Metadata: Police Directorate in Lemberg/Lwów
Collection
- Country:
- Ukraine
- Holding institution:
- State Archive of the Lviv Region
- Holding institution (official language):
- Державний Архів Львівської області
- Postal address:
- Pidvalna St. 13, 79008, Lviv, Ukraine
- Phone number:
- +38 (032) 235-53-50; +38 (032) 235-47-22
- Email:
- archive_lviv@arch.gov.ua
- Reference number:
- F. 350
- Title:
- Police Directorate in Lemberg/Lwów
- Title (official language):
- ДИРЕКЦІЯ ПОЛІЦІЇ У ЛЬВОВІ
- Creator/accumulator:
- Police Directorate in Lemberg/Lwów
- Date(s):
- 1773/1918
- Language:
- German
- Polish
- Yiddish
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 5,121 storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
Materials housed in the fond that pertain to Jewish history and culture may be provisionally divided into the following thematic groups:
1) Documents of political content, reflecting measures taken by the Police Directorate and subordinate agencies to counter “the spread in Galicia of the ideas of socialism and Zionism, and the undermining of the foundations of the Austrian monarchy,” in particular, a file on the issuance of a permit to establish an association called the Jewish Patriotic Committee (1866); reports on the activities of the political association Shomer Israel (1869-79); correspondence with the Viceroyalty of Lemberg/Lwów on the Zion society (1899), etc.; investigations of the political trustworthiness of members of Jewish parties, including the Jewish Social-Democratic Workers’ Party Po’ale Tsiyon (1900s-1910s); reports on the arrival of the Zionist leader M. Ussishkin from Russia and a profile of the Zionist N.-H. Heyer (1900s); a report on a conference of Zionist organizations in Austria, with appended abstracts of talks delivered at the conference (1908), and a report on the conference that was forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior in Vienna (1909); police reports on the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Polish uprising of 1830, including on a service held to mark the occasion at the Temple synagogue (1881); on a demonstration of Lwów innkeepers in front of the Great City Synagogue and on a trip made by a delegation of Lwów innkeepers to Vienna organized by Austrian Parliament deputy E. Breiter (1911); on a strike by Jewish workers to protest price increases (1912); etc.
2) Materials pertaining to the oversight of activities of Jewish charitable and philanthropic organizations, including a statistical table on the work of the Lwów branch of the Jewish charitable association Israelitische Allianz, registered in Vienna (1887-1911); bylaws and other documents on the activities of the Orvim le-sokhrim small traders’ association (1907-12); documents on the registration of the Mutual Aid charitable society, which was chaired by N. Fridman (1909-12); information on the organizing of a temporary committee called Żydowska samopomoc akademicka (Jewish Academic Mutual Aid) (1917-18); etc.
3) An array of documents of the Censorship Office, including information on the inspection of Jewish liturgical and secular books; files on the prohibition on importing illicit books and pamphlets from abroad, and lists of works of literature in this category; permits for the publication of Jewish books and their sale in Galicia; reports on the inspection of the libraries of private individuals for the presence of banned books; a ruling on the confiscation of banned Jewish publications; information on the establishment of oversight of Jewish printing houses and lithographic works; etc. Among these types of documents are, in particular, files on the confiscation of Sadigura (Sadagóra, Sadhora) Rebbe Avrohom Yaakov Friedman’s book Birkat Ha-mazon (first half of the 19th c.), the journal Shandor Rosh (1860), the London-based Jewish anarchist journal Arbeter Fraynd (1908), etc.; files on the prosecution of H. Kulishover for illegally importing Jewish literature from Russia (1907-12); a statement regarding the establishment, circulation, and distribution of the newspaper Der Israelit, press organ of the Shomer Israel society (1869-79); information on and circulation statistics of the Jewish journals Chwila, published under the editorship of A. Kraevsky (1906) and Dos naye land (1918), the newspaper Neue Lemberger Zeitung (1917), etc.; applications for permission to publish the book Netubim Kessubim, the journals Ha-Mevaser Le-Galitsien, Halicishe Boten, etc. (early 1860s); information on the provision (1908-12) of yearly government grants to the newspapers Kol Mahzike Hadas and Der Vare Yude, etc.; and a permit to open a Yiddish theater (1907-1908).
