This document is a Romanian translation of the original statutes from 1890. The translation is not dated, but it was definitely made after 1918 and probably before 1940. Please note this is a copy and not the original from 1890. The original statutes were presumably in Hungarian since they were submitted to and approved in Budapest. Also, similar statutes from the nearby Medias community are in Hungarian as well. The statutes include all such customary regulating of community life such as elections, member dues, community leadership, school administration, and so forth. Of particular interest is the outlining of power hierarchies in the nearby rural communities. Many nearby villages with "unofficial" communities are mentioned by name and required to report their civil records to the official community in Târnăveni. These include Cetatea de Baltă, Adămuș, Suplac, Coroisânmărtin, Bălăușeri, Deaj, Bachnea, Agrișteu, Cipău, Cucerdea româna, and Bun. The civil records for Târnăveni and the surrounding communities held in the Targu Mures national archives can be better understood on hand of this document.
The Jewish Communities of Romania Collection (sometimes also described by the Romanian National Archives as the Documents Collection of the Jewish Communities of Romania) contains documents created and received by Jewish communities and organizations functioning in Romania from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century.
The documents until World War II are composed of a variety of items reflecting community life, including statutes, correspondence, reports, and membership lists. Documents from the World War II period generally address the plight of Romanian Jews during this period. This material includes reports on persecutions and expropriations, correspondence and other documents related to deportees, and emigration paperwork. The post-World War II material generally deals with the repatriation of Jewish deportees to the Romanian-organized camps in Transnistria, the welfare of survivors, emigration, and the activities of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania and of the Jewish Democratic Committee (communist Jewish organization). For the complete inventory list of the collection, please see this link (in Romanian only).
JBAT archivists surveyed folders containing material related specifically to Bukovina and Transylvania. For details on the contents of these folders, please see the list below and click on any link.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. Please note that two folders are catalogued under this call number. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Informative material regarding the Jewish population (charts, addresses, ordinances, informative memos); text outlining the purported historical development of "Chauvinist nationalist elements in the Jewish population".
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. Please note that two folders are catalogued under this call number. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations (Zionists). Notifications, ordinances, documentation [on] "The Jewish Problem" (1949); the history of several Zionist organizations; atmosphere amongst the Jewish population and nationalistic events from ranks of the Jews in the Cluj region, notifications, informative summaries.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: The Jewish community folder. Historic summary, report on the Jewish community of Cluj, informative memo, plans on measures to take.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: The Jewish community folder. Historic summary, report on the Jewish community of Cluj, informative memo, plans on measures to take.
The collection includes the paperwork and material collected by the Cluj county Securitate (Romanian Communist Secret Police) offices under communism. The material includes select folders from the pre-communist period; these folders were presumably in the possession of the police and seized by the Securitate at some point in time. There are many folders which are obliquely titled or which may contain material related to Jewish individuals, for example, folders on emigrants, but the titles do not specify this. It was beyond the scope of the present survey to inspect the contents of all such folders. At the time of the JBAT survey (2015), the inventory for this collection was accesible only at the physical location of the CNSAS and only in digital form on the computers of the CNSAS reading room. The inventory provided no indication as to the linear extent of the collection and gave no additional details as to its history, content, or the number of pages in individual folders. For details on folders titled as specifically containing material related to the Jewish population, please click on the link(s) below.
This folder contains budget reports and related correspondence from various Jewish organizations (for orphans, the elderly, etc) in and around Arad as well as for smaller communities in the region or evacuated to Arad.
This folder contains an assortment of documents which apparently all have some relation to Alba Iulia, though the relation is not always clear. The documents are all of diverse nature: there is personal and administrative correspondence, Zionist material and reports, lists of staff in administrative positions (of the Jewish communities) in the county, memos to and from the central offices, a clipping of a photograph of Carol II, a few loose pages from a siddur, fragments from a German-language report on tobacco in Romania, and so forth. It is unclear how these papers came to be together in one folder.
This folder contains correspondence between the central offices of the Jewish council and the Cernăuți offices. The correspondence and material primarily concerns the budget, though some other matters are also mentioned (requests for holiday materials,etc).
These two folders contain almost 400 "declarations" made by the heads of households in Cernăuți in 1942. The forms contain the names of the household members, including relation to the head of the household, age, occupation, and various permit or authoritization numbers. The address, date, signature are also included. Please note that while there are almost 400 such forms, many tens of thousands of Jews lived in Cernăuți throughout the war so these forms only contain the names of a fraction of the Jewish population. Many of the forms in folder 298 sustained water damage and are illegible. The forms were created by the county office of Czernowitz Jews (Oficiul Județean al Evreilor Cernăuți).
This folder contains a list of individuals appointed to administrative positions at the county office of Czernowitz Jews and other Jewish welfare and aid organizations in Czernowitz. The name, department, position, and age are included.
This file contains various petitions and related documents and correspondence. Owing to the circumstances of the immediate post-war period, the bulk of the petitions are from individuals seeking certificates of poverty and certificates of nationality. There is evidence of active Jewish community life and of the presence of Jewish residents, including some returned from Transnistria, who are active in the commercial, professional, and civic life of Rădăuți.
