Metadata: Kaunas governorate commission of municipal affairs
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:
- 1567
- Title:
- Kaunas governorate commission of municipal affairs
- Title (official language):
- Kauno gubernijos miestų reikalų komitetas
- Creator/accumulator:
- Kaunas governorate commission of municipal affairs
- Date(s):
- 1850/1917
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 2,862 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains papers relating to a wide range of issues discussed in the Kovno (Kaunas) governorate commission of municipal affairs. The range of such issues included municipal elections, property ownership, supervision of trade, taxation, education, construction of buildings, financial and transport issues, resolutions of the city councils, and more.
Numerous files in the collection contain Jewish-related materials. An important part of the collection is papers related to the communal life of the Jews and various Jewish institutions. Among such materials there are files on the elections of Jewish tax collectors in Kovno, Rossieny, Bobty, Shavli, Novoaleksandrovsk and Rumshishki from the late 1870s to the early 1890s. Some of the materials facilitate the study of the difficulties that faced the Jewish communities in the region regarding their interaction with the local authorities. In particular, there was an acute problem with the accuracy of metrical books and the Russian authorities paid special attention to any abuse in this sphere that could affect conscription and taxation. The collection contains the file from 1912 on frauds in the metrical books of Ponevezh Jews (inventory 1, file 1845). The file from 1910 deals with the false certification of the elections to the Jewish prayer house board in Zheimeli by the local Meschanstvo Headman (meshanskii starosta) (inventory 1, file 1653). Other materials relate to the refusal of municipal self-government bodies to allocate funds for Jewish institutions. A file from 1888 contains records on forcing the Shavli city government to pay for the maintenance of the Shavli primary Jewish school, and the file from 1905 contains papers on the decision of the Vilkomir Council on the refusal to allocate funds to the contagious diseases’ unit in the Jewish hospital (inventory 1, file 1260). A file from 1880 includes records of the Shavli City Council about the allocation of korobka (a tax on a kosher meat) sums for an establishment of an almshouse and a hospital by the local Jewish community (inventory 1, file 2208). The collection also contains documents related to the tax-farming of korobka, and records of the Kovno City Council from 1914 on the exemption from rentals and arrears of the Kovno Jewish Funerary society (inventory 1, file 2084).
The collection contains various documents related to economic activities of Jewish entrepreneurs and traders. For example, the file from 1892 contains an application by Leiba Kagan for permission to open a steam power chocolate candy factory in Shavli (inventory 1, file 226), and a file from 1911 mentions a complaint from Shaina Aron against the local authorities in Shavli in connection with the prohibition on opening a beer shop in the town (inventory 1, file 1758). Papers on the economic activities of Jews comprise of records on meat traders, on taxation of taverns’ owners, on contractors for works in the cities, and on tenants of various urban infrastructures.
Jewish-related records also refer to cases regarding issuing documents and metrics to Jews. For example, a file from 1899 deals with the improper issue of a passport for Rachel Nohimovich in Skopishki because it was done without her husband’s consent. The collection includes complaints of Jews against the municipal authorities regarding the construction of buildings, the acquisition of land, incorrect taxation, and the improper holding of elections to urban institutions. A file from 1879 contains a petition of Rossieny Jews on the improper holding of elections to the board of the meshanstvo estate in the town (inventory 1, file 169). The collection also contains materials on bringing to justice the Jewish members of the municipal self-government bodies in connection with allegations of various abuses, and materials related to the accusations of local officials in facilitating the draft evasion of Jews.
- Archival history:
- At the beginning of the First World War many of the Kaunas governorate’s records were evacuated by the Russian authorities. After the war these materials were returned to Kaunas, the capital of the independent Lithuania, and were consolidated in the framework of the Central State Archive. After the imposition of Soviet rule this archive was reorganised as the Kaunas branch of the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1993, the materials of the Kaunas governorate commission of municipal affairs were transferred to the Lithuanian State Historical Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Kovno (Kaunas) governorate commission of municipal affairs was established in 1890 in accordance with the 1870 reform of the city government in the Russian Empire. The central aim of the commission was to supervise the activities of the municipal self-government bodies on the territory of the Kovno governorate, such as city councils and city. It dealt, for example, with municipal elections, disputes inside the cities, investigating complaints of the cities’ residents, discussing cities’ budgets, and more. The commission was chaired by the governor and included senior officials of Kovno local administrative and judicial authorities. In practice, the 1870 reform and especially the subsequent municipal reform of Alexander III in 1892 expanded the powers of the governors and the municipal authorities’ dependence on them. The chairman, for example, had the deciding vote in the commission in order to break a deadlock. Moreover, if the governor strongly disagreed with the decision of the majority in the commission, he had the right to use his veto and suspend the execution of such a decision.
- 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:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
