Metadata: Records of the Orphans’ Court of the Town of Nagykőrös, 1945-1949
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:
- XII. 103
- Title:
- Records of the Orphans’ Court of the Town of Nagykőrös, 1945-1949
- Title (official language):
- Nagykőrös város árvaszékének iratai, 1945-1949
- Creator/accumulator:
- Orphans’ Court of the Town of Nagykőrös
- Date(s):
- 1945/1949
- Language:
- Hungarian
- Extent:
- 47 boxes, 12 vols., 6.23 linear metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- poor
- Scope and content:
-
The collection holds the matters of Jewish orphans and other persons under guardianship from the town of Nagykőrös between 1945 and 1949. The records of the Orphans’ Courts from the post-war period contain information on the state-controlled expropriation of the wealth of Hungarian Jews in spring-summer of 1944. According to decree no. 230.000/1944 of the Ministry of Interior on 10 April 1944 on the handling of the assets of “absent” Jews (that is, those who were promptly taken to the ghettos and collection camps after April 16 and therefore could not report their property as prescribed in governmental decree no. 1600/1944 issued on the same day) fell on the Orphans’ Courts of the counties and cities. They were entitled to appoint public trustees (közgyámok) and guardians to take over and handle all the property of the Jews who The decree quoted above referred to Act 20 of 1877, which allowed (in urgent cases) to put those people under guardianship, who were “absent, staying in an unknown locality, or hampered from returning home and handling their property.” Soon after, government officials realised the task was far beyond the ability of the Orphans’ Courts. At the beginning of May, Financial Directorates were made responsible for the appropriation, inventorying and safekeeping of Jewish property.
Under the terms of Article 27 of the Treaty of Peace with Hungary signed in Paris on 10 February 1947, Hungary was committed to restore the property, legal rights and interests of all those who suffered persecution based on racial origin or religion, or, if restoration was impossible, make fair compensation. Any property that remained heirless or unclaimed for six months after the coming into force of the Treaty was to be transferred by the Hungarian government to organisations representing the victims. The value of the property was to be used for relief and rehabilitation of survivors in Hungary. (See: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000004-0453.pdf) As a result, the Hungarian state initiated legal procedures in 1947 in order to identify heirless or unclaimed property of people who fell victim to Fascist persecution, overwhelmingly Jews. The Orphans’ Courts were the key administrative bodies in this process.
Relevant records of the Orphans’ Court of Nagykőrös from the post-war period include declarations of death (holttá nyilvánítás) established by relatives at the local District Court (járásbíróság). According to Governmental Decree no. 4700 of 1945, the procedure was announced in the state bulletin Magyar Közlöny and after 60 days the given person was declared legally dead, unless the authorities received evidence that he or she was alive. Besides, the material contain protocols and inventories taken after 1945 on the real estate and moveable property of Holocaust victims. The collection includes some 50 cases from Nagykőrös from the years 1945-1949.
- Archival history:
- The records of the Orphans’ Courts were handed over to the Pest County State Archives and its successor in the early 1950s. The collection of the Orphans’ Court of Nagykőrös reached its present form in 1974.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Orphans’ Courts were administrative bodies serving as public trustees in the counties and cities in Hungary between 1877 and 1950. According to Act 20 of 1877, Orphans’ Court was declared the public trustee of first instance (elsőfokú gyámhatóság). The Orphans’s Court consisted of a chair, at least two members and a notary as well as the Public Prosecutor (tiszti ügyész), but the latter did not have a right to vote. Act 35 of 1923 modified this system and from this time on one assessor (előadó ülnök) handled the matters of orphans and other clients, under the supervision of the chair. The Orphans’ Court was entitled to appoint guardians and wardens (gyám; gondnok) and to supervise them, to make decisions concerning the wealth of the wards, boarding, and the maintenance and other matters concerning the children of divorced parents, and various other matters.
- Access points: locations:
- Nagykőrös
- System of arrangement:
- The records of the Orphans’ Court of Nagykőrös from 1945-1949 are arranged by the basic numbers of case files, the number of files re-started each year.
- Finding aids:
-
Original indexes and registry books are available for the entire collection.
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; 06-12-2015 (In cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)