This file contains a large number of petitions or requests made by individuals, businesses, and organizations, the bulk of which concern food rationing, especially bread rations. Many requests are made by Jewish individuals, businesses, and organizations, including the “Jewish Center for the Protection of Mothers and Children” (Centrul Evreiesc de Protecție a Mamei și Copilului). A substantial number of other requests are also present, including many requests for the issuance of citizenship documents, vital records, or copies thereof.
This file contains a list of organizations in Rădăuți, nearly half of which relate to Jewish affairs or the Jewish community. Among other things, the register lists the name of the organization, the mission of the organization, date of founding, name of the president, and short description of the organization's holdings.
This collection contains a wide variety of papers created by the Town Hall of Radăuți during the Austro-Hungarian period until the early community period. The material covers all areas of town administration from elections to property administration to overseeing of professional organizations and so forth. Material specifically related to the Jewish population includes information on cultural and professional organizations (many Jewish), files related to the deportation of Jews (euphemistically called "evacuation") and handling of the remaining property, bids for market stalls (many of which were made by Jews), various files on impoverished survivors of Transnistria requesting welfare or proof of citizenship. For details on these files, please click on any link below.
This file contains reports and orders on censorship and activities surrounding the distribution or presentation of officially censored materials, as well as requests by residents and visiting artists to present cultural programming (plays, films, meetings). Item 31 in particular has to do with a Jewish cultural presentation. Please note there are several folders with such material from various years.
This file contains reports and orders on censorship and activities surrounding the distribution or presentation of officially censored materials, as well as requests by residents and visiting artists to present cultural programming (plays, films, meetings). Several requests pertain to meetings and gatherings of the Jewish community, and there are a number of censorship orders to stop the distribution of German- and Yiddish-language Jewish newspapers and periodicals (see for example items 94-99). Please note there are several folders with such material from various years.
This collection contains papers and correspondence relating to the administration of the police (staffing, payroll, budget), as well as a number of materials regarding community events and surveillance of citizens. Of particular interest are lists of tradesmen present in the municipality, many of whom were Jewish, and requests by individuals and organizations for permits for social and cultural events, including many events hosted by Jewish cultural organizations. There is also a substantial amount of material regarding press censorship and surveillance of political groups, including Zionist groups. For details on the items mentioned above, please click on any link below.
This collection consists of only one item: a registration book for the members of the Reghin Chevra Kadisha. The book is in Hebrew and Hungarian. The Hebrew year in which the individual joined is included and on a few occasions, there are additional notes on the individual (in Hungarian). The book itself has a print date of 1904 but dates of membership reach back to the 1850s. The final entries were made in the 1930s.
This collection contains papers created by the Jewish Democratic Committee for the county of Mureș and town of Târgu Mureș and for the local branch of Reghin. The folders contain meeting minutes, reports, surveys, and other written material. It is not clear how the county of Mureș differed from the region of Mureș (there is also a collection for the Regional Jewish Democratic Committee for Mureș). The committee had a wide range of responsibilities, surpassing basic political tasks. The reports and meetings record decisions about secular and religious holidays, the Jewish school, teachers, emigration matters, unresolved events (missing persons) from World War II, religious staff (butcher, teachers), cultural events, and general happenings in community life. There are surveys on the community, including data on community numbers, language, occupations, and so forth. There are reports on the receptiveness to communist ideology versus Zionism and specific numbers are given for those who have requested to emigrate. There may also be speeches made by the leadership on holidays or for other gatherings. The collection may be of interest to those studying Jewish life in the immediate post-war period and especially those looking at questions of identity, Zionism, and Jewish roles in early communist Romania.
Please note that the inventory for this collection was missing in 2015, so the precise contents are not known. Two folders were requested, one dealt with the regional committee, as per the title of the collection; the other folder was from the Sighișoara committee. The folders contain meeting minutes, reports, surveys, and other written material created by the Jewish Democratic Committee for the region of Mureș (or Sighișoara). It is not clear how the region of Mureș differed from the county of Mureș (there is also a collection for the Jewish Democratic Committee for Mureș County). The committee had a wide range of responsibilities, surpassing basic political tasks. The reports and meetings record decisions about secular and religious holidays, the Jewish school, teachers, emigration matters, unresolved events (missing persons) from World War II, religious staff (butcher, teachers), cultural events, and general happenings in community life. There are surveys on the community, including data on community numbers, language, occupations, and so forth. There are reports on the surrounding towns and the respective population's receptiveness to communist ideology versus Zionism. There may also be speeches made by the leadership on holidays or for other gatherings. The collection may be of interest to those studying Jewish life in the immediate post-war period and especially those looking at questions of identity, Zionism, and Jewish roles in early communist Romania.
This collection contains minutes of meetings, reports, correspondence, speeches, and other memos written by or about the Jewish Democratic Committee of Târnăveni. The committee had a wide range of responsibilities, surpassing basic political tasks. The reports and meetings record decisions about secular and religious holidays, the Jewish school, teachers, emigration matters, unresolved events (missing persons) from World War II, religious staff (butcher, teachers), cultural events, and general happenings in community life. There are surveys on the community, including data on community numbers, language, occupations, and so forth. The collection may be of interest to those studying Jewish life in the immediate post-war period and especially those looking at questions of identity.
