Metadata: Gendarme Directorate of the Vilkaviškio and Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) districts of the Suwalki Governorate
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:
- 1007
- Title:
- Gendarme Directorate of the Vilkaviškio and Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) districts of the Suwalki Governorate
- Title (official language):
- Suvalkų gubernijos Vilkaviškio ir Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) apskričių žandarų valdyba
- Creator/accumulator:
- Gendarme Directorate of the Vilkaviškio and Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) districts of the Suwalki Governorate
- Date(s):
- 1904/1916
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 241 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains records of the Gendarme Directorate of the Vilkaviškio and Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) districts of the Suwalki Governorate which refer to various public, political and judicial matters. The materials include: circulars and orders of the Head of the Suvalki Governorate Gendarme Directorate; materials on individuals suspected of belonging to revolutionary organisations and papers on the possession and distribution of illegal literature. The collection contains valuable Jewish-related materials on the history of Jewish politics, Jewish emigration, and the Jewish labour movement. In addition, the collection includes Jewish-related papers on individuals suspected of insulting the Tsar. It also includes correspondence from 1914 with the Head of the Suwalki Governorate Gendarme Directorate on the surveillance of Bund activities and of party members M Poplokha, A Bugina and others (for example inventory 1, file 70, 1914); police department circulars and correspondence from 1914 with the Head of the Suwalki Governorate Gendarme Directorate on the upcoming congress of the international seismological association, on the conduct of inquiries about Zionist socialists and the identification of individuals (inventory 1, file 74); a document of clarification on the political credibility of N Feldchteīn and G Cherechevskogo accused of transferring emigrants across the border (inventory 1, file 75). The documents also include accusations against Jews of spying for Germany during the First World War and in assisting German troops. For example, in one of the files from 1914 M Vaīchteīn was accused of espionage (inventory 1, file 136); etc.
- Archival history:
- In 1914, as a result of the outbreak of the First World War, all the records of the Suwalki Gendarme Directorate, including the materials from the Vilkaviškio and Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) districts, were transferred to Moscow. In 1918, the materials were given to the Moscow Historical Revolutionary Archive. In 1922, they were transferred to the October Revolution Archive in Moscow (the current State Archive of the Russian Federation - GARF). In 1952 the materials from Vilkaviškio and Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) districts were separated from the collection of the Suwalki Gendarme Directorate and recreated as collection number 133c /1703. On 29 June 1957 these records were handed over to the Central State Historical Archive of the Lithuanian SSR in Vilnius, predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1867 new regulations on the Special Corps of Gendarmes (the political police) was approved by the emperor Alexander II. This was dictated by the need to create an extensive network of territorial gendarmerie bodies to fight more effectively against the revolutionary movement. Instead of a gendarme districts, which include several governorates of the Empire, gendarme directorates were created in each of the governorates of the Russian Empire. In addition, territorial district gendarme directorates were established in six North-Western Governorates and the Kingdom of Poland. In accordance with this decision, the Gendarme Directorate of the Vilkaviškio and Kudirkos Naumiesčio (Vladislavovo) districts of the Suwalki Governorate was set up in 1899. The main functions of the gendarme directorates were: suppressing unrest; search and arrests; inquiry and investigation of political affairs; secret surveillance of the population; arrest of political dissidents; counterintelligence; etc.
- Access points: locations:
- Kudirkos Naumiestis
- Vilkaviškis
- Vladislavovo
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory which is arranged in thematic-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:
- Anastazja Wachowska, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
