This collection contains minutes of meetings, reports, correspondence, speeches, members' biographies and other memos written by or about or sent to the Jewish Democratic Committee of Timișoara and/or Lugoj. There are also documents from Zionist organizations not necessarily related to the committee but related to Jewish life in general. The committee had a wide range of responsibilities, surpassing basic political tasks. There are a total of 26 folders each containing many hundreds of documents. 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 collection primarily contains documents from 1945-1950. The two items listed in the inventory from 1909, a cadastral book and accompanying property registration forms, are not accessible at the National Archives. According to the local archivists, this material was retained by the Valea Lungă town hall. It could be interesting for researchers due to the fact that Valea Lungă had a relatively large Jewish community with its own synagogue, which is presumably recorded in such cadastral documents. There is one document registering animals from 1928 and otherwise the rest of the material is from after World War II and generally consists of administrative paperwork. There is one folder from 1945 on expropriated property and goods in the course of the agrarian reform of 1945. It contains lists of the people from whom property including farming equipment, etc was expropriated and lists of people who received this property. It is not entirely clear but it seems that the property was expropriated from the Germans, by and large (this list does not include a note on ethnicity), and given to Romanians and Roma, as well as on occasion a "poor" Hungarian or Saxon. Though Valea Lunga once had a significant Jewish community and its own synagogue, the Jews were "evacuated" to nearby towns during World War II and as such, there appear to be no Jews involved in these transactions, though it is possible that the list of expropriated property also contains Jewish property owners (this is not clear since Saxon and Jewish names were often similar/the same and because the Jewish property may have already been expropriated before and during the war).
This folder contains a collection of documents apparently put together by the Federation of Jewish communities. The documents testify to abuse of Jewish property or person in some way or record worrisome developments by the local police (creation of lists of men of males of working age). Included are documents from or about Radăuți, Suceava, Vama (Bukovina), and Făgăraș.
This folder contains a collection of documents apparently put together by the Federation of Jewish communities. All the documents testify to abuse of Jewish property or person in some way. Included is a testimony from Alba Iulia and a bill of sale (from a Jewish man to the Legionnaires) from Brașov.
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. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: chart with Jew repatriated from northern Bukovina residing in Arad who have submitted requests to leave for Israel.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: notifications, informative notes, intercepted correspondence, notes, requests for verification of files.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: notifications, informative notes, requests for verification of files, lectures, personal identity documents, autobiographies, photographs.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: summaries, informative notes, notifications, requests for verification of files, lectures, personal identity documents, declarations, plans for measures, charts of Zionists, records of interrogation, organizational layout of Zionist organizations.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: notifications, notes, informative notes, T.O. (?) materials, telegrams, records of tapping, lectures, requests for verification of files.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: informative notes, T.O. (?) material, notifications, maps, photographs.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: notifications, summaries (12 pages) on subversive activities initiated by Zionist elements against the RPR and other socialist countries, lectures, reports, informative notes, personal identity documents, autobiographies.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Jewish nationalist organizations: reports, requests for investigation, notifications of assignment, reports, informative notifications, documents recording exchanges, status updates, personal identity documents, notes of the activities of some Jewish minorities from the region of Timișoara.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Reports, informative memos, declarations, plans for searching for information, history of the Jewish problem, informative summaries on the activities of the Jewish minority from the regions of Arad and Timișoara and the attitude of the Romanian and German population towards the Jewish community; situation of informants operating in 1953 dealing the problem of enemies amongst the Jewish national minority from the city of Arad. Please note that this folder appears to be miscatalogued, when requested a folder with Hungarian nationalist content was delivered.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: Minutes of the meetings of the governing board of the Jewish community of Târnăveni; the budget of the same for 1945.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads (please note no specific towns are mentioned in this description): Telegrams and ordinances regarding the evacuation of citizens of Jewish ethnicity and the punishment of those who rob or kill them; the context of the events taking place at Iași; documents regarding the Romanianization of some firms in the county of Târnava Mică.
Please note JBAT archivists did not survey this material directly. The folder description provided by the CNSAS inventory reads: File on problems regarding the Protestant (German Lutherans, Hungarian Lutherans, Reform, Unitarians) and Jewish religious communities. The history of the Jewish religious community and of the Jewish problems, of the Reform community in the district and in all of Transylvania. Personal identity documents, character descriptions, autobiographies. Documents on the parochial committees of the Reform community and of dissidents/trouble-makers within the German Lutherans.
