Metadata: Records of the Prefect of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, 1876-1944
Collection
- Country:
- Hungary
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Hungary, Pest County Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Pest Megyei Levéltára
- Postal address:
- Pf. 141., H-1450 Budapest, Hungary
- Phone number:
- +36 1 455 9050
- Web address:
- http://mnl.gov.hu/pml/
- Email:
- pml@mnl.gov.hu
- Reference number:
- IV. 401
- Title:
- Records of the Prefect of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, 1876-1944
- Title (official language):
- Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun vármegye főispánjának iratai, 1876-1944
- Creator/accumulator:
- Prefect’s Office of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County
- Date(s):
- 1876/1944
- Language:
- Hungarian
- Extent:
- 107.43 linear metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection holds the records of the Prefect (főispán) of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, covering various aspects of everyday life of Jewish individuals, antisemitism and the Holocaust. The most relevant thematic groups are the following:
401/a. Confidential Records (Bizalmas iratok), 1882-1944. Jewish-related records are scattered throughout the collection, mostly requiring file-level research. They include, but are not limited to, the following issues: political movements, including extreme right wing parties, supervision of the press, foundations and cultural and social organisations, passport issues, national and municipal elections and many other matters. The parts pertaining to the era of Jewish laws and the Holocaust (1938-1944) also include requests for and decisions about various kinds of trade licences and permits, documents concerning the disenfranchisement of Jewish voters at the municipal elections in 1939, supervision of extreme right wing movements and parties, including the Arrow Cross, internment and custody, records on the nationalisation of Jewish landholdings at various localities in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, requests and petitions reflecting the antisemitic public mood, denunciations, reports against and investigation of the cases of Jewish individuals and companies, withdrawal of weapon permits, confiscation of radio receivers, supervision of Jewish communities and cultural organisations, expulsion of Jews from municipal assemblies, expropriation, handling and distribution of Jewish wealth, and ghettoisation in various localities in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. (81 boxes; 12 vols.; 9.97 linear metres)
401/b. General records, 1876-1944. This part of the collection mostly concerns the supervision of the subprefect’s office and other administrative bodies of the county. The records cover many aspects of the life of Jewish individuals, companies and institutions. (597 boxes; 75 vols.; 81.36 linear metres)
401/c. Classified Records (Titkos iratok), 1938-1941. The surviving fragments of the classified records mostly contain files pertaining to the activities and organisation of the Arrow Cross Party in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. (1 box; 0.1 linear metres)
401/d Confidential Records of Mobilisation (Országmozgósítási bizalmas iratok), 1941-1944. This part of the collection contains information on various aspects of military service, air raid, activities and behaviour of German troops, organisation and activities of the ethnic German Volksbund, and anti-partisan actions. (2 boxes; 0.26 linear metres)
401/e Records of Government Commissioner for Public Supply (Közellátási kormánybiztosi iratok). This thematic group contains information about wartime public supply, distribution of food and the control and regulation over agricultural and commercial life, including appointments of authorised wholesalers and traders, which involved discrimination against Jewish companies. (69 boxes; 13 vols.; 9.45 linear metres)
Key persons in the collection include prefects Elemér Preszly (1920-1935, 1936-1941) and István Viczián (1941-1944).
- Archival history:
- After the liquidation of the Prefect’s Office in 1950, the records were handed over to the Pest County Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Prefect (főispán) was the head of the main administrative units of Hungary, the counties and the cities of municipal rights between 1870 and 1950. According to Law 42 of 1870, prefects were appointed by the head of state (upon the initiative of the Minister of the Interior). The prefect was the representative of government policy and control over local autonomies (whereas the subprefect was elected by the local municipal assemblies until 1942). Prefects had a political and representative function, whereas subprefect was the head of the local civil administration. From 1886, the prefect supervised all bodies and offices of the state administration in the county/city, including the subprefect, but excluding the courts. With Hungary entering WWII, the prefect also served as Government Commissioner for Public Supply and Government Commissioner for Mobilisation (közellátási és országmozgósítási kormánybiztos).
- Access points: locations:
- Bács-Kiskun
- Access points: persons/families:
- Preszly, Elemér 1877-1971
- Viczián, István 1874-1959
- System of arrangement:
- The records of the Prefect of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County were arranged into provenance subgroups (állag) numbered 401/a to 401/i. The most relevant subgroups are the following: a) Confidential Records (Bizalmas iratok), 1882-1944; b) General records, 1876-1944; c) Classified Records (Titkos iratok), 1938-1941; d) Confidential Records of Mobilization (Országmozgósítási bizalmas iratok), 1941-1944; e) Records of Government Commissioner for Public Supply (Közellátási Kormánybiztosi iratok). Within these groups, the files are arranged chronologically, the number of files re-started each year.
- Finding aids:
- The confidential and classified records and the confidential records of mobilisation (401/a, c-d) lack any indexes or registries. Ernő Lakatos, ed: A Magyar Állami Levéltárak fondjegyzéke, Vol. III. A Területi Levéltárak fondjegyzékei Part 13. A Pest Megyei Levéltár fondjainak jegyzéke. Budapest: Magyar Országos Levéltár, 1975.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives
- Author of the description:
- László Csősz; Hungarian National Archives; 20-11-2015 (In cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)
