Metadata: City of Belgrade 4th District People's Committee
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, Republic of Serbia; PAK 190446
- Phone number:
- (+381) 11 2606-336
- Web address:
- https://www.arhiv-beograda.org
- Email:
- office@arhiv-beograda.org
- Reference number:
- IAB-45
- Title:
- City of Belgrade 4th District People's Committee
- Title (official language):
- Народни одбор IV рејона града Београда
- Creator/accumulator:
- City of Belgrade 4th District People's Committee
- Date(s):
- 1944/1952
- Language:
- Serbian
- Extent:
- 9 linear metrees (83 books and 26 boxes)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The fonds comprises documents created by the City of Belgrade 4th District People's Committee in the period 1944-1952, including by the Executive Board of the Committee, Department of General Affairs, Financial Department and Department of Apartment Buildings Management.
The most important archival material related to the Jewish community was created by Department of General Affairs. This department consisted of the Inheritance Division, Office for Citizens’ Affairs and Commission for War Damage Claims. The records of these departments and offices provide information on the destiny of Jewish citizens in the Second World War, information on Jewish property before the war and the migration of Jews who survived WWII.
The Commission for War Damage Claims produced documents related to Jews in Belgrade and the claims that those Jews who survived filed for compensation for the damages they had suffered, personally or on behalf of the family members who had died during the war. Each war damage claim contains the personal data of the citizen who suffered damage: first and last name, father’s name, profession, date of birth, nationality. The same data are available for the person who submitted the claim. The claims contain detailed information on damage caused to real estate and other property, often accompanied by lists of belongings which were expropriated or destroyed in the war. Finance losses in terms of financial income not received were calculated and recorded as well. In some cases, compensation for emotional and physical damage was claimed, too. Persons or authorities who caused the damage and the total amount calculated for the damage compensation were recorded. Some claims preserve information on how a person survived the Holocaust.
The Office for Citizens’ Affairs held documentation on citizens who renounced their Yugoslav citizenship, among them Jews who were granted Israeli citizenship and moved there in 1949 and later in the 1950s. The records provide personal data in some cases of entire families who emigrated to Israel. Jews who renounced their Yugoslav citizenship include Rašela Bahar, Aron Beraha, Paula, Toma and Ljiljana Binder, Mojse Romano, Alfred Najfeld, Rafael Poljakan, Isak and Berta Alkalaj, David Baruh, Arueti Izrail, Regina Arueti, Šari Koen and others.
The collection also includes records of nationalisation of property owned by Jews who emigrated. The property of individuals who renounced their Yugoslav citizenship was considered to be the property of foreign citizens and therefore was to be nationalised according to the law. These records preserved information on nationalised Jewish property, with a court decision number which declared it to be the State’s property. Such was the case with the property of Vida Eškenazi, Moša Farkić, Irena Ruhvarger, Andrija Barta and his heir Adela Kalman, Miroslav Rot, Arpad Koh, Ruso Hajim Isak and Gertruda.
The collection also contains applications submitted by citizens to the 4th District People’s Committee asking for permission to sell their property; decisions of the committee rejecting the applications with detailed explanations (an application filed by Moša Farhić); court decisions rejecting requests of the People's Committee to nationalise the property of Sabitaj Rafailo, of Lidija and Karl Rosner and others; documentation on the sequestration of the property of Neli Kampos and Regina Arueti; documentation on the property of the late Rihard Frelih whose heirs were foreign citizens; documentation on the property of Lidija Rosner from Palestine and of Irena Oner from Turkey; a court decision regarding the accusations against Isak Katarivas, a manager of the Candy and Chocolate Company who was accused of usurping the assets of the Company; documents sent by the Company for Apartment Building Management confirming that Ladislav Begel owned property at 16 Vele Nigrinove Street until May 1941 when he escaped from Belgrade, after that Lujza Vasić, a German, took over the property until 1944 when she ran away to Austria. After the war Bergel returned and sold his property before leaving for Israel; documentation on receivership of the property owned by Leon Danon located at 132 Bulevar Crvene Armije Street.
- Archival history:
- The fonds was transferred to the Historical Archives of Belgrade by the Department of General Affairs and Social Services of the City Municipality Vračar, 75 Njegoševa Street, on 21 March 1974.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The City of Belgrade 4th District People's Committee was formed in May 1945 by decision of the Executive People’s Committee of the City of Belgrade. District People’s Committees were the first civil authorities after the Second World War. The 4th District People's Committee was formed from the territories of VII and VIII People’s Liberating District Committees. It was abolished by the Executive Board of the People’s District Committee of the City of Belgrade at the end of 1952.
- Access points: locations:
- Belgrade
- Access points: persons/families:
- Alkalaj, Isak
- Subject terms:
- Holocaust
- Migration
- Migration--Emigration
- Plunder
- Real estate
- World War II
- System of arrangement:
- There is no system of arrangement.
- Finding aids:
- A summary catalogue exists.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Historical Archives of Belgrade
- Author of the description:
- Tijana Kovčić; Historical Archvies of Belgrade; 2021