The collection includes the paperwork and material collected by the Timiș 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. At the time of the JBAT survey (2015), the inventory for this collection was accessible 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. The collection is large, over 1,000 files, and as such there are many hundreds of folders which are obliquely titled and may contain reference to Jewish residents, for example folders titled as dealing with religious issues or the nationality of residents or folders regarding the monitoring of individuals with relatives in foreign countries, of tourists in the region or of Romanians with ties to foreigners. Other folders contain information on former estate holders or industrialists It was beyond the scope of the present survey to inspect the contents of all such folders. There are, however, a number of folders with titles specifically referencing the Jewish content. Most of these contain material reporting on the activities of the Jewish community and individuals therein. For details on these folders and others with material clearly related to the Jewish population, please click on the link(s) below.
The collection includes the paperwork and material collected by the Mureș 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. At the time of the JBAT survey (2015), the inventory for this collection was accessible 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. The collection is large, over 1,000 files, and as such there are many hundreds of folders which are obliquely titled and may contain reference to Jewish residents. It was beyond the scope of the present survey to inspect the contents of all such folders. There are, however, a number of folders with titles specifically referencing the Jewish content. Several of these contain material from World War II and others contain histories of the local Jewish communities. For details on folders mentioned above and others with material clearly related to the Jewish population, please click on the link(s) below.
This entry is for multiple folders; each contains registration forms for a woman or women from Făgăraș recording their occupation and requesting exemption from forced labor. The women in these folders were employed by the Jewish women's organization. The documents may include birth details, occupational details, various references and recommendations, and often a photo of the individual. For the names of individuals applying, please see the National Archives online guide to this collection (https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B54MeDlSJl3IMXVrTkFLMEhtVXM, only in Romanian) and consult the folder (dosar) number listed under the call number.
This entry is for multiple folders; each contains the paperwork for an individual from Sighișoara petitioning to be allowed to exercise their profession (with the support of their employer) and/or to be exempted from forced labor. The documents may include birth details, occupational details, various references and recommendations, and often a photo of the individual. For the names of individuals applying, please see the National Archives online guide to this collection (https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0B54MeDlSJl3IMXVrTkFLMEhtVXM, only in Romanian) and consult the folder (dosar) number listed under the call number.
This folder contains the paperwork for numerous individuals from Alba Iulia applying for permission to exercise their respective profession and/or to be exempted from forced labor. The documents may include birth details, occupational details, various references and recommendations, and often a photo of the individual. There is also various paperwork in general regarding the position of the Jewish community of Alba Iulia and other supporting documents from companies who wished to retain their Jewish employees.
This file contains various civic ordinances, documents and correspondence, many of which pertain to the manufacture and distribution of flour and the issuance of certificates pertaining to Romanian citizenship. The latter category includes both requests for proof of Romanian citizenship and renunciations of citizenship, especially in cases of emigration. Many of those making these requests are Jewish. Finally, of especial note is a group of documents scattered throughout the folder, but especially in the final 20 pages, which relate to requests made by Jewish businessmen and tradesmen for reductions or exemptions from various taxes and fees since they are no longer permitted to work. Although it does not specifically mention Jews, a request from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bucharest, signed by a Legionary Commander, encourages the increase of “ethnic Romanian element” in certain branches, either through the “creation of new enterprises” or through the “replacement of minorities” (sheet 155). Elsewhere, sheet 39 refers to Jewish property sold to non-Jews during the period before the state seizure of Jewish property. Several documents, such as sheet 73, refer to rental agreements for market stalls, wherein a Jewish tenant's stall is often rented to a new tenant after the expiration of the lease, which in almost all cases appears to be December 31, 1940.
This folder contains documents which refer primarily to Romanian refugees from northern Transylvania living in Tarnaveni or the surrounding towns or villages. Several documents however do also refer to Jewish confiscated goods or contain information regarding leases between Jewish inhabitants and other citizens.
This folder contains documents related to the agrarian reform of the interwar period. It includes a legal case to expropriate Mendel Schwarz of forest property and also has correspondence regarding workers associations for youth in the region.
This is an apprenticeship register. Each person has a page on which is listed his personal information (birth information, religion, physical characteristics and so forth) and then the masters with whom he has apprenticed. There are several registers of this sort in the Reghin collection.
The folder contains lists of properties owned by the city and churches, including property of the Jewish community. It is unclear why the synagogue and cemeteries are not included on these property lists. There is also correspondence regarding the desire of the Orthodox church and town hall to construct a new cemetery and the response from the neighbors, who opposed this measure (including some Jewish neighbors). There is likewise a report from a health official advising against the new construction of a Jewish cemetery for the same reasons (as given by the neighbors who opposed the Orthodox cemetery).
The folder contains requests and petitions from various organizations and individuals in Reghin to the Town Hall. There are notes from or to Zionist organizations and the Jewish community.
