Hungarian Royal Savings Bank, Records of the 8th Gendarmerie District of Kassa, 1944-1945

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Országos Levéltára

Title:: Hungarian Royal Savings Bank, Records of the 8th Gendarmerie District of Kassa, 1944-1945

Title (official language):: Magyar Királyi Postatakarékpénztár Zálogüzleti csoport, A VIII. kassai csendőrkerület iratai, 1944-1945

Scope and content:: The fond of the Hungarian Royal Savings Bank holds one of the two major preserved collections of files of the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie that historical research has explored until now in Hungary. The collection provides scholars with information on the process of confiscation, processing, and distribution of Jewish property in Hungary in 1944. The collection contains about 15,000 handwritten and typed reports, computation sheets, numerical data, other certificates and shipment reports regarding valuables stolen from Jewish individuals in Carpatho-Ruthenia and North-Eastern Hungary during the Holocaust. A small part of the records pertains to Budapest and its vicinity.

Archival history:: During the evacuation of Hungary following the Soviet offensive starting in August 1944 all units of the gendarmerie were ordered to destroy their records. Fragments of the material, however, were spared and probably captured by Soviet troops. The preserved records of the Gendarmerie District no. VIII of Kassa were later taken to the Hungarian National Archives.

Administrative/biographical history:: Established in its modern form in 1881, the gendarmerie (csendőrség) was a law enforcement agency in Hungary responsible for maintaining order and persecuting crime in the provinces (i.e. outside the borders of cities and towns, which was the operational area of the police). The Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie gained notoriety during the Horthy era in 1920-1944 as the unconditionally loyal elite force of the regime, which often used harsh methods against the political opponents of the government and underprivileged members of society. Antisemitism was common among members of the force and several gendarme officers sympathised with extreme right wing parties.

The Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie was organised in accordance with the borders of military districts. The number of gendarmerie district centres was seven after 1920, eight from 1939 and ten from 1940. The Gendarmerie District no. VIII of Kassa (Kosice) was created after the annexation of the Upper Province from dismembered Czechoslovakia.

In 1944, the gendarmerie was in charge of the confiscation and collecting of the property left behind by Jewish communities that had been deported. They would then hand over the items to the Hungarian Royal Savings Bank and other state-owned financial institutions.

Subject terms:: Holocaust; Holocaust--Deportation; Holocaust--Ghettos; Law enforcement; Law enforcement--Gendarmerie; Plunder; Plunder--Aryanisation

System of arrangement:: The collection is arranged alphabetically by the names of localities.

Finding aids:: Seres Attila: Magyar Királyi Postatakarékpénztár iratai. Bp. 2002 (Repertórium).

Container list, USHMM RG 39.005M

Links to finding aids:: http://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/source_view.php?SourceId=33338