Town hall of Miercures Ciuc

Collection

Holding institution:: Harghita County division of the Romanian National Archives

Holding institution (official language):: Serviciul Judetean Harghita al Arhivelor Nationale

Scope and content:: This fonds comprises the records created by the town hall of Miercurea Ciuc between 1859 and 1968. It contains instructions and dispositions of superior administrative, financial and personnel authorities, activity plans, records of meetings of the general assembly of the town, lists of clerks, tables including the belongings of the town, budget sheets of revenues and expenses, vital records registers and registers of incoming and outgoing correspondence. Jewish references appear in files no. 2 (vital records registers, 1904-1905); no. 13 (persons pursued by the authorities, 1941-1944); no. 18 (census of the population of the town, 1941); no. 51 (buildings confiscated for the army); no. 53 (expropriations of immoveable goods, 1943); no. 58 (nationality rights, 1943); no. 72 (administration of Jewish properties, 1944); no. 133 (census of residence buildings, 1948).

Archival history:: The fonds was transferred to the Harghita County division of the Romanian National Archives in 1981 and 1994, where it was inventoried and made available to researchers.

Administrative/biographical history:: The town of Miercurea Ciuc appears in medieval records in the 12th century. In 1643 it had a population of 44 families. The first guild of craftsmen which obtained a privilege was that of the boot makers in 1649. From 1878 to the end of the First World War it was the seat of Ciuc county. In the interwar period it continued to hold this position according to the law of territorial administration issued by the Romanian parliament in 1925. Between 1940 and 1944 the Hungarian administration was reinstalled, while from 1945 the Romanian administration once again took over the town. After the Communist regime was inaugurated it was included in the so-called Hungarian Autonomous Region until 1968 when it became the seat of Harghita county. It had a significant Jewish community which was deported to Auschwitz in May-June 1944.

System of arrangement:: The fonds is organised into two series: one for files and registers dating from 1859 to 1952 and the other for material from the years 1952 to 1968. Within these series the thematic files are arranged in chronological order.

Finding aids:: Inventories No. 239 and 240, held by the Harghita County division of the Romanian National Archives.

Yerusha Network member:: Romanian Institute for the Research of National Minorities

Author of the description:: Levente Tóth (archivist, Protestant Theological Institute Cluj), Ladislau Gyémánt (emeritus professor), 2017