Metadata: Land Captain of the 5th Section in Trakai District
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:
- 409
- Title:
- Land Captain of the 5th Section in Trakai District
- Title (official language):
- Trakų apskrities 5-ojo skyriaus zemskinis viršininkas
- Creator/accumulator:
- Land Captain of the 5th Section in Trakai District
- Date(s):
- 1906/1915
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 216 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains materials of the land captain of the 5th Section in the Trakai District, including correspondence, circulars of Ministry of the Interior and other state institutions, reports of volost elders, papers concerning property rights, rental of real estate, disputes over money and deforestation of forests. The collection includes criminal cases brought for discussion before the land captain.
Jewish-related materials are also part of the collection, mostly dealing with disputes over money between Jews or between Jews and non-Jews. For instance, a case dated 1915 contains materials of a lawsuit filed by Sh Goldberg against Shmerko and Shmuil Cherny regarding a refund of 50 rubles following non-payment for rye (inventory 1, file 174). Another case of the same year was filed by the non-Jew Y Kvinto against G Gordon concerning a refund of 80 rubles for the leasing a property (inventory 1, file 115). The lawsuits filed against Jews by non-Jews and vice versa also enable the study of economic relations and tensions between the two groups. For example, many of these records deal with claims related to enforcing promissory notes (weksels) or receipts. Promissory notes discounting was a common bank operation in the early 20th century. The main condition was that the promissory notes had to be signed by two reliable guarantors. Since the promissory notes were written debt agreements in case of the debtors’ insolvency, the guarantors had to replace the debtor. In the case of final non-return of the money, the debtor bankruptcy procedure began. The average tenor of the promissory notes was from three to six months. A file from 1914 includes papers on a lawsuit filed by Sh Gurvich against A Truntso for enforcement of 100 rubles for a promissory note (inventory 1, file 97). Another file from 1914 contains materials of a lawsuit filed by Odynets against Iosel and Ovsei Zagorski for the payment of 103 rubles according a receipt they had issued (inventory 1, file 101). Criminal cases contained in the collection also include one case involving Jews: L Perelman, I Buhman and L Shmikliarsky were charged with arson in 1915 (inventory 1, file 198).
- Archival history:
- During World War I the cases in the office of the Land Captain of the 5th Section in the Trakai District were transferred to the Russian territories. Later the collection was given to the Central State Historical Archives in Moscow (the current State Archive of the Russian Federation – GARF). In 1948 the collection was handed over to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR and in 1957 it was transferred to the Central State Historical Archives of the Lithuanian SSR (current Lithuanian State Historical Archives).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The post of land captains (zemskii nachalnik) was created in Russia in 1889 as a result of concerns of the central government over maintaining order in the Russian countryside and the shortcomings of peasant administrators. Therefore, it was felt that governmental control in the countryside had to be tightened.
The office of the Land Captain of the 5th Section in Trakai District was established in 1903. He was responsible for control over public order, security in the rural area entrusted to him, the appointment of volost elders and for supervising peasant self-government institutions. He also had significant judicial power. The land captain could impose fines of up to five rubles and imprison people for seven days. The post of Land Captain was abolished in 1917.
- Access points: locations:
- Trakai district
- Access points: persons/families:
- Buhman, I
- Cherny, Shmreko
- Cherny, Shmuil
- Goldberg, Sh
- Gordon, G
- Gurvich, Sh
- Odynets
- Perelman, L
- Shmikliarsky, L
- Truntso, A
- Zagorski, Iosel
- Zagorski, Ovsei
- Subject terms:
- Crime
- Financial matters
- Financial matters--Debt
- Legal matters
- Real estate
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory that is arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available 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, 2020
