Metadata: Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Krakow
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) 4224094
- Web address:
- http://ank.gov.pl/
- Email:
- sekretariat@ank.gov.pl
- Reference number:
- 29/318/0
- Title:
- Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Krakow
- Title (official language):
- Izba Przemysłowo-Handlowa w Krakowie
- Creator/accumulator:
- Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Krakow
- Date(s):
- 1857/1950
- Date note:
- 1857-1939; 1940-1950
- Language:
- Polish
- German
- Extent:
- 59 linear metres (538 units)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The records of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry form a rich and unique collection useful for researching the entrepreneurship and political activity of the Jewish elite of Krakow in the second half of the 19th century and in the interwar period. The main task of this institution was to submit to the authorities proposals and suggestions regarding trade and industry, to evaluate draft laws, and to support established enterprises. Due to the outstanding role of Jews in the development of industry and trade, the participation of Jewish members in the structures of this organisation of economic self-government was significant. In 1912 as many as 24 of the 38 members were Jews. In the 1880s Artur Benis served as secretary of the Chamber. In the 1880s and 1890s, Arnold Chaim Rapaport distinguished himself in the Chamber. Rapaport was the founder of a steel mill and rolling mill, who sat in the Diet of Galicia and Lodomeria and the Imperial State Council many times. Outstanding presidents of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Jewish origin were, among others, banker Albert Mendelsburg, member of the Imperial State Council, and Tadeusz Epstein, owner of a rolling mill and steel mill in Borek Fałęcki.
The collection includes records from Krakow, Biała, Bochnia, Brzesko, Chrzanów, Dąbrowa, Gorlice, Grybów, Jasło, Kolbuszowa, Limanowa, Łańcut, Mielec, Myślenice, Nisko, Nowy Sącz, Nowy Targ, Pilzno, Podgórze, Ropczyce, Rzeszów, Strzyżów, Tarnobrzeg, Tarnów, Wadowice, Wieliczka and Żywiec; in addition, in the years 1919-1939: Kolbuszowa, Krosno, Łańcut, Nisko, Przeworsk, Strzyżów, Śląsk Cieszyński, and Spisz, Orawa. Jewish records can be found in most parts of the collection. The most important group of records is that of the presidential documents containing minutes of meetings of the combined branches of the Chamber, various committees, plenary sessions of the Chamber, resolutions of the plenary session, budget projects, minutes of the Chamber's councillors' meeting, documents of the meetings of the Presidium of the Chamber, the Trade Section and the Industrial Section. A significant number of Jewish-related records are found in the daily record books (arranged chronologically).
Of particular value are the record files of Jewish enterprises from 1858-1938, containing business registers and records that include information on a given company's activity, the type of business activity, number of workers, cash turnover and the year the company was established. In addition, the extant catalogues provide the name of individual Jewish companies, its address, nature of activity, its headquarters, branches, year of establishment, industrial certificate, number in the commercial register and the general industry to which it was assigned. Personnel files, arranged alphabetically, contain information regarding promotions, remuneration, work record certificates, certificates of the departure of Jewish members from the Chamber, their posthumous severance pay, as well as the composition of the Chamber personnel. The records of Chamber appraisers are also important, including especially correspondence and letters of experts and retirement files.
IPHKr. I, ref. no. 43, Commemorative Book of Eighty Years of the Krakow Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPHKr.): anniversary plenary meeting of the Chamber, present: Epstein, Schechter, Gaertner, Maiss (members of the management); text of speeches, mentioned Presidents of the Chamber are, among others, Albert Mendelsburg and Maurycy Dattner; press leaflets, congratulatory telegram from the Kamsler brothers (Mydlniki Lime Factory and Quarry), from Herman Kamsler (Wire and Nail Factory); congratulatory letter from the Presidium of the Board of the Jewish Religious Community, formal congratulations from, among others, Aleksandrowicz, Abeles (director of Union Bank), Ader, Apte, Birnbaum, Bloeder, Bauminger, Begeleisen, Deiches (dir. Commercial Bank), Ehrenpreis, Mester (dir. Małopolski Bank), S. Rosenberg (director Skawina Chicory Coffee Factory) , Ripper (owner of the Ripper and Co. bank); Dr T. Spitzer (deputy head of the Union of Industrialists), R. Taubenschlag.
IPHKr. I, ref. no. 49, Forensic experts and appraisers 1936-1939: Fischler, Singer (deputy director of the Insurance Company "Orzeł"), Civil and maritime engineering, engineers: Kleinberger, Weinberger, Gutman, Taub, Jonkler, Isser, Abramowicz, Wexner, Spira; Rail and road construction: Spira; chemical industry: Buchner, Bau; Weinberger; Electrical engineering: Weingruen; Surveying: E: Schoen; Steam Machines: Weingruen; Accounting valuation of joint stock companies: Feldblum, Goldman, Leinkram, Balsam, Blumenfeld, Lustgarten, Feill, Diamond, Grynszpan, Haber, Rosenbaum, Fener, Morgenbesser. Chamber appraisers 1935-1939: Szweidler (textile industry).
