Metadata: Daugavpils City Orphans Court (Daugavpils)
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- 16 Slokas Street, Rīga, 1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 2288
- Title:
- Daugavpils City Orphans Court (Daugavpils)
- Title (official language):
- Daugavpils pilsētas bāriņtiesa (Daugavpils)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Daugavpils City Orphan's Court (Daugavpils)
- Date(s):
- 1882/1944
- Language:
- Latvian
- Russian
- Extent:
- 2,584 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains documents of the Daugavpils City Orphans Court. It includes cases on the custody of the inheritance of the deceased, on the custody of the property of young children left without parents; on guardianship and appointment of guardians of young children left without parents; on adoption; on the appointment of a guardian over the property of the accused of offences; on the appointment of trustees of the property of those who have left or missing; on guardianship of sick, incapacitated persons and their property; incoming and outgoing papers; documents on receipt and payment of money; cash registers, register of court cases, etc.
There are a lot of Jewish surnames in the names of the cases of the Daugavpils Orphans Court. For example: on the establishment of guardianship over the property and young children of Itzik Eidelson, son of Zalman; on the establishment of guardianship over the property and young children of the deceased Kreuzburg bourgeois Haim Gulyak, son of Leizer; on custody of the property of the deceased Movsha Feinstein, son of Mordukh until the appearance of his heirs; on the appointment of a guardian over the property of Itzik Blont, son of Yosel, accused under Article 394 of the Penal Code; on the custody of the property of the mentally ill Leya Ros, daughter of Berka; on the guardianship of the property of Sora Riva Surits, who did not pay a 300-ruble fine for her son Abram's evasion of military service, etc. For example, on 2 October 1902, there was a custody case for the property and young children of a deceased bourgeois woman from Kreslavka (now the city of Kraslava, 43 km from Daugavpils) - Miriam Abay, née Dukhov. First, her ex-husband Itzik Abay was appointed the guardian of the children of Yankel and Meer, as well as the property of Miriam. The case contains a family list of Itzik Abay with an indication of his relatives, as well as a detailed report on the real estate - the house of Miriam Abay, which she owned with her mother, Rivka Dukhov. However, in 1906, Miriam's father, Movsha Dukhov, wrote a statement to the Orphans Court that Itzik Abay did not fulfil the duties of a guardian to his children. Itzik was married for a second time and he was driving his children away. The elder son spent most of his time in Movsha’s house. The Orphans Court considered this application and appointed Movsha Dukhov as the new guardian of the children and property.
- Archival history:
- After World War II materials from the interwar period, along with earlier materials, were part of the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR. In 1962 it was decided to reorganise the archive and it was renamed the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR. The materials predating the period of Soviet rule were deposited in this archive, predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Orphans courts were established in cities in the Russian Empire in 1775; they were guardianship bodies designed to protect the interests of the urban estates (merchants, bourgeois, commoners, etc.). These courts began to deal with the protection of children's rights in 1889. The most important task of the Orphans court was to appoint a guardian to underage children left without parents, take care of the property of children, supervise the actions of guardians and disclose possible violations of children's rights. These orphans courts were preserved in independent Latvia from 1918 to 1940 (in 1991 the institution of the orphans court was restored and is still operative). Orphans courts in Latvia during the period 1918-1940 dealt not only with the custody of orphans, but also with custody of incapacitated citizens, as well as with issues of custody of the property of the deceased, inheritance cases, description and protection of the property of those who left it for some reason.
The city of Daugavpils (until 1893 Dinaburg, then until 1920 Dvinsk) is located 232 km from Riga. According to the 1897 census, 20% of the inhabitants of Dvinsk Сounty were Jewish. On the eve of the First World War 55,686 Jews or 49% of the total population lived in Dvinsk. This was the highest percentage of Jews who ever lived in the city. For several decades, the community was headed by the famous rabbis Meir-Simha Katz-Kagan (the Or Sameakh) (1843-1926) and Joseph Rozin (the Rogachevsky Gaon) (1858-1936). In 1935, 11,106 Jews lived in Daugavpils, or about 25% of the city's population. In the 1920s-1930s Jews owned more than 100 different businesses. There were four Jewish libraries, ten youth libraries, four teachers' organisations and other Jewish organisations in the city. There were seven Jewish basic schools, two gymnasiums, a Talmud Torah, several yeshivot and cheders and 40 synagogues.
- Access points: locations:
- Daugavpils
- Daugavpils County
- Krekenava
- Subject terms:
- Legal matters
- Orphans
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Jana Makarova
