Metadata: Seiny District Board, Suvałki 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:
- 1046
- Title:
- Seiny District Board, Suvałki Governorate
- Title (official language):
- Suvalkų gubernijos Seinų apskrities valdyba
- Creator/accumulator:
- Seiny District Board, Suvałki Governorate
- Date(s):
- 1869/1918
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 519 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains records of the Seiny District Board which refer to different public, economic, political, and criminal matters including: railway construction; repair of infrastructure; fairs and industrial enterprises; taxes; censorship of newspapers and books; on societies in the district; thefts and search for illegal weapons; the events of the 1905 revolution; elections to the Russian Duma; suspects in espionage; charity; sanitation; draft lists and more. Accordingly, these materials contain many records relating to the life and activities of Jews in the district. Several files include papers on various institutions of the Jewish communities. There are materials from 1884-1885 on the mikve (ritual Jewish bath) in Seiny (inventory 1, file 295), papers from 1903-1904 on the synagogue in Łoździeje (inventory 1, file 297), and from 1913-1914 on the construction of Jewish prayer houses in the villages of Lishkov and Seree (inventory 1, file 155). In addition, there are documents of 191-1914 about rabbis in the district and about the leaders of the Jewish communities (inventory 1, file 204). Some documents relate to conflicts between Jews and peasants. For example, a file from 1912-1913 contains a complaint of Haim Burak on the illegal digging of a ditch by Teizy village peasants (inventory 1, file 134). Materials relating to the economic activities of the Jews include records on the contribution of Jews to the processes of urbanization and industrialization and on the illegal sale of alcoholic beverages. A file from 1909 deals with the repair of bridges in Veisee and Pozopse by the Jewish contractor Iosif Abramsky (inventory 1, file 322). A few files include materials on the imposition of a fine on families of Jews who evaded military conscription. These documents make it possible to track the procedure for the imposition of these fines in the early 20th century (inventory 2, files 87, 88, 90). Records on the participation of Jews in political life are contained in documents on the election campaign of 1907 to the Russian Duma, and refer to the election of electors on behalf of Seiny and the other towns in the district. In addition, the collection contains materials on the expulsion of Jews from the district by order of the Russian military authorities during the First World War, and a petition by evicted Jews from 1915 to protect their property (inventory 2, files 22, 24). Russian commanders pointed to the alleged disloyalty of the Jewish population, its direct complicity with the enemy, and its involvement in espionage.
- Archival history:
- In 1914, as a result of the outbreak of the First World War, many records of the Suwalki Governorate institutions 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 (now the State Archive of the Russian Federation - GARF). In 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 1866 the Russian Emperor Alexander II issued “The Provisions on the Provincial and District Administration in the Governorates of the Kingdom of Poland” in accordance with which the Suwalki province was created. Within its framework the Seiny district with the local district board administration was also established. The Seiny District Board was headed by the District Governor (uezdnyi nachal’nik), who was subordinate to the Suwalki Governor and the Suwalki Governorate Board. The Seiny District Governor had two assistants, one of whom was in charge of administrative affairs while the other was the chief of police in the district. The district board consisted of four divisions: administrative, military-police, general and financial. According to the census of 1897, there were about 82,000 people in the Seiny district, among whom 9,685 were Jews. In the town of Seiny there were 3,778 inhabitants, including 1,918 Jews.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of two inventories which are 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:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019