Metadata: Dzierżoniów town records
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- State Archives in Wroclaw
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu
- Postal address:
- ul. Pomorska 2 50-215 Wrocław
- Phone number:
- 4871 3288101
- Web address:
- http://www.ap.wroc.pl/
- Email:
- sekretariat@ap.wroc.pl
- Reference number:
- 82/20
- Title:
- Dzierżoniów town records
- Creator/accumulator:
- Administrative authorities of Dzierżoniów (Germ. Reichenbach)
- Date(s):
- 1331/1942
- Language:
- German
- Latin
- Extent:
- 31.7 linear metres, 49 individual documents and 1691 folders
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of materials gathered by the administration of the town of Dzierżoniów (German: Reichenbach) and is divided into two parts: Documents (see also PL 82/1032) and files. Although the collection includes municipal documentation from the fourteenth century, materials relating to the Jewish community can be found primarily in the section devoted to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is an interesting example of documentation for 19th century Jewish settlement in post-emancipation Prussia. In general, specifically Jewish-related materials are few, mainly in the following units:
Ref. no. 17 Records relating to the election of town councillors [Akten von der Wahl der Stadtverordneten]; 1840 - 1841; here, among others: matters of voters, including Jews, although without any indication of religion (you need to know in advance who is a Jew), e.g. merchant Isaac Naphtal, merchant Adolf Cohn, distiller Levi Maphtali, distiller Isaac Laxi [Isaac Lax], merchant Salomon Hirschmann.
Ref. no. 18 Records relating to the election of town councillors [Akten von der Wahl der Stadtverordneten]; 1841; here, among others: matters relating to voters, including Jews, as above.
Ref. no. 19 Records relating to the election of town councillors [Akten von der Wahl der Stadtverordneten], vol III; 1858-1864; here, among others: matters relating to voters, including Jews, as above.
Ref. no. 20 Records relating to the election of town councillors [Akten von der Wahl der Stadtverordneten], vol V; 1871-1876; including: matters relating to voter, including Jews, as above.
Ref. no. 21 Records relating to the election of town councillors [Akten von der Wahl der Stadtverordneten], Vol VII; 1883-1889; including: matters relating to voters, including Jews, as above.
ref. no. 67 to ref. no. 83 Seelenregister [Lists of residents]; 1817 to 1845; for example, Jewish citizens are also mentioned, often religion is indicated in the registers.
ref. no. 84 Bürgwerbuch 1828-1875; lists of town citizens, including indication of the religion of the listed members; here, among others 1828 - No. 290 Isaac Naphtali, merchant born in Wrocław, 27 years old, a Jew, he took an oath (town oath) on January 12, 1816; identical information on no. 348 (Salomon Heller), No. 365 (Isaac Lax) etc.
ref. no. 102 Die Gesuche um Annahme zum Bürger; 1856; granting town citizenship to Jews; here, among others: names of Jews appear, for example: card 68 - Salomon Oelsner, 24 years old, of the Jewish religion 1856; etc.
ref. no. 929 Die denen mit Kattun Handelnden Kaufleuten auferlegte jährliche Abnahme eine quantite Battun aus der Moses Heymannschen Fabrik zu Breslau, 1769-1809, business matters relating to Moses Heymann of Breslau.
ref. no. 1105 Judensachen, 1742-1809, archival unit entirely devoted to relations between the town authorities and the Jewish population of Reichbach.
ref. no. 1106 Judensachen, 1776-1807, archival unit entirely devoted to relations between the town authorities and the Jewish population of Reichbach.
ref. no. 1107 Die Aufnahme und das Bürgerrecht jüdischer Familien, 1810-1819, documents concerning the beginnings of Jewish settlement in Reichenbach and the granting of municipal rights to Jewish families, a fundamental unit for researching the early phase of Jewish settlement in Prussia during the post-emancipatory period.
ref. no. 1108 Dreifaches Register über die angezogene Juden, 1815-1819, register of Jews settling in Dzierżoniów.
