Metadata: Administration of the City of Belgrade - Card Register of Citizens of Belgrade and Zemun
Collection
- Country:
- Serbia
- Holding institution:
- Historical Archives of Belgrade
- Holding institution (official language):
- Историјски архив Београда (Istorijski arhiv Beograda)
- Postal address:
- Palmira Toljatija 1, 11070 Belgrade; PAK 190446
- Phone number:
- (+381) 11 2606-336
- Web address:
- https://www.arhiv-beograda.org
- Email:
- office@arhiv-beograda.org
- Reference number:
- IAB-1-KŽ
- Title:
- Administration of the City of Belgrade - Card Register of Citizens of Belgrade and Zemun
- Title (official language):
- Картотека житеља Београда и Земуна, Управа града Београда
- Creator/accumulator:
- Central Register Office of the Administration of the City of Belgrade
- Date(s):
- 1922/1954
- Language:
- Serbian
- Extent:
- 178 linear metres (851 card boxes, 1,009,000 cards)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The card register of Belgrade and Zemun citizens is a part of the collection Administration of the City of Belgrade. Besides the card register, this collection contains general documents and acts of the police, administration and judicial authorities, books of the concentration camp Banjica and the records of the Special Police Department established by Nazi occupation authorities in WWII.
The card register of Belgrade and Zemun citizens was created by the Central Register Office of the Administration of the City of Belgrade. It contains over 1,000,000 certificates of residence with personal information of citizens who lived in or visited Belgrade. Cards were created from 1922 to 1952, but most of them date from the period between 1922 and 1941.
Jewish citizens who lived in or visited Belgrade and Zemun were recorded in ca. 21,000 cards. Each card provided pre-defined data for a registered citizen: first name and family name; maiden name for women; year and place of birth; citizenship; religion; marital status; names of wife and children and their dates and places of birth; permanent address and all changes of address.
There are also a number of circulars for wanted persons and deportation cards issued by police. Besides significant information on Belgrade and Zemun Jews, cards also provide information for people who stayed in Belgrade for shorter periods of time and for Jews who came to Belgrade in 1941, and shortly afterwards were sent to some of the concentration camps. In some cases a concentration camp is registered to be their last address. Certificates of residence issued after World War II give evidence on Jewish citizens who survived the Holocaust as well as those who left to Israel after the war.
Based on the recorded personal information in the cards it is possible to reconstruct the relations among Jewish families. Prominent Jews whose personal details were recorded in the card register include David Albala, a doctor, Zionist and politician; Geca Kon, famous Belgrade publisher and book seller; Mosa Pijade, a painter, journalist and distinguished official of the Communist regime, Moni de Buli, a poet, journalist and literary critic, Dr Isak Alkalaj, rabbi and a member of Senate, Robert Lang, pre-war manager of the Yugoslav national football team.
- Archival history:
- The Secretariat of the Interior of the Socialist Republic of Serbia transferred the card register to the Historical Archives of Belgrade in 1968. The card register has been categorised as a collection of exceptional importance.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Administration of the Town of Belgrade (renamed to Administration of the City of Belgrade in about 1870 ) was constituted on 13 July 1839 in accordance with the Law on Municipalities, and by 1841 it was considered to act as the Belgrade Municipality. The Administration had administrative and police jurisdiction until 1850 and judicial jurisdiction until 1889. In 1860 Belgrade was divided into six quarters (Town, Dorćol, Palilula, Terazije, Savamala and Vračar). Quarters constituted departments of the Administration. Police tasks were performed by the Gendarmerie. As the city expanded, their number increased. The Administration of the City of Belgrade reported to the Ministry of the Interior until 1903, while the Municipality of the City of Belgrade came under the authority of the Administration of the City of Belgrade. During the First World War, the Administration of the City of Belgrade ceased to work until the liberation of Serbia and the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 1 December 1918. According to the Regulation on the Organisation and Operation of the Administration of the City of Belgrade of 1930, the territorial jurisdiction extended to territories of the municipalities of Belgrade, Zemun and Pančevo. During WWII the Administration continued to operate under the name Police Department of Belgrade until the liberation of Belgrade on 20 October 1944.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Albala, David
- Alkalaj, Isak
- Buli, Moni de
- Kon, Geca
- Pijade, Moša
- System of arrangement:
- The card register is arranged alphabetically.
- Access, restrictions:
- The archive material of the fonds is available according to the regulations of the Historical Archives of Belgrade.
- Finding aids:
- The card register is digitised and searchable online (by name, family name and father’s name) in Serbian.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.digitalni.arhiv-beograda.org/login.php
- Yerusha Network member:
- Historical Archives of Belgrade
- Author of the description:
- Jelena Jovanović; Historical Archives of Belgrade; 2019
