulars of the Police Department; reports on riots in Riga, strikes at factories from 1904-1905, student demonstrations, and the distribution of leaflets; lists of officials; register of incoming information; register of the Police Department’s doctor; orders from the police chief of Riga; reports on people under police surveillance due to revolutionary activities; registration books; documents on secret mobilisation; meeting minutes; activity reviews and lists of employees and residents. Also included are: orders from the administration of the Livonian province on compliance with building codes; the affairs of the revolutionary movement; information about foreigners; orders about detainees; criminal cases; cases on surveillance of companies; lists of wanted persons; detention and monitoring of people who crossed the border; and information on the city’s births, deaths, marriages, and baptisms.
The department’s files contain a lot of cases of Jews and Jewish organisations in Riga. Unfortunately, the fond does not have a general search system, no alphabetical directory, and the material is organised in different inventories of the fonds (total number of inventories: 8). For example, inventory 1, consisting of 8 parts, has several thousand Jewish names — there are personal cases of Jews applying for a residence permit in Riga. These cases provide valuable information about the individual and his/her family, and the work of the police department which created many difficulties for Jews who wanted to settle in Riga. For example, on the 17 pages of the police file of Abraham Brahman, in 1907 Ruben Brahman from Jekabpils decided to make his 16-year-old son Abram an apprentice to a hat maker master from Riga. Ruben signed a formal contract with the hat master that the master would pay Abram some money and "follow the morality" of his son. Ruben wrote a petition to the police to allow Abram to live temporarily in Riga. For five years, the police came to the hat workshop to check whether Abram was working there. Finally, Abram received permission to live permanently in Riga.
Other important documents of the fonds are registration books of Jews who wished to settle in Riga from 1869 to 1915. These books contain the name, surname, patronymic, age, family members, place of origin, what personal document was submitted and the address in Riga. The registration books contain about 12,500 entries. Also in the fonds are documents of lists of Jews, residents of Riga districts (incomplete lists), cases of expelling Jews from Riga for passport violations, cases of trade rule violations, and political and criminal cases that include Jewish surnames. There are also files of various Jewish organisations and agencies. For example,"Zionists - Jewish anti-government circle", the activities of Bund, Jewish workshops and the Riga Jewish Savings Society.
- Archival history:
- After World War II materials from the interwar period, along with earlier materials, were part of the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1787, the Riga Police force was created. which was immediately controlled by the state structures of the Russian Empire. The duties of the Riga Police included: maintaining public order; controlling trade and construction; sanitary control; and controlling public transport and fire safety. In 1862, the police departments in Livonia were reformed. After Latvia declared independence on 18 November 1918, police departments were formed in the Republic of Latvia.
- Access points: locations:
- Riga
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Jana Makarova. Edited by Aaron Lasaine, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
