Metadata: State Collections, Files Archive I until 1798
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- State Archives of Luzern
- Holding institution (official language):
- Staatsarchiv Luzern
- Postal address:
- Schützenstrasse 9, CH-6000 Luzern
- Phone number:
- +41 41 228 53 65
- Web address:
- https://staatsarchiv.lu.ch/
- Email:
- staatsarchiv@lu.ch
- Reference number:
- AKT
- Title:
- State Collections, Files Archive I until 1798
- Title (official language):
- Staatliche Bestände, Akten Archiv I bis 1798
- Date(s):
- 1538/1948
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- Around 20 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
In the State Collections there is a sub-division Files Archive I until 1798, which mainly contains public documents from the time of the Old Swiss Confederacy from before 1798. This sub-division is again divided into several parts, in which various documents of interest from a Jewish point of view can be found.
In “Gemeine Herrschaften“ (joint dominions) there is a series in the section “St. Galler Rheintal 1493-1798“ (AKT 11), which contains documents on Jews from the years 1606 to 1798. In “Fremde Dienste“ (foreign services) in the section “Dienste in Savoyen/Sardinien 16.-18. Jh.“ (services in Savoy/Sardinia 16th-18th century) (AKT 13) is a file of interest. It deals with the deportation of a Jew who was baptised in Lucerne in 1675.
In “Handelswesen“ (commerce), the section “Handelspolizei“ (trade police) (AKT 27) contains a file on the refusal to grant market patents to Jews in the years 1813 to 1826. In “Polizeiwesen“ (police), the section “Fremdenpolizei“ (foreigner‘s police) (AKT 34) contains two files of interest. One contains a memorandum from the USA to Switzerland concerning the granting of settlement to North American Jews in 1859 and a memorandum concerning the exceptional position of Jews in Switzerland in 1860. The other file deals with the issue of dispensation of religious Jews from education on Saturdays in 1892. There are statements on this subject by Abraham Erlanger, merchant and president of the Jewish Community of Lucerne, and by H Ehrmann, the district rabbi of Baden.
In “Staatswirtschaft“ (economy), two files of interest can be found in the section “Handelswesen“ (commerce) (AKT 37). One deals with the debate on the admission of North American Jews into Switzerland between 1848 and 1887, the other with the retail sale of alcoholic beverages in an alleyway and the revocation of the permit of L.M. Weil of Lengnau for his textile trade as well as the rejection of Max Dreifuss, Meyer-Wyler, the Pollak and Guggenheim Brothers, all Jews in Endingen, concerning the acquisition of market permits. Furthermore, the file reports on the influx of Jews to the country fairs, etc. as unauthorised pedlars or the “flooding“ of the markets by Jews through dumping prices and fraudulent bankruptcies. The file also reports on measures taken against Jews in 1849, a complaint by the Canton of Aargau against the special measures taken by Lucerne against the Jews of Aargau, an intervention by the Federal Council in the interests of the protection of Jews, and the discussion of a law on the conditions of Jews in Lucerne or the non-approval of the Swiss Federal Council.
In “Kirchwesen“ (churches), the section “Israelitischer Gottesdienst“ (Israelite service) (AKT 39) contains a file reporting on a law on the status of the Jews. It contains a report on the toleration of the Israelites in the city and canton of Lucerne and documents concerning the organisation of the Jewish community in Lucerne, the economic and constitutional situation of the Jews in the canton and the approval of a Jewish cemetery in the Mohrental.
In “Polizeiwesen“ (police) there are several files of relevance in the section “Politische Parteien” (political parties) (AKT 44). One contains statistics on the number of Jewish refugees in the canton between 1938 and 1944, while another contains an interpellation concerning a draft law from 1936 that was intended to provide a means of countering propaganda. The occasion was, among other things, a publication entitled “Der Judenkenner“ (The Jewish Connoisseur). Another file dealt with the basic principles of the settlement of foreigners, especially German Jews, in the canton in 1937.
In “Kirchenleben“ (church life), several files of interest can be found in the section “Ruhetagsgesetz“ (day-of-rest act) (AKT 49). In one file there are several leaflets and posters against the day-of-rest act of 1912 as well as the brochure “Sunday rest in the commercial sector and the interests of law-abiding Jews“ of 1911. In another file there are several documents of interest, including an inquiry by the Ticino government concerning the funerals of Jews in 1918, an application for subsidies for the extension of the Jewish cemetery in 1922, a reply by Heinrich Walther to the inquiry of the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office concerning the Jews' request for protection from antisemitic riots in 1935, and the supervision of the “Pension and Bridal Fund of the Jewish Community of Lucerne“ foundation in 1948.
Two files of interest can be found in the section “Personalien“ (personal data) (AKT 113). One of the two files contains a report on the trafficking between Kaspar Pfyffer and the Jew Jakob von Bremgarten in 1584. The other file contains several documents of interest. The file contains a character reference for the converted Jew Johannes Wilhelm Zeller in Lucerne from 1575, a request by the priest Petrus Zeller in Beromünster for a testimony for his son Jakob from 1589, and a report on a purchase dispute between Stoffel Zeller of Lengnau and Jost Meyer from 1538. In “Erziehungswesen“ (education), two files of interest can be found in the section “Eidgenössisches und überkantonales Schulwesen“ (federal and supra-cantonal school system) (AKT 411). One file contains information on measures taken in the 1930s due to the influx of foreign students as a result of the persecution of Jews in Germany. The other file contains information on an application for employment by a German Jew who emigrated in 1934.
[AKT A1 F1 SCH 377; AKT 11; AKT 13/1502; AKT 27/106 A; AKT 34/89 B; AKT 34/230 A; AKT 37/172 B; AKT 37/179 C; AKT 39/31 F; AKT 44/744; AKT 44/898; AKT 44/1261; AKT 49/123; AKT 49/1172; ; AKT 113/1536; AKT 113/2342; AKT 411/25; AKT 411/876]
- Archival history:
- Most of the documents of this collection were probably in the State Archive when it was founded.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The oldest documents of the State Archive date back to the 9th century, in transcripts from around 1150. The holdings of the archive can be divided into four groups: the administrative records of the city of Lucerne from the 13th to the 18th century, the documents of the cantonal administration and courts since 1798, the archives of the monasteries dissolved in the 19th century and the archives of private persons and institutions such as associations, political parties and industrial or commercial enterprises.
- Access points: locations:
- Aargau
- Endingen
- Switzerland
- Access points: persons/families:
- Guggenheim
- Pollak
- Weil
- Zeller
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available, although the information is often rudimentary.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://query-staatsarchiv.lu.ch/volltextsuche.aspx
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2020