Metadata: Archive of the Town of Kadaň
Collection
- Country:
- Czechia
- Holding institution:
- State District Archives Chomutov located in Kadaň
- Holding institution (official language):
- Státní okresní archiv Chomutov se sídlem v Kadani
- Postal address:
- Boženy Němcové 68, Kadaň, 432 01
- Phone number:
- 00420 477 755 889
- Email:
- sokakadan@soalitomerice.cz
- Reference number:
- 124
- Title:
- Archive of the Town of Kadaň
- Title (official language):
- Archiv města Kadaň
- Creator/accumulator:
- Municipal Office of Kadaň
- Date(s):
- 1319/1951
- Language:
- Czech
- German
- Latin
- Extent:
- 196.57 linear metres
- Physical condition:
- poor
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains documents concerning the establishment of a Jewish cemetery in 1884, negotiations on its extension from 1907-18, the actual extension from the 1920s and documents and construction documentation concerning the construction of the synagogue (inv. 658). Several documents from 1938-45 have been preserved, including lists of persons of Jewish origin who fled the town, remained or were returned there, and various reports on persons of Jewish origin, lists of Jewish property, extracts from land registers and inventories of emptied apartments from 1938-39. There are also documents concerning Jewish property and its “Aryanisation” from 1930-45, the demolition of the synagogue after its burning and transfers or sales of the assets of the Jewish community from 1939-43. The fonds also includes a complete set of records from the 1857 census where the Jewish religion was recorded.
- Archival history:
- The most important documents of the municipal office of Kadaň were kept in the chapel of the town hall, which served as the town archives from the early 18th century. There are a few partial inventories of the town archives from the 18th and 19th centuries. The first thorough processing of the town archives was carried out in 1919. A considerable part of the documents was destroyed or stolen in 1945, and some other documents were also destroyed in later years. The remaining documents were given by the town national committee to the newly established district archives in Kadaň in 1955-61 (called the district archives from 1960 and the state district archives since 1992). In 1966-68 the archive files were organised and inventoried. In 1989, the files of the building authority were separately arranged, and in 2006 the file of residence applications was processed. Another small quantity of documents was taken over by the archives in the following years from the municipal office of Kadaň and the state regional archives in Litoměřice.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The town of Kadaň was founded as a royal town sometime before 1261 on the site of an early medieval settlement. A controlled town council was established in 1788 and replaced in 1849 by a municipal office. From 1849 Kadaň was an autonomous community and in 1850 became the seat of the district office and district court. It was home to a Jewish community in the middle ages, but Jews were banned from staying in the town in 1520. The ban was issued again in 1650 and periodically renewed thereafter. The permanent renewal of the Jewish community did not occur until the last quarter of the 19th century. In 1874, a prayer association, and in 1884, a religious association were established, and in 1893 Kadaň became the seat of the Jewish religious community for the judicial districts of Kadaň and Přísečnice and part of the judicial district of Doupov. In 1900 a synagogue was built, which was destroyed, together with the cemetery, in November 1938.
- Access points: locations:
- Kadaň
- System of arrangement:
- The arranged and inventoried part of the archive files is divided into five basic groups: I. Charters, 1319-1831; II. Books, 1410-1951 - divided into books before 1850, and books after 1850; III. Files - divided into registry finding aids and files (further divided into the registry from 1521-1788 (1830), the period of the controlled municipality office in (1762) 1788-1850 (1887), and the municipal office in 1850-1945); IV. Accounting material - broken down into the accounts themselves and the accounts of the delegated agenda; V. Maps and plans. The files of the former building authority from 1885-1945 and the file of residence applications from 1910-1946 were arranged (not inventoried) separately. The unarranged part of the fonds includes various books, documents from commemorative boxes, documents of the town museum, etc.
- Finding aids:
- V. Vítek, Archiv města Kadaň 1319–1945 (1951). Inventář. Kadaň 1968 (archivní pomůcka č. 124); P. Rak, Stavební úřad Kadaň. Prozatímní inventární seznam. Kadaň 1989 (archivní pomůcka č. 195)
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Prague
- Author of the description:
- JMP Survey, 2015.