USSR Council of Ministers’ Council on Religious Affairs Plenipotentiary for the Cherkassy Region; Cherkassy, Cherkassy Region

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Державний архів Черкаської області

Title:: USSR Council of Ministers’ Council on Religious Affairs Plenipotentiary for the Cherkassy Region; Cherkassy, Cherkassy Region

Title (official language):: Уполномоченный Совета по делам религий при Совете Министров СССР по Черкасской области, г. Черкассы Черкасской обл.; Уповноважений Ради у травах релігій при Раді Міністрів СРСР по Черкаській області, м. Черкаси Черкаської обл.

Creator/accumulator:: USSR Council of Ministers’ Council on Religious Affairs Plenipotentiary for the Cherkassy Region

Scope and content:: Included are plenipotentiaries’ reports and informational accounts on the religious situation in the region, and in particular, on the celebration of Jewish religious holidays (1954-66); on the number of unregistered minyans and believers in Zolotonosha, Smela, Tal’noe, Uman’, Cherkassy, Korsun’-Shevchenkovskii, and Shpola, and measures to increase control of their activities (1968-69); and on sixteen Jewish tourists from the US who visited Uman’ in 1968 and prayed at the burial site there of the Hasidic Rebbe Naḥman of Bratslav. There is also information on the number of synagogues and rabbis in the USSR (1968); on repeated appeals by Jewish believers to the Uman’ City Executive Committee requesting permission to hold sermons, and requesting that their “sect” be registered (1969); etc.

Administrative/biographical history:: The office of the USSR Council of Ministers’ Council on Religious Cults plenipotentiary for the Cherkassy region was set up in 1954 following the establishment of the Cherkassy region; from 1966 on, pursuant to decree No. 1043 of the USSR Council of Ministers (2 December 1965), the collection creator was called the USSR Council of Ministers’ Council on Religious Affairs plenipotentiary for the Cherkassy region; and from 1975 on, the plenipotentiary of the Ukrainian SSR Council of Ministers’ Council on Religious Affairs. This official was charged with monitoring the strict adherence to legislation on “religious cults” by local religious organisations and clergymen, as well as by the authorities (from which this official was formally independent) and individual citizens.

Access points: locations:: Cherkassy; Cherkassy region; Korsun’-Shevchenkovskii; Shpola; Smela; Tal’noe; Ukraine; United States; USSR; Zolotonosha

Subject terms:: Hasidic Judaism; Jewish daily life and religious practices; Jewish holidays; Rabbis; Statistics; Synagogues

System of arrangement:: Inventories in the fonds are systematised according to the chronological-document type principle.