This collection contains documents typical of a municipal authority though please note that there are few documents from the Austro-Hungarian period. Of interest to those researching the Jewish history of the region are primarily files from the World War II period which deal with anti-Semitic measures taken including the evacuation of Jews from villages to the cities, the expropriation of Jewish goods, forced labor measures, and so forth. For details on these files and others specifically related to the Jewish population, please see below and click on any link.
Please note that this collection comprises three inventories: "Primaria Orasului Reghin" (1829-1950) with 704 items; Sfatul Popular al Orasului Reghin (1951-1955) with 111 items; and Consiliul Popular al Orasului Reghin (1950-1968) with 634 items. These titles reflect the changes of governmental organisation within the country. The present survey focused primarily on the contents of the first inventory. The material within the second two inventories deals largely with the restructuring under communism and rarely do the contents move beyond bureaucratic and administrative announcements and records. The first inventory however contains numerous files with information relevant to Jewish history. The collection contains material customary for a municipal authority including administrative and financial files, documents regarding permits and professions, and regulating schools, religious institutes, and so forth. Specific to the Jewish population, there are files with material on synagogues, Jewish organizations, Jewish professionals and apprentices, and numerous files regarding Jewish citizenship or property of Jews who were deported or emigrated. For details on these files and others with material related specifically to the Jewish population of Reghin, please see below and click on any title.
This item is a register of domestic servants and workers in Gura Humorului, the majority of whom were women and either Orthodox or Catholic. A few Jewish women are also registered, and several of the employers appear to have been Jewish. Each entry includes a photo of the person registered, their name, age, marital status, place and date of birth, information on their residence and employer, as well as remarks on their physical characteristics.
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 register from the Unitarian church of the village of Bezidul Nou is included in the catalogue due to its connection to the Szekely Sabbatarian population of the village. The Sabbatarians began as a Judaizing movement in the 16th and 17th century. Following persecution by authorities, most adherents returned to one of the approved Christian religions. A handful, however, of the Sabbatarians continued to practice in secret over the centuries until Jewish emancipation in 1867, after which they converted in mass to Judaism. The Sabbatarian community was centered in the village of Bezidul Nou. For this reason, the register books of the Reform, Catholic, and Unitarian churches in Bezidul Nou may prove of interest to researchers. This Unitarian book in particular has been verified as containing references to Sabbatarians, especially during World War II. In spring and summer of 1944, there is a page of "baptisms" of older individuals, born in the 1860s-1880s. It is noted that they were "Mosaic Sabbatarians" or "Israelites." It is not clear who assisted these individuals to convert, the time of conversion is simultaneous with the period of ghettoization and deportation. In addition, in the death register there are multiple individuals regarding whom it is noted that they converted from Judaism (only in the 1940s).
This collection has four inventories. The first inventory, nr. 171, lists 279 items which for the most part are of an administrative nature or class newspapers. There are also a few class registers and various other registers which mostly refer to staff affairs. A student register book from the 1930s shows many Jews attending the school, alongside Romanian and Hungarians. Of particular interest amongst the items in this inventory are those administrative documents from the interwar period and especially following World War I in which nation-building and Romanianization measures are discussed. The second inventory, nr. 996, lists 155 items. The majority are class immatriculation registers and grade books, though there is also meeting minutes and budgetary and administrative paperwork. This inventory contains papers dating 1919-1948. The third inventory, nr. 1359, contains 26 items, dating 1920-1940. Of particular interest here are the annual school reports, which exist from 1920-1935, and which contain breakdowns of the student body by ethnicity and religion. In 1927, for example, Jews made up 25% of the student body. The other items in this inventory are administrative in nature. Finally, inventory nr. 1442, contains 16 items, dating from 1914-1941. The items in this inventory belonged to the former director of the school, Valeriu Boeriu. They consist primarily of personal momentos, photographs, manuscripts, and other items related to Boeriu's period as director (1914-1941).
According to the records, this school was attended by some Jewish students, but please note that the majority of the material is from after the deportation of the Jewish community and the numbers reflect this fact. There are several class registers but the majority of the material consists of administrative instructions, reports, and memos and information on the staff. Note that the school was opened after the Second Vienna Award and much of the material likely concerns the administrative restructuring and nation-building that followed in the wake of this event.
This collection has only one item, a folder of correspondence and miscellaneous written material, for the most part from or to the school director. There are several hundreds pages and included is a chart of the ethnic and religious breakdown of the students in 1892. According to the chart, approximately 10% of the student body was Jewish, though overwhelmingly female.
