Metadata: Municipality of the City of Belgrade
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-6
- Title:
- Municipality of the City of Belgrade
- Title (official language):
- Општина града Београда
- Creator/accumulator:
- Municipality of the City of Belgrade
- Date(s):
- 1839/1944
- Language:
- Serbian
- German
- Hungarian
- French
- Extent:
- 468.98 linear metres (1,889 volumes; 7,140 boxes)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
This collection comprises the records of the Municipality of the City of Belgrade created from 1839 to 1944. As a local government institution that administered many aspects of everyday life of the city, they illustrate the social, political, economic, cultural and educational history of Belgrade, including the life of Jews in Belgrade, with their economic and legal issues, settlement in Belgrade, employment, their institutions and societies, and the situation during the Second World War and the Holocaust.
The collection contains records relating to numerous facets of this, such as: requests of Jewish societies to organise parties and charity balls; decisions relating to assistance to poor individuals; a number of applications for employment in the city administration, for the issue of identity documents, updating or correction of information in the documents (change of address, last name, wrongly spelled personal data).
Documents created between the two world wars include applications submitted by Jews to be registered in electoral rolls, the same as other Belgrade citizens. These applications contained the following information: personal information of the applicant, where he/she came from, family situation; often including birth and marriage certificates, and/or certificates of good conduct. Certificates of citizenship, of legal age, of permanent residence in Belgrade necessary for starting a business, employment in public service, for passports, regulations of property and legal matters were issued by the Municipality and are thus also included in the collection.
The Personnel Department of the Municipality preserved files of employees in the municipal services with details such as place and date of birth, nationality, family situation, education, employment record, promotions, behaviour and characteristics. Many files included photos of employees.
The records of the Technical Directorate included plans of houses and buildings whose owners were Jews, often accompanied by property deeds, applications for construction permits, permits for adaptations, reconstructions, renovations, or for repairs. There are also plans and documents of buildings owned by the Association of Jewish Religious Communities and by the Society “Oneg Shabat”. Furthermore, this series includes documents relating to the work of Jewish architects who designed many buildings in Belgrade, such as Miša Manojlović, Isak Azriel, Josif Najman, Samuilo Zaks, Josif Albala and Alfred Melamed. The Cadastre Section within the Technical Directorate kept ownership records for houses and estates in Belgrade, including property deeds, sketches of estates, descriptions of property and information on changes of ownership. Property deeds were issued to individuals and to institutions such as the Jewish Religious Ashkenazi Community; Jewish Religious Sephardic Community, Society “Oneg Shabat”, and the Jewish Religious School Community.
The Department of Finance preserved files on municipal estates which were often leased to Jewish merchants. Very important is the documentation created during the Second World War which includes lists of names of several thousand Jews who had been obliged to report their property to the German authorities in compliance with the order issued by the German Military Commander in Serbia on 30 May 1941. The lists contained details on the individuals’ names, their spouses’ names and real estate property, household furniture, money, securities, debts etc.
Material created during World War II also documented anti-Jewish measures, such as yellow badges, dismissal from public service, removal of Jewish symbols from gravestones and transfer to forced labour camps. Lists of Jewish citizens ordered to clear ruins, streets and the future camp Topovske Šupe, and of forced labour attendance have been preserved as well. There are also documents of the Jewish camp in Zemun, known as the concentration camp Sajmište, including requests of the camp’s administration for provisions, firewood, medications and other necessities; information of repairs done on the camp’s buildings; notes with numbers of prisoners
- Archival history:
- Several institutions have transferred records that originated from the Municipality of the City of Belgrade to the Historical Archives of Belgrade: the County Court for the City of Belgrade in 1948, the Construction Department of the Executive Board of the National Committee of the City of Belgrade in 1950, the Military History Institute in 1968, the Archives of Serbia in 1973, the Secretariat of General Administration of the Assembly of the City of Belgrade in 1973 and Zemun Municipal Secretariat of General Administration in 1980.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Municipality of the City of Belgrade was founded in 1839 by the Law on Municipality Constitution, operated jointly with the Administration of the Town of Belgrade until 1841. It was executive, judicial, police self-management authority in Belgrade, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior. The first Statute adopted in 1922 determined the structure and the organisation of the Belgrade Municipality. It was divided into directorates and departments: 1. Administrative Department, 2. Judicial Department, 3. Department of Statistics, 4. Social Affairs Department, 5. Department of Finance, 6. Municipal Properties Administration, 7. Economy Department, 8. Technical Directorate, 9. Sanitary Department, 10. City Maintenance Department; 11. Firefighting Department. During the First World War, the Austrian authorities controlled the work of the Municipality. The boundaries of Belgrade Municipalities were determined in the period between the two world wars and new authorities and organisation were defined accordingly by the Law on City Municipalities of 1934. The Municipality of the City of Belgrade ceased to exist after the liberation of Belgrade in 1944.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Albala, Josif
- Azriel, Isak
- Manojlović, Miša
- Melamed, Alfred
- Najman, Josif
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Antisemitism
- Antisemitism--Antisemitic legislation
- Antisemitism--Antisemitic measures
- Architectural drawings
- Ashkenazi Jews
- Cemeteries
- Cemeteries--Gravestones
- Citizenship
- Financial matters
- Forced labour (of Jews)
- Health and medical matters
- Holocaust
- Holocaust--Concentration camps
- Holocaust--Yellow star
- Jewish community
- Occupation (military)
- Personal records
- Photographs
- Plunder
- Prisoners
- Real estate
- Sephardi Jews
- Trade and commerce
- Vital records
- Vital records--Birth records
- Vital records--Marriage records
- Welfare
- World War II
- System of arrangement:
- The collection is incomplete. It is arranged according to the office register books (by file number, registry number and date or alphabetically and thematically).
- Access, restrictions:
- The archive material of the fonds is available according to the regulations of the Historical Archives of Belgrade.
- Finding aids:
- A summary inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Historical Archives of Belgrade
- Author of the description:
- Jelena Jovanović; Historical Archives of Belgrade; 2019