Excise Department of the Lomzha, Plock and Suwalki Governorates

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas

Title (official language):: Lomžos, Plocko ir Suvalkų gubernijų akcizinių rinkliavų valdyba

Creator/accumulator:: Excise Department of the Lomzha, Plock and Suwalki Governorates

Scope and content:: The collection of the Excise Department of the Lomzha, Plock and Suwalki Governorates contains records on various abuses in the sphere of the alcohol and tobacco trade, and prosecution files on these issues and on smuggling spirits, tobacco and other goods. The materials in the collection contain papers on the sale of tobacco products by Jewish entrepreneurs without obtaining a special concession and payment of excise. The collection includes files on the possession of untaxed onionskin paper in tobacco shops owned by Jews. For example, the collection includes a file on the secret production of cigarettes by Hana Stavikovskaia in Augustovo in 1909-1910 (inventory 1, file 256). Many materials in the collection relate to the engagement of Jews in the alcohol trade in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A file from 1899-1907 includes materials on violations of the excise rules concerning alcohol trade by Shmul and Sara Lea Raban in Mariampol (inventory 1, file 237). The file from 1909-1914 contains correspondence of the Excise Department about the alcohol trade in the hotel of Kasper Hatskel in Shaki (inventory 1, file 202). These materials enable researchers to trace the participation of Jews in the alcohol trade, despite the many restrictions imposed on them by the government. This resulted in loss of the monopoly on alcohol enjoyed by the nobles within their estates.

Archival history:: In 1960 the materials were transferred from the Kaunas branch of the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR in Vilnius, the predecessor of the modern Lithuanian Central State Archives.

Administrative/biographical history:: In 1866, a new excise statute, similar to the excise terms in other parts of the Russian Empire, was introduced in the Kingdom of Poland. At first, ten governorates’ excise departments were established in the Kingdom of Poland. From 1870, only four excise departments remained. Their offices were in Lublin, Lomzha, Petrokov and Warsaw. The departments were headed by directors responsible for collecting excise taxes on territories of several governorates. Thus, the Excise Department in Lomzha was responsible for collecting taxes in the Plock and Suwalki Governorates as well. The Excise Department was charged with supervision of the collection of excise duties on alcohol, tobacco, sugar and some other products; prosecution of those who violated the excise terms; inspection of factories and other enterprises whose products were subject to excise duties; and collection of fines from those who violated the excise rules. The department was subordinate to the General Department of Excise Duty in the Ministry of Finance in St. Petersburg. The Excise Department of the Lomzha, Plock and Suwalki Governorates was closed down in 1914 during the First World War.

Access points: locations:: Augustovo; Kalvarija; Marijampole; Plock; Ponemon’; Sakiai; Shaki; Suwalki

Subject terms:: Hospitality industry; Hospitality industry--Hotels; Legal matters; Nobility; Trade and commerce; Trade and commerce--Alcohol trade

System of arrangement:: The collection consists of one inventory arranged 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