ref. no. 1110 Akten die Anzeigen des Kgl. Kreisgerichts von Trauugen und Geburten jüdischer Glaubensgenossen Behufs Einziehung der Beiträge zum Hebammenfonds, 1852.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
A county town on the Piława river founded by prince Bolek I of Świdnica. There is information from 1262 about the establishment of the Knights Hospitaller in the town; the first mention of a town council appears in 1289. In the 14th century, there were guilds of weavers and furriers in the town, and a municipal school as of 1336. The town was famous for the production of woolen and linen fabrics from the end of the 15th century. There were about 500 linen makers in the 16th century. A great fire destroyed the town in 1562. The town was seized and plundered by the imperial army in 1627. A number of craftsmen left the town after 1630 due to persecution of Evangelists. In the nineteenth century, the weaving craft turned into factories, the chemical industry developed, and glassworks as well as dye-works were established. In 1835, a railway line was built to Świdnica, which was later extended to Wrocław and Dzierżoniów, and to Srebrna Góra in 1903. The town was not damaged excessively during World War II, but the population was entirely "replaced."
Jews: The first records are from the 13th century, in the following century numerous documents certify Jewish settlement; the community was a branch under that of Świdnica; Jews were expelled from Dzierżoniów after the "Capistrano trial" of 1453, and the town was granted the right of "non-tolerance of Jews"; there was re-settlement after 1812. There was a significant population increase to 185 people in 1875, then a slow decline to the Nazi period. After World War II, there was a rapid influx of Jews (17,800 in 1946), followed by a fairly rapid outflow in the 1950s and 1960s.
- Access points: locations:
- Breslau
- Dzierżoniów (Reichenbach)
- System of arrangement:
-
The collection consists of documents and volumes as well as loose handwritten and printed materials.
Records:
1. Regulations, organizational matters, statistics. / 1578-1918 /
Chronicles, elections to the Town Council, registers, building and occupational statistics.
2. Town council and chamber. / 1623-1941 /
Organization, system, staff: reports of the town council and the college of magistrates, introduction of the municipal law of 1808, municipal accounting, general provisions concerning the transfer of the police administration to the magistrate, matters relating to the town hall.
3. Administration and lease of municipal properties. / 1653-1890 /
Matters of enfranchisement of the population, rural industry, encampment of the Polish legion in Lower Silesia in 1807.
4. Industrial enterprises, customs, town dues. / 1665-1890 /
Duties and lease payments of various municipal enterprises.
5. Forestry, hunting, border matters. / 1748-1879 / Forest matters, poaching.
6. Town construction. / 1743-1906 /
Budget, construction of the town hall, roads, bridges, wells, construction police.
7. Police matters. / 1589-1938 /
Safety in the town, prosecutor's office, measures, weights, road and bridge maintenance, fire insurance company.
8. Trade, crafts, industry. / 1613-1937 /
Textile, metal, leather, hosiery, Chamber of Commerce, pawnshop, slaughterhouse, craft guilds and corporations, the Jewish question.
9. Brewing and distilling. / 1527-1895 /
Production of beer and vodka, lease of the municipal brewery urbarium, permits for alcohol production.
10. Churches and schools, hospitals, and social welfare. / 1555-1942 /
Legislation, personal data, investments, statistics.
11. Judiciary. / 1648-1919 /
Court protocols.
12. Military. / 1741-1889 /
War contributions from 1759-1763, materials for the history of the town (mainly from the Napoleonic wars).
13. Taxes and dues paid to the town. / 1741-1941 /
Tax legislation, taxes, excise duties.
14. National Police. / 1612-1934 /
Prisons, death sentences from 1667, lists of Polish and Russian fugitives from 1843-1856, social and labor institutions, materials for the Spring of Nations, censorship, creation of the Museum in Dzierżoniów.
15. Matters of sovereign power. / 1420-1887 /
Tributes, conventions, orders of state authorities.
16. Annex. / 1610-1935 /
- Finding aids:
- There is both a printed and digital inventory available at the archive.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/zespol/-/zespol/88318
- Yerusha Network member:
- The Taube Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Wrocław
- Author of the description:
- Leszek Ziątkowski; Leszek Ziątkowski; Marcin Wodziński University of Wrocław, 12-04-2019 University of Wrocław, 12-04-2019