4) Documents on measures taken by the Police Directorate to combat the spread of antisemitic sentiment in society and prevent pogroms against Jews, including data on the detention in Lwów of Russian citizens suspected of involvement in pogroms (1881); files pertaining to an investigation of pogrom incitement in Lwów’s Kraków suburb (Krakowskie Przedmiejsce) on the day of local elections, with an appeal by the Polish Social-Democratic newspaper Gloss denouncing such incitement (1907); an application submitted by the merchant J. Herman for compensation for damages caused by antisemitic disturbances in Lwów (1910-11); information on the confiscation of pamphlets and journals containing antisemitic articles (1880-1918); etc.
5) Information on awards conferred on representatives of the Jewish commercial and industrial elite and the intelligentsia for various achievements in the field of charity, in particular, Fanny Stroh (1913); for aiding prisoners of war during the Russian occupation of Lwów in 1914-15; for honoring the emperor in works of literature; etc.; and information on the conferral of noble status on particular Jews in recognition of their special merits, including M.-R. Mises, chairman of the Jewish community of Lwów (1881); etc.
6) Investigative files pertaining to cases of Jews charged with various offenses, including the forgery of promissory notes, counterfeiting, spying for Russia, collaboration with the Polish rebels of 1863, desertion, draft evasion, criticism of the Austrian monarchy, etc. (1860s-1910).
7) Documents on the monitoring of Jews arriving from abroad, and on the verification of their documents; lists of Jewish refugees from Russia (1910s); and information on the detention of deserters from the Russian Army (1914-16).
8) Files of police personnel who were Jewish, including personal documents and information on their religion – among them, a statement on a Lwów police employee named N. Katz who converted to Christianity along with his family (1859); records of Jewish police personnel who received awards, or who were reprimanded for discipline infractions; complaints filed by Jews against actions of the police; etc.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
This was established in 1773 after the incorporation of Galicia into the Austrian Empire. During the revolutionary events of 1848, the Police Directorate was temporarily liquidated, and its functions transferred to the Lemberg/Lwów Magistrate and city starostas; it was restored in 1852. It was initially subordinate to the Ministry of the Police in Vienna, then to the Ministry of Defense and Security, and in the final period of its operations, to the Ministry of the Interior. During the First World War, on September 1, 1914, the Police Directorate was evacuated, but upon the retreat of Russian forces (22 June 1915), it returned to Lwów, where it remained in operation until the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in late 1918.
The Police Directorate was responsible for public safety in Lemberg/Lwów: to protect the life, health, property, and honor of citizens; monitor sanitary conditions in the city; inspect food markets; combat vagrancy; search for criminals and bring them to court; check the political reliability of new arrivals to the city; see to the prevention of fires; supervise public demonstrations, strikes, and mass performances, and prevent illegal gatherings; and maintain public decency. The Police Directorate was also vested with exclusive powers in censoring periodicals, theater productions, and the foreign press, and in monitoring the activities of public organizations and political associations. The Police Directorate also kept a record of persons traveling abroad; performed background checks on candidates to the civil service; analyzed the material status of persons applying for financial assistance; and issued weapons permits.
The Police Directorate had jurisdiction in the territory of Lemberg/Lwów and one mile beyond it; this jurisdiction was subsequently extended to the abutting villages of Zniesienie, Krzywczyce, and Lesienice.
In addition to materials of the Police Directorate from 1852-1918, the fond also includes documents of the Censorship Directorate from 1803-48 and of the Office of the Lemberg/Lwów Commandant from 1849-52.
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Antisemitism
- Antisemitism--Antisemitic publications
- Censorship
- Conversion to Christianity
- Correspondence
- Crime
- Hebrew periodicals
- Jewish political activity
- Jewish press
- Jewish soldiers
- Law enforcement
- Law enforcement--Police
- Personal records
- Pogroms
- Publishing
- Refugees
- Socialism
- Socialism--Socialist parties and organisations
- Statistics
- Synagogues
- Theatre
- Yiddish periodicals
- Zionism
- System of arrangement:
- The fond includes a single inventory systematized chronologically.
- Finding aids:
- An inventory is available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary