Municipal Notary Office of Košice

Collection

Scope and content:: The documents of the fonds concern the city of Košice dealing with all aspects of its social development. Due to the fact that until 1944 there was a large Jewish population in the city, a lot of information about Jews can be found in the fonds. The presidium files, preserved in fragments, include information on the construction of the Jewish hospital (1932) and on the Chevra Kadisha and the Social and Supporting Association of Jews in Slovakia (both from 1938). In the administrative files there are numerous documents relating to Jewish religious communities, e.g. in Velka Ida (1923) and Košice (1925), documents relating to associations, e.g. the Jewish Association in Slovakia (1924), the Jewish Social and Supporting Association (1938), and documents relating to co-operatives, e.g. the Jewish Credit Cooperative (1933). Some files also concern Jewish political activities, such as those of the Zionist Revisionist Union (1933). Relevant documents also concern the support of the construction of a Jewish house for the poor (1932), and the affairs of the Jewish elementary school (1935).

Information is also available in other types of administrative documents, particularly in files concerning trades and in various registers or statements, such as the register of members of the Society of Veterinaries (1925), the register of inns, hotels and cafés (1925), the register of printers (1935), or the register of medical doctors (1938).

Archival history:: Due to the annexation of the city of Košice by Hungary, as a result of the first Vienna Arbitration, and the Second World War, the presidium documents from 1923-1931 and 1935-1936 have been lost and were presumably destroyed. The fonds was taken over in 1945 by the Košice Archives, having been deposited there since then in spite of temporary organisational changes made in the 1960s when the Archives became part of the District Archives in Košice. In 1953-1954, the fonds was organised and an internal appraisal was carried out. In the early 1960s, the fonds was inventoried and in 1962 a finding aid was created. At present, the fonds is classified as fully inventoried.

Administrative/biographical history:: Under the Act of 1922, Košice became a city with an established municipality office, being part of Košice County. The Municipal Notary Office, set up on 1 January 1923, was the first instance of the state administration. The Office was primarily responsible for military, trade and civil matters, and also for affairs concerning registers of births, deaths and marriages, health, construction, and personal matters of its own employees. The municipal notary, as a member of the city council board, had the right of veto and the right to remove officers.

Subject terms:: Aid and relief; Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity; Education; Education--Schools and universities; Financial matters; Health and medical matters; Health and medical matters--Hospitals; Health and medical matters--Physicians and nurses; Hevrah kadisha; Hospitality industry; Hospitality industry--Cafes; Hospitality industry--Hotels; Hospitality industry--Inns; Jewish political activity; Poverty; Printing; Professions; Trade and commerce; Zionism; Zionism--Revisionist Zionism

System of arrangement:: The fonds includes official books, finding aids and files. The administrative files were initially divided into seven departments, but they were stored in the registry according to a basic numbering system, in spite of their belonging to separate departments. When the fonds was made accessible, its original chronological-numerical arrangement was respected, therefore the inventory unit is one year of the files. For books and auxiliary books, the inventory unit is one volume.

Finding aids:: Cízlová, E. – Čepíková, M. - Kozák, I.: Mestský notársky úrad v Košiciach. Inventár, Košice 1962, 68 s.