Metadata: Trade records
Collection
- Country:
- Austria
- Holding institution:
- City Archives of Innsbruck
- Holding institution (official language):
- Stadtarchiv/Stadtmuseum Innsbruck
- Postal address:
- Badgasse 2; 6020 Innsbruck
- Phone number:
- 0043 512 5360 1400
- Reference number:
- 07.02.01 Gewerbeakten - Abt.I (GewA)
- Title:
- Trade records
- Title (official language):
- Gewerbeakten
- Creator/accumulator:
- Municipal Department I
- Date(s):
- 1801/1989
- Date note:
- ca.1806-1989
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 1,388 boxes
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection “Trade files” is a non-Jewish collection with a significant number of documents related to Jewish points of interest.
The “trade files” cover a period from 1806 to 1989 and are divided by subject into different sections (German “Abschnitte”) with various records. In general, these collection includes business or trade documents of local businessmen as well as tax files of the administrative authorities of Innsbruck. Therefore, they are primarily records of the administration. The collection mostly consists of regulations, laws, permissions, prohibitions and punishments, registers and correspondence between the administrative bodies of Innsbruck. The documents deal with several economic matters, for example cooperative societies, the apprentice system, customs and war economy. In addition, one may find commercial concessions and commercial registers of businessmen in Innsbruck.
Moreover, the collection contains official correspondence concerned with cases of unauthorised practice of professions, pedlars and regulations about itinerant trade. In addition, there are records about bankruptcies, relocations of companies, conferments and registrations of foreign tradesmen and pedlars. Furthermore, the files include trade licenses and travel cards for traveling salesmen and local traders. In the years from 1867 to1938 there is a increasing number of references to Jewish businessmen and their commercial activities. For the period of 1938 to 1940, there is much documentary evidence of the Nazi regime’s regulation of Jewish life. In general, people of Jewish heritage were not allowed to work in their own stores, restaurants and workplaces anymore. In 1938, after the Kristallnacht pogroms, Jewish businesses and properties were appropriated by the Nazis and “Aryanised” or liquidated, while business concessions were withdrawn. Jewish businessmen had to announce any commercial undertakings and register themselves, and the apprentice system also became controlled and regulated.
Because of the “Aryanisation”, registers of Jewish business establishments and Jewish heritage in Tyrol were created based on the card index of the Jewish Community of Tyrol, which was confiscated by the Nazis in March 1938. This index included data of all members of the Jewish Community.
The collection contains many references to Jewish businesses, confiscations and regulations to exclude Jews from the economy, especially in the years 1938 and 1939. In records dating from 1942 or later, there are very few references to Jews or the Jewish community of Tyrol and Vorarlberg.
NB: Entries about Jewish people in the finding aids of the Municipal Department I can be found in two ways: 1. Searching for personal names or subjects, such as “Jews” (German “Juden”) or “Jewish community” (German “Israelitische Kultusgemeinde”). This applies to records until 1945, after which point there are no more Jewish references in the “subjects”. 2. For records after 1945, one must search for personal names. This is usually the more fruitful approach, as the majority of documents in the Innsbruck city archive is arranged by individuals’ names rather than by subject.
The collection 07.02.01 Gewerbeakten - Abt. I (GewA) (“Trade files”) no longer receives any accruals. The following records will be of interest:
“Verzeichnis jüdischer Gewerbebetriebe in Innsbruck“ (Register of Jewish companies in Innsbruck), signature 12153/1938, which includes the following businesses: Firma S. Steiner; Konditorei-Café Schindler und Comp. (Patisserie and café Schindler and Comp.); Tuchhaus S. Hacker (Fabric factory S. Hacker); Weinhandel S. Schindler (Wine trade S. Schindler); Fruchtsaftpresserei I. Tiroler (Fruit juice factory I. Tiroler); Landesproduktebrennerei und Likörfabrik S. Schindler (Distillery and liqueur factory S. Schindler); Textilwaren M. Hafler (Textile products M. Hafler); Firma Aurora: Gross Handel mit Zuckerwaren (Aurora: Wholesale confectionery products); Tiroler Essigsprit- und Liqueurfabrik, Branntweinbrennerei, Obstverwertungsindustrie Brüder Dubsky (Tyrolean factory for vinegar and liqueur, distillery Brothers Dubsky); Siegfried Landauer Agenturgewerbe (Siegfried Landauer Agency); Philippine Stössinger Weißnäherei und Kommissionswarenhandel (Philippine Stössinger Seamstress and trade in goods on commission); Hellmuth Gruder Kaufmann (Hellmuth Gruder tradesman); Edgar Gruder Bauunternehmer (Edgar Gruder Construction); Otto Reichmann Mechanische Weberei für Rosshaarfutterstoffe und Kunstseide (Otto Reichmann Weaving mill for horsehair lining material and artificial silk); Firma Feil & Co; Fritz Feil jun. Kleidermacher (Fritz Feil jun. Dressmaker); Firma Louis Rado; Firma Wilhelm Adler; Tiroler Bauarbeiten Gesellschaft mb.H (Tyrolean construction company); Firma Leopold Fuchs; Aktiengesellschaft für Bauwesen Ing. A. Spritzer (Company for building trade Ing. A. Spritzer); Firma Friedrich Pasch.
Another important document is a register of persons of the Jewish Community of Innsbruck: Collection: 07.02.01 - Gewerbeakten - Abt.I (GewA) (Trade files), signature 12153. Photos of Jewish stores in Innsbruck can be found in collection 02.01 – Fotos (Ph). The photos can be searched in the online database “Augias” of the City Archive in Innsbruck. (NB: The photos of Jewish stores are also published in: Horst Schreiber (ed.), Jüdische Geschäfte in Innsbruck. Eine Spurensuche (Tiroler Studien zu Politik und Geschichte 1), Innsbruck 2001.)
- Archival history:
- This collection was transferred to the City Archive as part of the regular document transfer process stipulated by national archival regulations. It no longer receives any accruals.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The City Archive of Innsbruck received the documents in this collection from the city council of Innsbruck and its various departments and offices. First the “Trade files” were part of “Gruppe V – Gewerbe” (“Group V – Trade”) of Office 2, but in 1934 the agencies of Innsbruck were changed and restructured. Parts of the jurisdiction of Office 2, such as social insurance and all matters of business life (concessions, registration and deregistration of businesses etc.) shifted to Department I. Municipal Department I was not only responsible for trade matters but also for other administrative areas, e.g. social insurance, local and national citizenship, marriage, registry, names, population census, cultus, agriculture, forestry, medical corps organisation, veterinary, commercial and military matters.
Note: As a rule it can be said that in the 20th century, in consequence of the political circumstances, the responsibilities of the different administrative departments in Innsbruck frequently changed and agencies were often restructured. Cf. Stadtmagistrat Innsbruck, Geschäfts- und Registratursplan, ab1.1.1930, 27-30; Cf. Stadtmagistrat Innsbruck, Aktenplan, ab 1.1.1952, Abteilung I.
- Access, restrictions:
- Public access
- Finding aids:
- Finding aids of 1912-1989 are available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Rebecca Muršec, March 2017