Metadata: Archive of the Town of Most
Collection
- Country:
- Czechia
- Holding institution:
- State District Archives Most
- Holding institution (official language):
- Státní okresní archiv Most
- Postal address:
- Leoše Janáčka 1310/2, Most, 434 01
- Phone number:
- 00420 477 755 902
- Email:
- sokamost@soalitomerice.cz
- Reference number:
- 127
- Title:
- Archive of the Town of Most
- Title (official language):
- Archiv města Most
- Creator/accumulator:
- Municipal (Mayor‘s) Office in Most
- Date(s):
- 1315/1948
- Language:
- Czech
- German
- Latin
- French
- Extent:
- 165.6 linear metres
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The fonds contains documents of the self-government of the town of Most, which also dealt with matters of the local Jewish population. The documents include deeds concerning their first periods of residence (1393-1453 and 1464) and some records of Jews in villages belonging to the town’s estate (1848). For the period of 1848-1938 are the following files: Jewish registries (1881, 1896); celebrating Jewish holidays - correspondence (1873-96); Jewish religious services (1915); the Jewish community - membership dues (1894); subsidies to the Jewish community (1926); the Jewish cemetery (1876, 1903-04, 1933-38); the mortuary of the Jewish cemetery (1883, 1893); the Israelite burial society, (1887-88, 1901); teaching the Jewish religion at schools (1870-1911); issues of pupils of the Jewish faith (1870-74); and the fencing of the synagogue (1903). References to Jews can also be found in the town’s correspondence with youth organisations (1914-28) and sports associations (1899-1936). From the period of the Nazi occupation (1938-45) are the following documents: circulars concerning Jews (1938-39); dismissal of employees for political reasons (1938-42); Jewish foundations (1939); removal of Czech and Jewish names of companies (1938); requests of Germans for compensation for damage caused by the Czechoslovak authorities (debts of the refugees, 1938-40); assessing the Jewish homes (1939-42); “Aryanisation” of Jewish property (1939-44); sale of immovable Jewish property, including the synagogue (1939-43); sale of movable property of Jews at auctions (1941-44); list of houses and flats of Czechs and Jews who had fled (without dates); and collecting scrap metal for war purposes - the metal pieces in the Jewish cemetery (1939-43). Attention should also be paid to the following documents: registry of town residents (1860-1945, 1948); granting the right of domicile in Most (1901-29); issued residence certificates, ordered alphabetically (1870-1933); and lists of voters (1880, 1887, 1890, 1897, 1919-25, 1927-29, 1931-35, 1938). Valuable information on the construction of houses of the Jewish minority in Most can also be found in the building files and plans of apartment buildings.
- Archival history:
- The town documents were initially stored at the town hall. After the establishment of the district archives in Most in 1954, the fonds of the town archive became their biggest and most important constituent. In the 1870s the pre-1850 documents were arranged catalogued. In 1925-26 the fonds was arranged and another part of the files from 1873-1928 was arranged in 1957-59. In 1971-74 the fonds was arranged and a partial inventory (parts I-IV) was created. In 1997 the amendments were arranged and a partial inventory (part V) was created. In 2007-13 the fonds was completely re-inventoried and in 2014 the final inventory was created.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The first record of Most (German: Brüx), at that time a market village, dates from 1207. The royal town was formed around 1238 and a royal castle was built overlooking the town. The castle was demolished in 1651-53. In the late 14th century, there was a Jewish community, which was expelled in the mid-15th century. Jews began to settle again in the mid-19th century. Most was the seat of the district court and the centre of the political district from 1850-1938. From 1938-45 it was part of the Reichsgau Sudetenland and the seat of the Landkreis (rural district).
- Access points: locations:
- Most
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds is arranged as follows: I. Charters: a) until 1526, b) after 1526; II. Official books: a) until 1850, b) after 1850; III. Registry finding aids: a) Filing protocols, b) Indexes, c) Auxiliary registers; IV. Files: a) until 1850, b) after 1850, c) Nazi Occupation period 1938-1945; V. Accounting material: a) Accounting books, b) Accounting annexes; VI. Maps and plans; VII. Seal matrices.
- Finding aids:
- Myšička M., Archiv města Most 1315 - 1945 (1948). Inventář, 2014, s., ev. č. 409
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Prague
- Author of the description:
- JMP Survey, 2015.