This collection contains comprehensive material from the main Catholic school in Târgu Mureș. In general, it appears that Jewish students were more likely to attend the Protestant schools, but one finds Jewish pupils in these records occasionally. The collection begins with papers from the mid-late 18th century, primarily dealing with administrative matters, ie contracts, rental agreements, decrees, lists of students. Beginning in the 19th century, there are fairly consistent immatriculation registers as well as folders containing correspondence on school affairs. Inventories of furnishings and libraries begin to appear consistently. By the 1870s, there are approximately 10 folders per year, containing meeting minutes of the school staff, statistical information, correspondence, immatriculation records, staff instructions, budget documents, and other miscellaneous papers. At the end of the inventory there are several items not related to this school, they contain diploma certificates from a school in Miercurea Ciuc, Târgu Secuiesc, and from the Școala Normală in Târgu Mureș (School of Education). These items date from 1929-1940.
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.
The relevant portion of this collection are the indices and registers (1853-1861) of the Imperial County Office of Sibiu. Indices are arranged alphabetically by name of individual or organization, or in some cases by topic. Registers are arranged in approximate chronological order. As such, one typically can find relevant entries by searching for words like “Juden” or “Israeliten” (Jews), or by the names of individual members of the Jewish community. The indexes and registers further provide a short summary of the case or document, along with the case or document number. The registers typically provide a fuller summary and often provide the date of opening of the case, and the date of resolution, as well as a short description of the resolution. In some cases, the documents may be preserved, and may be requested by the document numbers recorded in the registers and indices, although not all documents are still extant. In addition to the indices and registers which comprise the bulk of the collection, there are also indices for circulars and various orders (1852-1856), a register of recruits (1861), and registers and indices for local offices: Sibiu (1853-1854), Orlat (1856-1860), Cisnădie (1853-1854), and Săliște (1851-1854).
This is a small collection of minute books relating to debts and debt collection, containing evidence of at least one case involving a Jew, although it is possible that there are more cases registered. See număr curent 3: the first page of an inserted group of papers (marked page 99) appears to involve some Jewish individuals from Făgăraș. Indeed, these cases concern individuals and businesses not just in Sibiu or the Sibiu district, but sometimes from as far away as Vienna.
This collection consists of registers and a few other documents containing decisions relating to small claims between city and district residents. A comprehensive survey was beyond the scope of the present project, but it is likely that some of the records contain information regarding Jewish inhabitants in the region.
This collection consists of ledgers and indices of regulatory measures enacted by the Sibiu Magistrate. The materials on this collection date largely to the 18th and early 19th century, thus covering a period before substantial Jewish settlement in the jurisdiction, although item number 4 did turn up evidence of an 1829 decision pertaining to Jews and pharmaceuticals. It is possible other relevant cases may be recorded in these registers as well; a thorough investigation of the contents was beyond the scope of the present survey. See page 689/80 of nr. crt. 4, containing a decree from 1829 September 10, stating that Jews are permitted neither to trade in pharmaceuticals nor to operate pharmacies, and that any pharmaceuticals discovered to have been “defiled” [verfault] by Jews are to be reported immediately to the authorities.
This register book contains the meeting minutes for the Straja town council from 1909-1919. It begins in German and switches to Romanian around 1911. The council sessions address various matters including building of schools and granting of permits to merchants. There is at least one Jewish member of the town council and other matters pertaining to Jewish merchants and residents are mentioned. The assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo is also mentioned. There are also records of meeting minutes from the 1930s, see inventory for the ”Primăria comunei Straja” at the Suceava archives for these exact call numbers.
This collection contains a wide range of documents maintained by the Straja town hall from the early 20th century until after World War II. Of interest to those researching regional Jewish history may be the minutes of council meetings from the interwar period and register books rescinding Romanian nationality in the wake of anti-Semitic legislation. For details on these items, please see the JBAT entry for this collection, subfield "contains" and click on any title.
This entry is a collection of several single documents which are catalogued by the Suceava Archives separately. The documents refer in some way to agreements between the local authorities and tîrgoveții – literally market people – granting the latter land for houses, cemeteries, house of prayer, or space for their market. It seems likely that tîrgoveții was often a euphemism for Jews, especially in the early-mid 1700s. Other ethnic groups which also typically worked in the trade sector are generally specified, Armenian, etc. As time passes it becomes more common to find references to Jews specifically. Of particular interest are the last two documents discussing a legal case between Christian merchants who wanted to evict the Jew, Aron (elder of the community) from his house and allow a Christian shopkeeper to move in. The last document is the response of Aron to these proceedings. These documents have been transcribed from the original Cyrillic and are available in modern Romanian (copies).