Metadata: Vilnius Governorate prosecutor
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
- Postal address:
- Mindaugo 8, 03107 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 219 5320
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- 444
- Title:
- Vilnius Governorate prosecutor
- Title (official language):
- Vilniaus gubernijos prokuroras
- Creator/accumulator:
- Vilnius Governorate prosecutor
- Date(s):
- 1805/1883
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 305 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of the Vilnius Governorate prosecutor includes: circulars, orders and instructions from different governing institutions; the prosecutor’s annual reports and papers on incidents in the governorate; documents on Polish rebels in 1831 and on confiscation of their assets; lists of persons imprisoned and sent to Siberia; papers on distribution of illegal literature; various incriminating files; personal petitions and more.
Documents in the collection reflect various aspects of the life of Jews in the Vilnius Governorate. Several files from the 1830s track the processes associated with the collection of the korobka tax (the kosher meat tax) and in particular with the leasing of the korobka (inventory 1, files 58, 59, 106). Another part of the Jewish-related materials comprises records on accusations of Jews in anti-government actions. These documents date back to the 1870s-1880s. Among them are materials in 1879 against the head of the Volozhin yeshiva Rabbi Naftali Tsevi Yehudah Berlin who was accused of anti-government activities (inventory 1, file 149), and accusations against a few Jews who allegedly insulted the Russian emperor. The file of 1876 contains investigation materials on the actions of Nahim Wolfson accused of complicity in a secret circle in Vilnius for the distribution of socialist-revolutionary books (inventory 1, file 261). The collection also includes: an order in 1805 on the refusal to release the Jewish prisoner Wolfson from custody; a file in 1818-1819 regarding examining merchants' shops on the basis of Jewish denunciations on smuggled goods; on allegations that Jews in Mogilev grabbed church lands in 1835; a file of 1872–1873 about finding a machine for counterfeit coins belonging to Wulf Putkin (inventory 1, file 131); and a petition of noblemen from 1893 for recovery of payment from a Jewish woman.
- Archival history:
- After the First World War many materials of the Vilnius governorate’s institutions were consolidated in the State Archive in Vilnius (Archiwum Panstwowe w Wilnie) founded by the Polish authorities. In the late 1940s these records were handed over to the Central State Archive of the Lithuanian SSR.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Institute of Prosecution in Russia was established by Emperor Peter I in 1722 to supervise the implementation of the law. After the third partition of Poland in 1795 and the creation of the Vilna Governorate, this institute was established in Vilnius. The head of the prosecution in all the territories of the governorate was the governorate’s prosecutor. At the beginning of the 19th century the Minister of Justice was the direct and sole head of the entire prosecutor's system in the Russian Empire. The work of the prosecutors was mainly reduced to being present at meetings of various government and judicial institutions, to presenting opinions on various issues, and to reviewing the resolutions of the government agencies in the governorate. This also meant supervision of the actions of the governor. However, in practice, the governor often did not pay attention to the objections of the prosecutor and even ignored them. On the contrary, the prosecutor was actually dependent on the governor since the financing of the activities of the prosecutor's office depended on the governor, and the Ministry of Justice did not always protect the interests of the prosecution against the governor. In 1864, Alexander II reformed the judicial system in Russia, and the main field of activity of the prosecutors was the representation of the interests of the state in courts and the supervision of the investigations by the police and the gendarmes. The Governorate prosecutors were appointed by the emperor, became more independent from the local authorities, but over time they became more and more dependent on the central Russian authorities. During this period, the prosecutors' supervision regarding compliance of the law by government agencies in relation to civil proceedings was considered to be of secondary importance.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory organised in chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available for free online access on the website of the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx
- 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