Office for agriculture Aradul Nou

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Arhivele Nationale Române. Direcţia judeţeană Arad

Scope and content:: The fonds comprises the files of the Office for Agriculture of Aradul Nou from 1935 to 1949. It contains records concerning agricultural properties, fields leased by colonists brought from the historical provinces left by the Romanian administration in 1940 (Bessarabia, Bukovina), data about the implementation of the antisemitic legislation during the Second World War, especially concerning the expropriation of Jewish properties (see File No. 2/1941; 4/1944), the agrarian reform from 1945 by expropriation of properties larger than 50 hectares and their distribution to peasants, particularly those who had participated in the war. The Office functioned until 1949 when the newly installed Communist regime changed the system of administration of agricultural properties, organising so-called State farms and beginning the collectivisation of peasant properties, a process which was accomplished in 1962. The collective farms functioned until 1989 when the fall of Communism brought the dissolution of these organisations in the agricultural field.

Archival history:: The fonds was preserved by the directorate for agriculture of Arad county, After 1989 it was transferred to the Arad county directorate of the Romanian National Archives, inventoried and made available to researchers.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Office for Agriculture of Aradul Nou was established in 1935 in the framework of state control installed in the field of agricultural properties and their administration in order to assure the resources for the population and the army in preparation for another world war. The tasks of the office were to order the ownership relations in a sector seriously unsettled by the effects of the agrarian reform of 1921, to control and direct agricultural works, to collect and communicate to the central authorities statistical data concerning the annual production, to improve the quality of agriculture by offering specialist advice, selected seeds and financial support to property owners. During the Second World War it was involved in the implementation of antisemitic legislation concerning agricultural properties and expropriation of Jewish assets. After 1945 it was instrumental in the new agrarian reform. The Office functioned until the installation of the Communist regime in 1949.

Subject terms:: Agriculture; Antisemitism; Antisemitism--Antisemitic legislation; Plunder

System of arrangement:: The fonds is comprised of files, which are arranged in chronological order.

Finding aids:: Inventory no.162, held by the Arad county directorate of the Romanian National Archives.

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

Author of the description:: Attila Gidó, researcher, Institute for Study of National Minorities Cluj-Napoca - 2018; Ladislau Gyémánt, emeritus professor - 2018