Metadata: Leopold Reiss
Collection
- Country:
- Ukraine
- Holding institution:
- Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv. Manuscripts Department
- Holding institution (official language):
- Львівська національна наукова бібліотека України імені В. Стефаника. Bідділ рукописів
- Postal address:
- Stefanyka St. 2, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine
- Phone number:
- +38 (032) 236-80-28
- Email:
- manuscr@lsl.lviv.ua
- Reference number:
- F. 92
- Title:
- Leopold Reiss
- Title (official language):
- РАЙС Л.
- Creator/accumulator:
- Leopold Reiss
- Date(s):
- 1637/1940
- Language:
- German
- Polish
- Latin
- Yiddish
- Hebrew
- Arabic
- Ukrainian
- Extent:
- 34 storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Cartographic material
- Graphic material
- Scope and content:
-
Documents housed in the fond that pertain to Jewish history and culture may be provisionally divided into the following thematic groups:
1) Materials pertaining to the history of the Jewish community of Lwów (from the mid-18th c. to 1939) – particular files and file fragments that include documents related to the financial situation of the community and the life of its members, including orders of the provincial authorities barring Jews from settling in the city center, hiring Christian servants, etc.; Jewish community leaders’ appeals and reports to and correspondence with local authorities and the central authorities in Vienna regarding the payment of taxes, in particular the candle and kosher meat taxes, with appended promissory notes from Lwów synagogues (1748); data on the makeup of the Jewish community and the commercial activities of its members, including individual sheets and maps from censuses of the Jewish population of Lwów, in particular, information on the Schrenz family (1846, 1850); tax records and registers of goods, including as pertained to the merchant L. Jakubovich (1755); etc.; information on the operations of community institutions, including correspondence with the Lwów Viceroyalty and Magistrate on the organization of the M. Lazarus Jewish hospital (1898); a file on objections lodged by Lwów Rabbis H. Orenshtein, B. Levenshtein, and L. Braude against the practice of burying Jews in closed caskets (1884-88); a speech by V. Chajes, president of the Lwów Jewish community (1928); etc.
2) Documents on the activities of Jewish charitable societies in Lwów, including their bylaws, work reports, financial files, account books, meeting minutes, member lists, receipts for dues payments, and invitations to meetings and various fundraisers, in particular, materials of the Yad Harutzim Society of Jewish Craftsmen and Artisans (of which Leopold Reiss was a leader) (1871-1927); the People’s Kitchen (German: Volks-kuche) charitable society (1876-80), which distributed free meals to underprivileged Jews; the Society of Merchants and Industrialists; the Committee for Trusteeship of Monuments of Jewish Art (1926); etc.
3) Materials pertaining to the Zionist Stanisław Steiger, who was falsely accused of attempting to assassinate Polish President Stanisław Wojciechowski in Lwów (1924-25).
4) The personal papers and collection materials assembled by Leopold Reiss, which contain information about his social and service activities, family correspondence, wills, newspaper clippings and extracts, and financial documents, in particular, the tenants’ log (Polish: Książka meldunkowa) for apartments in the building at 35 L. Sapieha Street that was owned by Reiss’s father-in-law J. Krokh, a prominent member of the Lwów Jewish community (1910s-30s); correspondence of I.-L. Reiss, presumably a relative of Leopold Reiss, with the Lwów Magistrate on the activities of the city’s Jewish community (1849-50); notes by an unidentified person on the “Jewish question”; a printed text (author unindicated) on the prospects for the development of the Zionist movement (after 1930); a typewritten copy of the front page of issue no. 84 of the Jewish youth weekly Counter-Attack (Polish: Kontratak), published in Lwów, containing an editorial by Zygmund Reich on the need to support Jewish immigrants from Germany (late 1930s); appeals and proclamations of an antisemitic nature on behalf of “Polish Academic Youth” (Polish: Polska Młodzież Akademicka) in support of the authorities’ segregation policy of organizing so-called “Jewish ghettos” in higher educational institutions in Lwów – appended is the response from socialist opponents of this policy (1937), and a statement by the Polish National Camp (Polish: Obóz Narodowy) urging voters to oppose Jewish influence in Lwów’s government bodies, in connection with upcoming city council elections (undated); personalized invitations from various public organizations in Lwów; postcards, including one with an antisemitic caricature; etc. (1930s).
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Leopold Reiss (b. 1882, d. after 1940) was an engineer, architect, public figure, and collector. He graduated from the Vienna University of Technology. The owner of an architectural firm in Lwów, he built and renovated a significant number of buildings in the city; in particular, the Temple, Golden Rose, and Great Suburban synagogues were reconstructed according to his designs. He took an active part in the social and cultural life of Lwów and was engaged in philanthropic work. In the interwar period, he was a member of many public organizations, and in particular headed the Yad Harutzim Society of Jewish Craftsmen and Artisans. In 1925 he became a member of the Committee for Trusteeship of Monuments of Jewish Art, where he was in charge of architectural issues. In the 1930s, he was one of the trustees of the Museum of the Lwów Jewish Community. He collected antiques related to the history of Lwów, and in his home assembled a significant collection of printed books, manuscripts, paintings, maps, coins. and flags, including items of Judaica.
- Access points: locations:
- Lwów
- Access points: persons/families:
- Braude
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief
- Aid and relief--Food distribution
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Antisemitism
- Antisemitism--Antisemitic propaganda
- Burial
- Census
- Correspondence
- Education
- Education--Schools and universities
- Financial matters
- Financial matters--Debt
- Financial records
- Health and medical matters
- Health and medical matters--Hospitals
- Jewish community
- Jewish press
- Jewish Question
- Jewish-Christian relations
- Maps
- Migration
- Migration--Immigration
- Newspaper clippings
- Professions
- Professions--Crafts
- Rabbis
- Residency issues of Jews
- Statistics
- Synagogues
- Taxation
- Trade and commerce
- Wills
- Zionism
- System of arrangement:
- The fond includes a single inventory systematized thematically and chronologically.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
