Metadata: Official Records
Collection
- Country:
- Germany
- Holding institution:
- Göttingen Municipal Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Stadtarchiv Göttingen
- Postal address:
- Stadtarchiv Göttingen, Hiroshimaplatz 4, 37083 Göttingen
- Phone number:
- +49 551 400 3122
- Web address:
- www.stadtarchiv.goettingen.de
- Email:
- stadtarchiv@goettingen.de
- Reference number:
- B 7
- Title:
- Official Records
- Title (official language):
- Amtsbücher
- Creator/accumulator:
- Göttingen City Council
- Date(s):
- 1200/1976
- Date note:
- 13th century/1976
- Language:
- German
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection includes, among others, records about legal issues relating to Jews, both as a group and individual persons, as well as applications of Jewish persons in legal matters, for example: dispute between the court office (“Schulzenamt“) and Göttingen city council because of the “Schutzjuden“ (B 7 – Amtsbücher, MS 5, No. 5,1,1,1), extension of 'protection' for the Jews in Göttingen (B 7 – Amtsbücher, MS 5, No. 5,1,1,3), foundation documents and notes on the income of the hospital in Reinhausen, including “Jewish Affairs“ (pp. 33-34) (B 7 – Amtsbücher, No. II 16). The “Wilkore“ books [see below] also contain trade contracts, mostly with estates, in which Jews are involved, for example: Jacop Smwl (Smul), Jew, acknowledging the receipt of a sum of 35 M, which the citizen of Göttingen Hans Withoin owed the Jew Mosse (3 July 1560)(B 7.1, No. E 144). In general the collection includes: 1.) civil books of the city, 1328-1918; 2.) “Kopialbücher“ (Sign II), 1251-1795; 3.) chronicles and diaries 16th-17th century; 4.) “Ordinazien“, books about damages (“Schadensbücher“) and “Wilkorebücher“, 1459-16th century; 5.) statutes, 1330-1803; 6.) ‘jurisdictionalia’, 1348 - 18th century (therein Ms 5,1 Jurisdictiones Personales Extraordinariae = Collection of documents on the jurisdiction of the Jews, in factories and license matters; as well as MS 5,2 Jus Civitatis de non evocando = collection of documents on the position of the city inhabitants to foreign courts); 7.) “Rezessbücher“, 16th-18th century; 8.) mayor's office, 14th-18th century; and 9.) border-related matters, 16th-18th century. NB The “Wilkore“ books are individual notebooks, from the years 1586-1587 in 5 volumes. Ms 1,16. Period 1530-1696. They include registration of pension sales and pledges concluded before the Council, and of the change of ownership of houses. [information from: Walter Nissen: Das Göttinger Stadtarchiv. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969]
- Archival history:
-
Like the collection “Urkunden“[charters], the Official Books (“Amtsbücher“) were catalogued for the first time in their entirety by Dr. Seidensticker (Ms 10.7, Vol. II). The arrangement made by him was kept, taking into account the supplements and the corrections by Dr. Annelies Ritter. In an audit of the Official Books conducted in the Archive in 1969, the following content was determined: about 10,180 volumes, 110 issues and 75 folders.
History of the Municipal Archive: On April 1, 1900, the magistrate transferred the position of an archivist from Dr. Priesack to Dr. Ferdinand Wagner. In the winter of 1902-1903, Wagner's first major archival act was the move from the Hardenberger Hof to the new townhouse. Here, Wagner devoted himself primarily to the registration of the letter collections and provided for the extension of the archive library. In 1934, Dr. Wilhelm van Kempen became the successor of Wagner, the first archivist to practice this profession on a full-time basis. In 1935, the archive was able to expand its premises by purchasing the building of the fraternity "Saxonia" and in 1936 the archive was relocated to the so-called "Sachsenhaus". Until June 1936, a reorganisation of the archive followed. With few exceptions, since 1850 no more files had been transferred to the archive. Therefore much had to be made up after the enlargement of the premises. In June 1942 many collections were stored outside the city for air raid reasons. After the war, the outsourced collections were brought back without losses. Volunteers and part-time employees helped with the inventory of the material in the following years. From 1974 to 1996, the archivist and historian Helga-Maria Kühn was head of the Municipal Archive of Göttingen. At the present time (2018), the archivist and historian Ernst Boehme heads the Municipal Archive and the Municipal Museum in Göttingen.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Göttingen was officially recognised as a town in 1230 as a subject of the duchy (later electorate) of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, but the settlement was already at least 500 years old. Though being a subject of Braunschweig-Lüneburg with a governor residing in the town, it had also been granted self-administration to some degree. As early as the 12th century the town was thus semi-autonomously self-administered by a municipal council consisting of 24 councillors. Jews settled in the town in the late 13th century. On 1 March 1289 the dukes of Braunschweig and Lüneburg gave permission to the Göttingen council to accept the Jew Moses in the city. The Jews lived mainly near the St. Jacobi Church in today's Jüdenstraße. The history of the Jews in Göttingen in the Middle Ages was marked by great suffering. After duke Otto III. had ceded the right of jurisdiction over the Jews to the city in 1369-70, it repeatedly came to bloody pogroms and evictions. From 1460 to 1599 no Jews lived in Göttingen. From 1611 the city councillors were elected by all Göttingen residents with citizen rights. The council elected the mayor. As of 1669 there were only 16 councillors, later twelve. From 1690 on there was a more differentiated government of eight councillors, a city secretary, a special counsel (“Syndikus“), two mayors and a court official (“Gerichtsschulze“). During the existence of the Napoleonic satellite state “Kingdom of Westphalia“ the city was governed by a “Maire“. In 1814 it became a part of the kingdom of Hannover, which in turn became a Prussian province in 1866. During the years of National Socialism (1933-1945) the NSDAP appointed the mayor. After that the British military government formed in 1946 a communal administration based on the British model, when the city became a part of the new German state of Lower Saxony. From then on the heads of the city were an elected “Oberbürgermeister“ (“General Mayor“) and an “Oberstadtdirektor“ (“General City Director“) as head of the administration. The latter position was abolished in the year 2000.
- Access points: locations:
- Göttingen
- System of arrangement:
- The material is arranged in thematic order.
- Finding aids:
- The finding aid is partially online (Arcinsys). There are two printed finding aids: “BÜ B7“ and for “Wilkore-Bücher“:“BÜ B 7,1“.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.arcinsys.niedersachsen.de/arcinsys/detailAction.action?detailid=v6290092
- Yerusha Network member:
- Institute for the History of German Jews
- Author of the description:
- Matthias Springborn, 2018