Metadata: Records of the town of Chrzanów
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- National Archives in Krakow
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiwum Narodowe w Krakowie
- Postal address:
- ul. Sienna 16, 30–960 Kraków
- Phone number:
- (+48 12) 422 40 94; (+48 12) 4212790; (+48 12) 421 68 81
- Web address:
- http://ank.gov.pl/
- Email:
- sekretariat@ank.gov.pl
- Reference number:
- PL 29/103
- Title:
- Records of the town of Chrzanów
- Title (official language):
- Akta miasta Chrzanowa
- Creator/accumulator:
- Municipality of Chrzanów
- Date(s):
- 1408/1943
- Language:
- Latin
- Polish
- German
- Extent:
- 3.2 linear metres (32 volumes)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The records in the collection were produced by the former owners of the town of Chrzanów, the local government bodies (the bench and the council) and the municipal authorities (magistrat) between 1782 and 1827 and the German authorities in 1941-43.
Jewish items in Chrzanów’s 18th- and 19th-century municipal records include numerous civil cases involving Jews, particularly with respect to real estate and testimonies of debts, loans, or pledges and liens. Entries were made, such as for the conclusion of a dispute with a settlement combined with marriage, other family contracts and compositions and bequests. There are moral affairs, frauds, protests and demonstrations and antisemitic actions, such as an accusation of alleged ritual murder.
Jewish-related items with an official purpose include granting of citizenship of the city, official determination of rent charges, annulment of a decree of the kahal authorities, definition of the kahal’s obligations during Catholic feast days, sale of a debtor’s house, removal of the leasehold from a debtor and contentious cases related to the borderlines of land allotments.
The following units contain Jewish-related elements:
DEP 46, aldermen’s register of Chrzanów, 1622-43; DEP 47, aldermen’s register of Chrzanów, 1635-1702; DEP 48, aldermen’s register of Chrzanów, 1643-79; DEP 49, aldermen’s register of Chrzanów, 1679-89; DEP 51, town council’s/aldermen’s register of Chrzanów, 1763-79; DEP 52, town council’s/aldermen’s register of Chrzanów, 1763-78; DEP 53, town council’s/aldermen’s register of Chrzanów, 1763-79; DEP 54, municipal records of Chrzanów (municipal authorities or magistrat), 1782-92; DEP 56, record of transactions with respect to the municipal office of Chrzanów, 1792-1802; DEP 57, litigation testimonies submitted to the municipal office of Chrzanów, 1803-27; DEP 430, accounts of the hospital or almshouse in Chrzanów, 1606-7, 1781-1802.
It has not been determined whether any Jewish-related material may be found in the financial registers of the city of Krenau (1941-43) as the data (MCHSK 1, Kassenzeitbuch der Stadkasse Krenau O/S für Rechnungsjahr 1941) do not identify nationalities.
DEP 50 contains no Jewish-related items.
- Archival history:
- The core of the collection consists of the former municipal archive. In 1831 the commissioner of the Republic of Krakow deposited 23 registers and books at the Wawel archive in Krakow. The Chrzanów municipality solicited for the return of the archives, which was eventually done in 1881 on the order of the presidium of the K.u.K. land court of Krakow. In 1902, on the instruction of the Galician authorities, the municipal registers were transferred from the deposit at the Office for Landed Estate Registers, K.u.K. district court of Chrzanów, to the Landed Archive at the Wawel, as a deposit of the City of Chrzanów. After World War II a few financial books or records of the City of Chrzanów from 1941-43 were attached to the collection.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Situated in the western part of Lesser Poland (Małopolska), 46km west of Krakow, Chrzanów was a private town within the Kingdom of Poland before 1795, then under Austrian rule in 1795-1809 and again from 1846 onwards; between 1809 and 1815 the town was part of the Duchy of Warsaw and subsequently, from 1815-56, of the Free City of Krakow. From 1918 it was again part of Poland; it was incorporated in the Third Reich and known as Krenau from 1939-45.
Jews first settled in Chrzanów around 1590. Supported by Józef Kanty Ossoliński, the town’s owner, they founded a local religious community in 1742. A Jewish cemetery was built in 1759 and a synagogue in 1786. With a population of approximately 7,000 as of 1931, Jews accounted for 40% of the inhabitants in the 20th-century interwar period.
Chrzanów was granted city rights around 1400 and in 1500 received rights under the Magdeburg Law. Between the second half of the 14th century and 1617 the town was owned by the Ligęza family, but it was only Anna Ligęzina (Ligęza), 1617-40, and Andrzej-Samuel Dembiński that took real interest in developments concerning the city. The city’s government was formed of four elective counsellors, who took the office of city mayor (burmistrz) in turns. The court of assessors, whose members were elected, was presided over by the mayor (wójt) and seven assessors or aldermen (four from 1763 and two from 1798). Before 1861 the Austrian authorities restricted the powers of the local government and the municipal government (magistrat) became the office of the lord of the city and the state.
- Access points: locations:
- Chrzanów
- Subject terms:
- Antisemitism
- Blood libel
- Citizenship
- Financial matters
- Kahal
- Legal records
- Real estate
- System of arrangement:
-
The collection’s documents are arranged by institution and subject matter of the documents and books/registers:
Parchment and paper documents, 1500–1789 (Dok DEP 343–346). Town Council books, 1527–1564 (DEP 38, 41). Town Council/aldermen’s records, 1408–1779 (DEP. 36, 49, 51, 52, 53). Aldermen’s books/registers, 1430–1689 (DEP 37, 39–40, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50). Municipal Office [magistrat] books/registers, 1782–1824 (DEP. 54, 55, 56, 57, 58), Book of accounts of the hospital (almshouse), 1781–1802 (DEP. 430); Financial registers from the World War 2 period, 1941–3 (MCh Sk 1–4); Varia [Miscellaneous], 1530–1850 (DEP 465).
- Finding aids:
-
Inventory available online.
Over 100 records from DEP 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56 are available in the database of the Jagiellonian University: http://www.uj.edu.pl/web/judaiki
See also:
Józef Pęckowski, Chrzanów, miasto powiatowe województwa krakowskiego. Monografja z 27 ilustracjami w tekście, Chrzanów 1934, s. 1–8.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
- Author of the description:
- Janusz S. Dąbrowski; Kraków; 2015
