District Office of Cheb

Collection

Scope and content:: The documents of the district office of Cheb have survived virtually complete, including many administrative, record and accounting books and incremental registers and protocols with indexes. Items concerning the Jewish community include a box of official correspondence of the Jewish religious communities of Cheb, Františkovy Lázně, Tachov, Karlovy Vary, Kraslice, Žlutice, Chodová Planá, Sokolov, Bezdružice and others from 1872-98 (inv. 620): permits for meetings, collections or elections of representatives of the communities and their statutes, documentation on elections to the Böhmische Landesjudenschaft (electoral lists, voting cards etc.) Similar documents from 1918-28 are archived under inv. 689, and for 1930-38 under inv. 744, which also contains documents from 1903-32 concerning the abolition of the Jewish religious community of Kynšperk nad Ohří and its merging with that of Cheb. Also noteworthy are documents from 1938-39 concerning the burning of synagogues in Cheb and Františkovy Lázně and the subsequent clearing of debris. There are also documents of the affairs of Jewish associations in inv. 627, 658 and 785. The following presidium files from 1887-1925 contain documents relating to antisemitism: numbers 87, 108, 112, 199, 287, 672, 735, 786, 830, 833, 852, 853 and 936. Files applying directly to Jews or Jewish religious communities from 1920-37 are numbered 588, 622, 967, 1029, 1153, 1155-1158 and 1188.

Archival history:: The registry of the district office of Cheb was originally kept in the office’s building. The presidium files from 1932-38 have been almost completely lost, partly due, by some accounts, to destruction by the Nazis. In 1959 the collection was sent to the district archives in Cheb.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Bezirkshauptmannschaft (district head office) was founded in Cheb in 1848. Between 1855 and 1868 the office was merged with the district courts in Bezirksamt (political and judicial district offices) with headquarters in Cheb and Skalná. In 1868 the political administration was once again split and the Bezirkshauptmannschaft (district head office) was restored. It was renamed after 1918 to the district political administration of Cheb and again in 1928 to the district office of Cheb. The office terminated its activities in 1938.

Access points: locations:: Bezdružice; Cheb; Chodová Planá; Františkovy Lázně; Karlovy Vary; Kraslice; Kynšperk nad Ohří; Sokolov; Tachov; Žlutice

Subject terms:: Antisemitism; Correspondence; Jewish community; Jewish community records; Pogroms; Synagogues

System of arrangement:: The fonds has remained unarranged. It is structured according to an old, invalid finding aid. This divides the archive material into books and files. The Files contain I. Registry finding aids, II. Files. At the start of the files are the presidium files in 58 boxes, for which a catalogue was prepared in 1972, although this is also now cancelled. The other register follows them. It is divided into 7 periods (up to 1854, up to the year 1868, up to the year 1884, up to the year 1899, up to the year 1914, up to the year 1928, up to the year 1938). Each handling is classified according to administration.

Finding aids:: Cancelled inventory: Veselý F.-Hudlická L.-Gross A.: Okresní úřad Cheb, 1850–1938 (1948); Inventář, 1972, 103 s., ev. č. 531.