Metadata: Poznań Municipal Records
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- State Archives in Poznan
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu
- Postal address:
- ul. 23 Lutego 41/43, 60-967 Poznań
- Phone number:
- +48 61 852 46 01
- Email:
- archiwum@poznan.ap.gov.pl
- Reference number:
- 53/474/0/-
- Title:
- Poznań Municipal Records
- Title (official language):
- Akta miasta Poznań
- Creator/accumulator:
- Poznan Municipal Administration
- Date(s):
- 1254/1945
- Language:
- German
- Polish
- Latin
- Hebrew
- Italian
- Extent:
- 567.69 metres (28,966 folders)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains materials for the history of the city of Poznań from the 13th century onwards, including council, vogt [wójt] and town registers, admissions to the town law, statutes, privileges, documents, registers, copies of minutes, ordinances, extracts from town books. They cover all aspects of the life of the city and its inhabitants, as well as the catalogue of residents registration documents kept from 1870 to the mid-1930s.
The collection consists of materials produced by the municipal administration. The documents are thematically and cover legislative, judicial and commercial issues handled by the municipal authorities of the Poznań magistrate. There are numerous Jewish-related records concerning the supervision of Jews in Poznań, mainly in trade and finance. The collection also includes excerpts from Poznań town records, including all regulations concerning the Jewish population regarding legislation and judiciary, and relations between the Christian population. The collected records also include cartularies and registers of privileges and rights granted to Jews in the past by the authorities.
27.10 / I.2242 - Lists of privileges and decrees regarding Jews from Poznań (several registers from the 17th century, lists of privileges issued in 1714 and 1778)
27.10 / I.2243 - Summaries of Poznań documents issued in 1523-1756 regarding Jews
27.10 / I.2244 - Lists of houses in Poznań rented to Jews, from 1579 and 1585
27.10 / I2245 - Loose materials regarding Jews, including rights granted to the Jews of Poznań in Swarzędz by its owner, Zygmunt Grudziński, the castellan of Międzyrzec and the related trials (1627; 17th century)
27.10 / I.2246 - A plea from the authorities of the city of Poznań addressed to the king due to the activities of the Jews of Swarzędz that were harmful to the town (17th century)
27.10 / I.2247 - Weekly agreement between the town of Poznań and the synagogue of Poznań Jews to pay 25 florins for quartering in Poznań on 23 August 1715. Extract from the Poznań town records of 1718 (1715)
27.10 / I.2248 - Agreement concluded between the city of Poznań and Jewish butchers regarding the cattle fee every four weeks set at 14 zł and pledged upon (9 August 1731)
27.10 / I.2249 - Dispute between the town of Poznań and the authorities of the Jewish community over taxes and rents 24 March 1749 concluded for up to three years (24 March 1749)
27.10 / I.2250 - Loose records regarding disputes between the town of Poznań and its citizens and the Jews, including protests, renderings of Jewish houses, decrees of various courts, etc. (1537-1688; 1717)
27.10 / I.2251 - Materials on the anti-Jewish riot in Poznań, including protests, renderings, decrees, reports - excerpts from Poznań town and town court registers (1592-1688)
27.10 / I.2252 - Materials regarding Jews from Poznań, among others regarding disputes with townspeople and nobility, obligations of Jews, forensic examinations, register of wrongs done to them in the customs house in Poznań (1611–1792)
27.10 / I.2253 - Materials regarding disputes between the city authorities and the Jewish community over the payment of various taxes and fees to the state and the town - mainly excerpts from Poznań town and town court registers(1618-1753)
27.10 / I.2254 - Materials regarding disputes of the Poznań city council and Poznań guilds with Jews - demonstrations, re-manifestations, extracts of various court sentences, letters to the magistrate, etc. (1663–1777)
27.10 / I.2255 - Loose records related to trials with Jews conducted by the Poznań town authorities - including decrees issued by various courts - extracts from court books, originals, copies (1700–1775)
27.10 / I.2256 - Extracts from the Poznań town books and the books of the Tribunal from Radom, including the judgments of the commissioner's court and the Tribunal in Radom in a dispute between the Poznań town magistrate and Poznań Jews regarding contributions of charitable support/"ratione contributionis subsidii charitativi" (1724–1725)
27.10 / I.2257 - Extracts from Poznań town books regarding disputes between Poznań townspeople and Jews (1725–1745)
27.10 / I.2258 - Loose records of various origins regarding trials with Jews, including excerpts from town and city registers regarding trials with Jews for the alleged murder of a Christian child (1736-1739)
27.10 / I.2259 - A certified copy of a notarial document issued in Frankfurt am Main, including testimony in a dispute concerning Jews (1579)
27.10 / I.2260 - Accounts ledger - a manuscript written in Hebrew (18th century)
27.10 / I.2261 - Transumptum ex privilegio civium siradiensum de iudeis inde expulses (1569)
- Archival history:
-
The materials included in the collection were produced and collected by the municipal administration. The municipal archive was in close contact with the administration as an integral part of its functioning. The collection of books, records and financial documentation were stored in cabinets, drawers or chests located in the court room of the town hall, which often also housed the city seals and the official library. Documents concerning the rights and privileges of the municipality were locked in the town hall treasury. In 1794 and 1796, ordinances of the Prussian king were published, handed over by the South Prussian Military and Domain Chamber in Poznań, ordering the magistrates to prepare lists of cases which were to be found in the municipal documents and privileges. After 1815, the District offices in Poznań and Bydgoszcz demanded access to an inventory of the registers prepared by the magistrates.
