Metadata: Tallinn Jewish Charitable Society Zdoko-Gdoilo
Collection
- Country:
- Estonia
- Holding institution:
- Tallinn City Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Tallinna Linnaarhiiv
- Postal address:
- Tolli 6, 10133 Tallinn
- Phone number:
- +372 6457 401
- Web address:
- https://www.tallinn.ee/eng/City-Archives
- Email:
- linnaarhiiv@tallinnlv.ee
- Reference number:
- 1384
- Title:
- Tallinn Jewish Charitable Society Zdoko-Gdoilo
- Title (official language):
- Tallinna Juudi Heategev Selts Zdoko-Gdoilo
- Creator/accumulator:
- Tallinn Jewish Charitable Society Zdoko-Gdoilo
- Date(s):
- 1927/1940
- Language:
- Russian
- Yiddish
- Estonian
- German
- Extent:
- 78 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains papers relating to activities of the Jewish Charitable Society Zdoko-Gdoilo in Tallinn (Revel), including minutes of the society's board meetings for 1927-1940, and reports of the board regarding the society's activity. For example, according to the report for 1930, 26 Jewish families received monthly allowances from the society due to their inability to support themselves as a result of old age or poor health (inventory 1, file 2). The society also provided one-time financial aid to those who were in financial trouble. The report lists the society's income and expenditure. The reports indicate the society's activity in providing of medical assistance, and in visiting elderly and sick Jews. Financial documents include the society's budgets, cashbooks, subsidiary ledgers (riscontro), financial reports and details on donations made by various society members.
The collection also holds reports on the organisation of children's summer camps in 1934-1939 (inventory 1, files 63, 64, 65, 67, 68) including photographs of the children with the instruction staff (for example inventory 1, file 64), and on the organisation of charitable cultural events in 1932 and 1934-1937 (inventory 1, files 4, 11, 12, 13, 14) including requests made to the local police to confirm these events. The events programmes in the collection indicate their content. For example, on Saturday 15 November 1930 the society organised a concert ball that included classical music such as excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida", "The Nutcracker" by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and the romance "The Jewish Song" by Mikhail Glinka. The event included also humoristic stories, Jewish-related stories and dancing. The concert featured "Estonia" theatre ballet actors (inventory 1, file 18).
Correspondence of the society is another important part of the collection. This includes papers on organisational issues and correspondence with different institutions, businessmen and other individuals concerning cooperation in the organisation of charity cultural events, and providing medical and material assistance to those in need. Among organisations and institutions that corresponded with Zdoko-Gdoilo were, for example, the Tallinn Jewish Community Council, the Tallinn Jewish Kooperativ Bank, the "Tarbut" Society for Education and Hebrew Culture, Keren Hayesod in Estonia, and the Tallinn City Central Hospital. Requests for medical assistance and tangible support, submitted to the society, by Tallinn Jews in 1935-1938, are another important part of the collection. These documents sometimes indicate the difficult financial situation of some Jews. For example, in 1938, Perets Abraham sent a request to the society to send him two pairs of secondhand trousers (inventory 1, file 22). The collection also includes lists of the society's board and members.
- Archival history:
- Information about the history of the collection is not available.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Tallinn Jewish Charitable Society Zdoko-Gdoilo was founded in 1927 and continued to operate until the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940. The society assisted Jews in various areas including supply of medical care, firewood and shoes, assistance in the education of poor children, financial support and more.
- Access points: locations:
- Revel
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available on the online database of the National Archives of Estonia and Tallinn City Archives.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://ais.ra.ee/
- 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