Białystok Municipal Tax Inspectorate

Collection

Scope and content:: In the records created during the Inspectorate's duration there are a number of documents relating to the economic life and the social and occupational structure of the Jewish population living in the Guberniya. The collection includes an inspection log of industrial and commercial plants of the town of Białystok 1901. The collection also includes the tax rolls regarding agricultural land in the land of Białystok and in Białystok county, which are incomplete and cover the years 1903-1916. The County Inspectorate collection also includes registration materials regarding tax rolls for the town of Białystok and Białystok county from 1915, which are incomplete. There are also lists of owners of industrial plants, craft workshops, shops and service establishments in Białystok operating in 1901. The collection also includes lists of houses, their owners and tenants reflecting the actual state before the evacuation of the Russian authorities from the town in 1915.

These records can be found under the following reference numbers, e.g. 4/735/1 commercial enterprises and individual industrial activity conducted by Jews living in Białystok in 1901; 4/735/14 Census of tax-paying Jewish inhabitants.

Archival history:: After the Tax Inspectorate was dissolved, which probably took place in 1918, the records were transferred to the state archives in Kaluga, where they were taken in 1923 according to a label found attached to the collection. Later, perhaps after the Second World War, the records were probably transferred to Grodno. In 1963, the collection returned to Poland as part of the recovery of Polish archives from the Soviet Union. On 25 October 1963, it was transferred to the Provincial State Archives in Białystok.

Administrative/biographical history:: In 1885 a joint office was created for the town of Białystok and Białystok county called the Tax Inspectorate of Białystok County. This single office was later divided into two separate offices, separating municipal affairs from county matters. Another division was also carried out along regional lines, creating two regions headed by tax inspectors. In 1913, the town of Białystok had three equal but separate tax inspection offices, each of which had a specific territorial range. Each of these offices was headed by a different tax inspector. The inspector also chaired the offices for industrial tax, property tax and housing tax operating in his area. The activities of the institutions were interrupted by World War I, and they formally ceased to exist in 1918.

Finding aids:: A printed inventory is available at the State Archives in Białystok.

Yerusha Network member:: The Taube Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Wrocław