This files contains hundreds of petitions and related correspondence from a variety of cultural organizations in Câmpulung requesting authorization to host cultural events and gatherings. The events range from performances by guest opera singers, masked balls, all-night dances, hora parties, picnics, readings, and other gatherings. Numerous Jewish organizations are represented as well as organizations which had large numbers of Jewish members, such as the social democrat political party. Of particular interest are several documents related to the Yiddish and Zionist-oriented organization Ber Borochov Jewish Cultural League (Liga culturala evrească).
From 1889 to 1918 there are thirteen files entitled ”correspondence in German.” A survey of about half of these files indicates that they generally contain sale-and-purchase contracts between individuals and the town hall, communications from Austrian Imperial officials from Vienna or Czernowitz to local town officials in Câmpulung, plans for the construction of municipal utility facilities, beautification measures or petitions, and various documents or charts of residents violating certain rules or regulations (ie. Insufficient chimney operation). Given the significant Jewish population, Jews are generally represented in these files in all sorts of capacities: as municipal officials, as private businessmen, as shopkeepers, artisans, and the like. Some files contain only a few documents, some up to a hundred or more. The call number for the respective file is generally 1/YEAR but please consult the inventory for the Câmpulung town hall collection (Primăria orașului Câmpulung Moldovenesc) for the exact number.
This register book contains a list of individuals who butchered animals from 1918-1931. The book includes the name of the butcher, kind of animal, and other comments (sometimes). The Jewish individuals, who repeat monthly, were presumably ritual butchers.
This register book was apparently used by the spa and resort ”Regina Maria” (Queen Maria”) to record guests. The book records the name, birth year, and occupation of the guest, day of arrival, spouse's name and birth year (sometimes), town of residence, identity card information, address where they are staying in Solca, and cost for the spa services. Solca was known for its salt waters and fresh air. The vast majority of the guests in this book are Jews, many from Bessarabia as well as elsewhere in the Regat and of course Bukovina.
This large collection contains documents maintained by the Câmpulung Moldovenesc town hall from the late 19th century until into the 1950s. In light of the fact that the Jewish population made up a significant portion of the town, a large part of the material refers to or deals with the Jewish inhabitants in some way, though not always explicitly. Contents include folders for building or event permits, documents related to the artisans of the city, material related to property expropriated during World War II, lists of those eligible to vote, and many, many more. For details on these and other individual items containing documents of interest to those researching Jewish history in the region, please see the JBAT entry for this collection, subfield "contains" and click on any title (over 15 individual folder descriptions).
Included in the general title of cultural activities or societies, are many Zionist and other Jewish organizations. These files hold numerous documents submitted by organizers requesting permission to hold lectures, dance classes, concerts, book discussions, elections, and other events.
This item is a poster from the Jewish Community of Fălticeni asking anyone who finds pieces of the Torah scrolls that were destroyed or who knows where such pieces might be, to inform the secretary of the community.
This poster from the Union of Jewish Communities in Romania explains its efforts to address the material and moral needs of the Jewish population. It requests all members to complete forms describing individual needs and strengths. These forms are to be completed at the time of matza distribution.
This flyer from the Jewish community of Fălticeni to its members explains that the Joint Distribution Committee will match all donations made within the local community for the purpose of repairing the Jewish hospital and mikvah. It admonishes the community members to give generously in order to take advantage of the opportunity. It also mentions the status of impoverished and ill Jews and work camps and Transnistria. Undated, but post-World War II.
This poster from the Suceava Jewish community invites the Jewish population to attend a service on 9 May in honor of the day of independence. Undated but presumably late interwar or early post-World War II.
This poster calls all Jews in Suceava to attend a grand assembly meeting organized by the Suceava cell of the Zionist organization Keren Kayemeth Leisrael on 4 July 1948 during which delegates Dr. Th. Löwenstein and Av. S. Mintz from the central Zionist organization will speak about the current problems in the State of Israel.
This item is a poster from the Jewish Community of Suceava announcing that there will be free medical exams and x-rays for children 3-10 years old, as well as free medicine in the case of illness. This may have been in response to high rates of tuberculosis amongst survivors of the camps in Transnistria.
This item is a poster announcing the time for the burial of the remaining pieces of Thora scrolls destroyed during the war period ”when the synagogue was transformed into a camp and barracks.” It also orders the burial day to be a day of fasting for the entire Jewish population, male and female, above the age of 13.
This item is a poster announcing when the mikvah is open for men and women. This poster is catalogued by the Suceava archives with a 1944 date, but there is no indication of the date on the poster itself.
This item is an announcement from the Suceava Jewish community informing those who wish to make matzah that they must receive a permit from the community, which is issued upon payment.
The documents collection consists of various documents on a wide variety of topics that were donated to or collected by the National Archives Branch of Suceava. For information on individual items within this collection of potential interest to those researching regional Jewish history, please see the below.