Metadata: Kherson Regional Council of People’s Deputies
Collection
- Country:
- Ukraine
- Holding institution:
- State Archive of the Kherson Region
- Holding institution (official language):
- Державний архів Херсонської області
- Postal address:
- Ukraine, 73003, Kherson, 3 Yaroslav Mudryi Str.
- Phone number:
- 380 (0552) 22-5733
- Web address:
- http://kherson.archives.gov.ua/
- Email:
- daxo@ukrpost.net
- Reference number:
- F. R-1979
- Title:
- Kherson Regional Council of People’s Deputies
- Title (official language):
- Херсонська обласна Рада народних депутатів
- Creator/accumulator:
- Kherson Regional Council of People’s Deputies
- Date(s):
- 1944/1998
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 10,453 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
Documents housed in the fonds include (op. 1-3) minutes of sessions of the regional executive committee from the postwar years pertaining to the use of buildings of former Kherson synagogues: on allocating accommodations “to organize textile production” in the building of the former synagogue at 31 Belinskii Street, and on the rejection of a petition by believers requesting that this building be returned to them (1944-45); on providing the building of the synagogue at 40 Podpol’naia Street for the perpetual and gratis use of the Jewish community of Kherson (1945); on the demolition of the building of the former synagogue at 19 Frunze Street; on transferring “the former religious structure” at 64 Frunze Street to believers (1949); etc.; documents on the organisation of the resettlement of the Jewish population to the Jewish Autonomous Region, including rulings approving operational expenses for this purpose, and approving candidacies of echelon heads, and these persons’ deputies in charge of mass-political outreach, to accompany settlers (1947); on resettling the population from the Kherson region to kolkhozes and sovkhozes of the Jewish Autonomous Region in 1949-50 “on a volunteer basis”; on the right to make use of credits allocated for this; etc.
A significant volume of the documents of the Council on Religious Cults’s plenipotentiary for the Kherson region (op. 12) sheds light on the Soviet authorities’ attitude toward Judaism and on the campaign against its adherents. These documents include the plenipotentiary’s instructional letters on procedures for registering religious communities in the USSR that indicate that communities of fewer than twenty adult members, “which is typical for sectarians and Jewish believers,” should not be registered; that “with regard to Jewish religious communities … it should be required that the clergyman [the letter uses the Sovietism “cult servitor,”sluzhitel’ kul’ta] (rabbi) have certification established by the tradition of the given religious confession attesting to his right to bear this title”; that “it should be categorically required that each community have its own rabbi”; and that observance of the Sabbath should be banned (1945); informational reports and statements by the plenipotentiary, with data on the number of Jewish communities in the region, synagogue attendance (including by women, young people, and military personnel), the conduct of religious rituals, the baking of matzah, readings by cantors, believers’ complaints, etc. (1947-61); and on targeted work (in conjunction with party entities and “neighbours” [a code-word traditionally used in such documents to designate KGB operatives]) toward breaking up the Jewish community (1960), and on its liquidation (1962).
There is also a letter of the Kherson Military Commissariat containing a listing of reservist members of the clergy, including rabbis, who were exempt from mobilisation (1945); a letter from the plenipotentiary to the chair of the Kalininskoe District Executive Committee explaining how to obtain permission to use the building of the former synagogue in the village of L’vovo (1949); information provided by the USSR Council of Ministers’ Council on Religious Cults’ plenipotentiary for the Ukrainian SSR on Jewish religious holidays, approved and recommended by the council as reference material for plenipotentiaries “in studying Judaism” (1951); etc.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- This was formed as an organising committee to establish organisations and institutions of the Kherson region by edict (30 March 1944) of the presidium of the USSR Supreme Council; it also made preparations for and held elections (11 December 1947) for the regional council of toilers’ deputies, which in turn elected its executive committee. The Kherson Regional Council of Toilers’ Deputies’ executive committee performed administrative and executive functions in the region’s territory; by edict of the presidium of the Ukrainian SSR Supreme Council (30 December 1962), it was reorganised into two executive committees, those of the regional agricultural and industrial councils; and by edict of the presidium of the Ukrainian SSR Supreme Council (1 December 1964), it resumed operations as a unified executive committee of the regional council of toilers’ deputies (pursuant to the USSR Constitution of 1977 and the Ukrainian SSR Constitution of 1978, of people’s deputies). It ceased operations from 23 March 1992, and was finally liquidated 11 October 1995 upon the establishment, on its basis, of the Kherson Regional State Administration (see the description of f. R-4067), which is its institutional successor.
- Access points: locations:
- Kherson
- L’vovo
- Soviet Union
- Ukraine
- System of arrangement:
- The fonds includes sixteen inventories (no. 16 covers 1991-98) systematised according to the structural-chronological principle.
- Finding aids:
- Inventories are available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
