Metadata: Wedde I
Collection
- Country:
- Germany
- Holding institution:
- Hamburg State Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Staatsarchiv Hamburg
- Postal address:
- Kattunbleiche 19, 22041 Hamburg
- Phone number:
- +49 (0)40 428313216
- Web address:
- www.hamburg.de/staatsarchiv
- Reference number:
- 332-1 I
- Title:
- Wedde I
- Title (official language):
- Wedde I
- Creator/accumulator:
- Wedde
- Date(s):
- 1577/1811
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 8.1 m (171 files)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The “Wedde” was an authority that had police duties and thus dealt with law enforcement among the Jews of Hamburg. However, among the volumes that have been preserved in this collection there is only one "Protocollum der bey der Wedde vorkommenden Juden-Sachen", a Jewish related protocol, dating from 1786 to 1799, which summarises 23 cases. Weddings had to be registered and approved by the Wedde; the so-called “Hochzeitsbücher“ (marriage books) of the Wedde document Jewish marriages from 1750 to 1810 and thus also replace the destroyed marriage books of the Jewish congregation. Even marriages where the Jewish spouses have decided to save fees and avoid the official way involving the Wedde left their traces in this collection: If they were caught, they were handed back to the Wedde and therefore their decision is documented in this collection. Until 1849, Jewish immigrants could not acquire citizenship – their affiliation with Hamburg was linked to the membership in a Jewish congregation in Hamburg. Only with the birth of the second generation was the right to stay inherited. When a Jewish family moved to Hamburg, they were able to conclude a contract concerning their nationality in case they presented the necessary funds in order to pay in addition to an “entry fee“ also an annual "Fremdenschoss"; the money went to the “Kämmerei“. All other immigrants fell within the mandate of the Wedde. Accordingly, the holdings of the Wedde contain lists of new residents of Hamburg, such as the Sephardic Jews.
- Archival history:
- Originally the collection contained many more documents, which were later partly destroyed.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Until Hamburg was incorporated into the French Empire in 1811, the preator and the Wedde practically constituted the police department of the city. The name "Wedde" means penalty and refers to the duties of this authority to punish the violation of Council regulations with a fine. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Wedde functioned as market and commercial police, as well as carrying out “moral” and “foreigner” police duties.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection is partly arranged in a thematic series (including general administrative documents, Citier- und Strafbücher (1652-1811) and the marriage books (1708-1810, registrations of marriages, sorted by groom and bride, phonetic name register) and partly according to the “nummerus currens” principle.
- Finding aids:
- Inventory, overview.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://recherche.staatsarchiv.hamburg.de/ScopeQuery5.2/detail.aspx?ID=1339
- Yerusha Network member:
- Institute for the History of German Jews
- Author of the description:
- Esther Yen