Franchises and commercial agencies: Bicner, Gottlieb, Steiner, Suesser, Zimet; Pharmacies and drug stores: Reichstein; Asphalt products: Silberbach, Gottlieb, Cars: Ripper; Scientific, Chemical and Medical Apparatus: Drobner; Banks: Rosenzweig (proxy for the "A. Holzer" bank); Wohl (owner of the "A. Holzer" bank); Underwear: Hornstein; Textile goods: Birnbaum, Landau, Lipschuetz; Fabrics made of synthetic silk and semi-silk goods: Fleischer, Schenker, Wachter; Accounting: Feldblum, Goldman, Hauser, Scherer; Accounting in Hebrew: Weinberg, Weissman.
- Archival history:
- The pre-war records of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Krakow were taken over after World War II by the State Archives in Krakow. Due to the wide range of economic activities, part of the Chamber records could have been transferred to other archives. There are most likely records regarding the Krakow commercial and industrial self-government in the State Archives in Rzeszów, in collection no. 1: "Records of the city of Rzeszów". Similarly, in the National Archives in Krakow, individual reference numbers were also separated from the collection: 536/5 "Chamber of Industrial and Handicrafts Associations in Krakow" from 1907; 532/1: "Association of Commercial Clerks in Krakow" from 1808-1922 or 536/14: "Industrial Corporation of Horse-drawn Carriages in Krakow" from 1927-1937. In addition, in the Götz-Okocimski Archive, reference number 29/634/0 stored in the National Archives in Krakow, there are records pertaining to the last pre-war Chamber president Antoni Goetz.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Krakow was an economic self-government organiwation. It was created in the Austrian partition on 14 November 1850, as the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Krakow. It conducted its activities based on the provisions granting rights of association to entrepreneurs and craftsmen. Pursuant to the above Act, the following districts were included in the Krakow Chamber district: Krakow, Wadowice, Bochnia, Tarnów, Nowy Sącz, Jasło, and Rzeszów. In 1851 the first statute of the chamber was drawn up, and in 1898 a second statute was prepared. It was divided into two sections: commercial and industrial. It included the following counties: Biała, Bochnia, Brzesko, Chrzanów, Dąbrowa, Gorlice, Grybów, Jasło, Kolbuszowa, Kraków, Limanowa, Łańcut, Mielec, Myślenice, Nisko, Nowy Sącz, Nowy Targ, Pilzno, Podgórze, Ropczyce, Rzeszów, Strzyżów, Tarnobrzeg, Tarnów, Wadowice, Wieliczka, Żywiec.
After 1918, the Chamber was subject to the Polish Liquidation Commission, and then to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In addition to the Krakow Province, the Chamber district temporarily included Cieszyn Silesia, Spisz and Orawa, and the counties of the Lviv Province: Kolbuszowa, Krosno, Łańcut, Nisko, Przeworsk, Strzyżów and Tarnobrzeg. From 1905, the seat of the Chamber at was located on Długa Street in Krakow. The functioning of the chamber was subject to the regulation of the President of the Republic of Poland "On Chambers of Industry and Commerce," of 15 July 1927, which defined it as a permanent representation of the economic interests of industry and trade. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry operated until September 1941. It resumed operations in 1992.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Benis, Artur, 1865-1932
- Epstein, Tadeusz (1870-1939)
- Rapoport, Arnold, 1840-1907
- System of arrangement:
-
I. Presidium records 1862-1939
1. Minutes of meetings 1862-1939 (ref. no. IPHKr 1-42)
2. Commemorative book (ref. no. IPHKr 43)
3-4. Organisational and personnel matters 1868-1939 (ref. no. IPHKr 44-49)
5. Budget and tax matters 1906-1939 (ref. no. IPHKr 50-53)
7. Reports, correspondence with the branch in Rzeszów 1937-1939 (ref. no. IPHKr 74)
8. Materials regarding the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Warsaw 1925-1939 (ref. no. IPHKr 75-78)
9. Business Registers 1929-1939 [1950] (ref. no. IPHKr 79-122)
II Register of enterprises 1857-1939
1. Surveys of enterprises 1934-1939 ref. no. IPHKr 123-165)
2. Land register (registers of general partnerships, sole proprietorships, joint-stock companies, cooperatives and associations) IPHKr. 166-231
3. Company directory (alphabetical order by locality name) 1933 (ref. no. IPHKr 416-471)
- Finding aids:
-
T. Kargol, Izba Przemysłowo Handlowa w Krakowie w latach 1850-1939, Kraków 2003.
A. Kiełbicka, Izba Przemysłowo-Handlowa w Krakowie 1850-1950, Kraków 2003.
A printed inventory and online finding aids are also available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- The Taube Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Wrocław
- Author of the description:
- Przemysław Zarubin, Kraków, 2019