In 1869, the Prussian government of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck organised the government State Archives in Poznań (Stadtarchiv Posen), which became part of the network of Prussian state archives. At the beginning of March of that year, Carl Horn, the chief president of Poznań Province, addressed an appeal to communes, associations, institutions and private persons to submit all records to the Poznań archives.
The archival materials of Greater Poland returned to the possession of Polish archives after the end of World War I and the Greater Poland Uprising.
In 1943, the German occupation board of the State Archives in Poznań (Reichsarchiv Posen) decided to remove the oldest and most valuable records from Poznań. Archival materials produced after 1500 were scattered around churches and manors in the Poznań and Szamotuły districts, and some destroyed. After the end of World War II, the records entered the legal resources of the successor of the same, i.e., the State Archives in Poznań.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Until the end of the 18th century, Poznań did not constitute a uniform administrative whole; apart from the royal town there were independent jurisdicational sectors with their own self-governments, while villages belonged to the town. The left bank of the town was founded in 1253, and at the end of the 16th century it bought out the vogt’s office [wójtostwo] and achieved full self-government. The representative of the self-government was the town council with its mayor (there were two of them) at the head, elected every year and approved by the general starost of Greater Poland.
In 1779, the offices of the president and vice-president were introduced. The city council was the governing, legislative and judicial body. In 1809, a municipal system was introduced similar to the French one, which survived until 1831. That same year, a new town ordinance was introduced, on the basis of which the members of the city council were elected by residents who had the required property certificate. Another ordinance was passed in 1853. Significant changes to the system were not introduced until 1928, when the Polish authorities strengthened the dependence of the local government on the state authorities.
- System of arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged thematically. There is a subset within the collection - (Loose records - ref. no. 27) - containing excerpts from town books, registers, excerpts, summaries and copies of granted privileges:
1. General and administrative matters - incl. lists and summaries of town documents, 1443–1826 (ref. no. 27.1)
2. Defence and security of the town, military obligations, 1550–1817 (ref. no. 27.2.)
3. Management of municipal property, villages, town estate lands, 1718–1806 (ref. no. 27.3)
4. Town treasury, 1555–1805 (ref. no. 27.4)
5. Taxes and fees, 1569–1813 (ref. no. 27.5)
6. Trade and crafts, 1496–1793 (ref. no. 27.6)
7. Social welfare, 1449–1799 (ref. no. 27.7)
8. Churches, 1424–1824 (ref. no. 27.8)
9. Monasteries, 1592–1789 (ref. no. 27.9)
10. Jews, 1537–1792 (ref. no. 27.10)
11. Dissidents, 1551–1785 (ref. no. 27.11)
12. Town riots, 1596–1699 (ref. no. 27.12)
13. Burgher property matters - incl. real estate sales and purchases, 1536–1793 (ref. no. 27.13)
14. Court cases concerning town authorities and townspeople, 1536–1792 (ref. no. 27.14)
15. Extracts from court books, 1406–1792 (ref. no. 27.15)
- Finding aids:
-
A printed inventory is available in the archive.
An online finding aid is also available.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/en/strona_glowna
- Yerusha Network member:
- The Taube Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Wrocław
- Author of the description:
- Mikołaj Wojciechowski, University of Wrocław
