Metadata: Records of the Budapest District Royal Hungarian Financial Directorate, 1863-1944
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:
- VI. 101
- Title:
- Records of the Budapest District Royal Hungarian Financial Directorate, 1863-1944
- Title (official language):
- Budapestvidéki M. Kir. Pénzügyigazgatóság iratai, 1863-1944
- Creator/accumulator:
- Budapest District Royal Hungarian Financial Directorate
- Date(s):
- 1863/1944
- Language:
- Hungarian
- Extent:
- 52.3 linear metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of the Financial Directorate covers all financial matters of companies and individuals, including but not limited to all kinds of taxation, salaries and pensions, monopolies and excises, licensing, fees and tolls, land mortgage and release (megváltás), and insurance matters. Before 1938, the cases of Jewish companies and individuals are scattered throughout the material as “Jewish matters” were not dealt with or registered separately. The most relevant part of the collection is 1938-1944, the period when financial directorates played a crucial role in the state-controlled campaign to seize systematically the assets of Hungarian Jews. The most relevant part of the collection is the Records of the Presidential Department No I., 1896-1944 (VI.101.c.), which is divided into three major sections (A-C): General Records, Declarations on the assets of citizens considered Jewish, 1944 and Inventories of Jewish property, 1944. Pre-1944 files are of a fragmented nature. However, the 1944 records contain information on the state sequestration and inventory of Jewish property (Boxes 2-9).
Following the Nazi occupation of Hungary, Prime Minister’s Decree no. 1600/1944 (issued in early April) on declaration and blocking of Jewish-owned property stipulated that all those defined as Jewish had to deposit their jewellery, bonds and other valuables in a bank belonging to the Centre of Financial Institutions. Besides, they had to report their valuables at the local Financial Directorates. Boxes 11-92 hold a massive collection of special value of these declarations, in the alphabetical order of localities and owners, respectively (92 boxes, 1 vol., 9.26 linear metres).
Records of specialised departments no. II-VII (Consumption tax, Financial directorates, Turnover tax, Licensing, Fees, Taxation and Land Release) also contain plenty of information on implementation of the decrees terminating the official permits of Jewish businesses for the sales and purchase of goods and materials monopolised by the state (hasznot hajtó hatósági jogosítványok), such as petrol alcohol, tobacco, sugar, etc., between 1940 and 1944, supervision and termination of the sales permits for alcohol, tobacco and other state monopolies, petty offences and various matters concerning land policy and the matters of Jewish landholdings. There are files related to the Holocaust files in the personnel records of the Financial Directorates’ department (VI.101.e. III.).
- Archival history:
- The records of the dissolved Budapest District Financial Directorate were taken over by its successor, the Financial Department of the Pest County Council. By 1951, the County Council handed over the collection to the Pest County Archives, where it was re-arranged and sorted in 1964. In 1975, the collection was placed in the Nagykőrös branch. The collection reached its present form in 1987.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Replacing financial districts of the Habsburg-era administration operating directly under the imperial Ministry of Finances, the modern-era financial directorates in Hungary were established by Act XXVIII of 1889 (modified by Act XI of 1909 and Act IV of 1924). Headed by a financial director appointed by the head of state, financial directorates operated in the seats of counties and were subordinated to the Ministry of Finances. It was the main supervisory authority in financial and taxation matters of state and municipal authorities. The sphere of authority of the Budapest District Financial Directorate was the entire territory of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. However, in 1927 and 1940 independent financial districts were formed in Kecskemét and in Esztergom. In 1950, the Budapest District Financial Directorate was dissolved and replaced by the Financial Department of the Pest County Council.
- Access points: locations:
- Budapest
- System of arrangement:
- The collection is arranged into twelve major parts, numbered VI. 101. a-l, by the eight departments of the Financial Directorates and other provenance groups. The most relevant sections are Records of the Chief, 1863-1944 (VI.101.a.), Classified Records of Mobilisation, 1939-1944 (VI.101.b.), Presidential Department no.I., 1896-1944 (VI.101.c.), Records of Departments no. II-VII. (Consumption tax, Financial directorates, Turnover tax, Licensing, Fees, Taxation and Land Release, VI.101.d-i.). Records are arranged chronologically, the numbers of the files re-started each year. Statistics and registries are arranged thematically. The declarations on the assets of Jewish citizens are arranged in the alphabetical order of localities from Alag to Zsámbok, and in the alphabetical order of individuals.
- Finding aids:
-
Original indexes and registries are available for the most relevant part of the collection, the 1944 records of the Presidential Department no.I. The pre-1944 part of the collection requires file-level investigation. Finding aids also available for the declarations on the assets of Jewish citizens and the inventories of Jewish property (VI.101.c. A-C).
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; 28-11-2015 (In cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)
