Vitalija Gircyte Talks


NEW SOURCES OF GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION
IN THE KAUNAS REGIONAL ARCHIVES

by Vitalija Gircyte v.gircyte@turbodsl.lt

   The Kaunas Regional Archives hold the records of the former Kaunas gubernia from 1843 (in some cases from the beginning of the 19th century) till 1918, records of some local institutions that functioned in Kaunas town and region in 1918 – 1914, and records of local institutions of the modern Kaunas region from 1945 until the present day.

    In the holdings of the Kaunas Archives there are no birth, marriage, and death registers, and the number of revision and family lists, which along with vital records may be considered the main sources of genealogical information, is rather small. Besides these well known kinds of records, however, there are others, which supply less information, but may be useful when vital records and revision lists are missing: box and candle tax payers lists, rabbi electors lists, various kinds of draftees lists, postal savings bank records, etc. Detailed information about these records for every Jewish community of Kaunas gubernia can be found in the Kaunas Regional Archives Catalog  <http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/HTML/kaunasix.htm>.

    Not all the sources of genealogical information can be included in the Catalog. Comparatively small amount of records of the institutions of Kaunas gubernia held in the Kaunas Archives makes possible the attempts to look for the information on separate families, not only the general lists. The policy of the Russian government towards the Jewish population in Kaunas gubernia was implemented by local institutions, such as the Kaunas Gubernia Administration, local municipalities and town dwellers administrations, police, etc., and is reflected in the records created by them. The information such records contain provides a better understanding of Jewish life in 19th century Lithuania, and may also yield valuable genealogical data.

    The following records may serve as an example:

    Kaunas gubernia was formed from the western part of Vilnius gubernia and started functioning in 1843. It consisted of seven smaller administrative units (uyezd = district), and had a rather long border with Prussia. The number of the Jewish population of Kaunas gubernia at that time, according to official sources, was more than 80,000. Many of them lived in villages in spite of the Statute of 1804, according to which the Jews in the Russian Empire from the beginning of 1808 were forbidden to rent inns and taverns in villages, sell liquor, or even live there.

    The Russian administration always suspected the Jews of illegal trade, of being a bad influence on the peasant population, and - if they were Jews living near the border - of smuggling. Starting from 1812 in Volyn gubernia, restrictions for the Jews living near the border were introduced. According to the regulations adopted by the government on June 30, 1825, Jews were forbidden to live within 50 "versta" (a Russian measure of length equal to 1, 067 km), except for the Jews belonging to the kahals of towns situated in this territory or owners of taverns, mills, houses. The Statute of April 12, 1835, allowed the Jews to live near the border only in towns. Jewish residents in the villages were allowed to remain there if they had settled before the passing of this Statute, but new settlement in villages near the border was forbidden. At last, by the decree of April 20, 1843, all the Jews living within 50 "versta" from the border with Prussia and Austria had to be expelled, and only the owners of real estate were given two years to sell their property. This order had to be applied to both the Jews living in towns and in villages. For Kaunas gubernia this meant that almost all the Jewish population from Raseiniai district and many towns of Kaunas, Telsiai, and even Siauliai districts had to be moved elsewhere, including the towns of Darbenai, Jurbarkas, Kretinga, Raseiniai, Rietavas, Zemaiciu Naumiestis, and others, where the Jewish communities were rather large. In their complaint to the General Governor of Vilnius Raseiniai district the Jews pointed out that about 20,000 people had to be moved. This also meant that thousands of families would loose their means of livelihood and would need financial aid from the government for their re-settlement, Christian landlords would loose their tenants (and they complained about it), almost all the trade in the border zone would be stopped abruptly, and even the supplying of the army with provisions would be affected. Besides, all the Jews expelled from the border zone also had to be resettled in other communities in the very same gubernia which were considered to be already over-populated .

    To actually carry out these measures proved to be impossible. As a result, the terms for selling real estate were prolonged, and the rich merchants and the owners of large factories were granted various privileges. The other Jews were divided into categories, and those owning no real estate and not belonging to the communities of the 50 "versta" zone had to be expelled first.  In 1850 the government ordered the expulsion to start from the towns where the population was especially heavily engaged in smuggling. Finally, in 1858 Jews were permitted to live in the 50 "versta" adjacent to the border if they had been registered as members of local Jewish communities October 27, 1858, when this new order was announced.

    Though the Jews were not actually expelled, local police authorities and municipalities made numerous lists of the Jewish residents of the various towns in the border zone, indicating the communities they belonged to as well as the communities they had to move to, and these lists, as well as correspondence on this subject, may be a source of valuable genealogical information.

    On December 26, 1844, the Statute of the Jewish Farmers was adopted. According to it, the Jews were allowed to become farmers in the Pale of Settlement on the free land belonging to the state, the land of private Christian landowners, and even to purchase land themselves. Jewish farmers were to be given financial aid to settle on the state lands, an exemption from state and local taxes for 10 years, from military service for 25 years, and all their former debts to the state had to be cancelled. This meant not only the right to work on the land and to live in the villages, but also a chance for a change of social status. Before that almost all the Jews despite their actual place of residence and occupation were registered as town dwellers, belonged to the Jewish communities of certain towns, and had very few possibilities to change their status.

    The Jews were especially encouraged to settle as farmers in Kherson and Ekaterinoslav gubernias, where special Jewish colonies were to be formed. The Jewish population of Kaunas gubernia received this new policy with enthusiasm, especially the communities which were under the danger of being expelled from the border zone. In 1845 - 1847 the Administration of State Properties of Kaunas gubernia registered numerous applications from groups of families willing to become farmers on state lands: 25 families from Zemaiciu Naumiestis, 42 families from Kraziai, 38 families from Vainutas, 84 families from Jurbarkas, a large number of families (1000 people) from Raseiniai, 30 families from Kaunas, 25 from Josvainiai, 32 from Vilkija, 21 from Pusalotas, 400 people from Panevezys, 23 families from Laizuva, etc. Each family had to produce a family list with all the members of the household enumerated and their age indicated.

    Yet the actual settlement in Kherson and Ekaterinoslav gubernias was not so successful. Financial aid for the families moving there –175 roubles for each family to settle on the land belonging to the state and 85 roubles to settle on the land belonging to private landowners, and the costs of the journey – had to be supplied from the box tax money, and the communities could hardly afford it. The living conditions in new Jewish colonies in Ekaterinoslav and Kherson gubernias were difficult, and farming was not always successful.

    Thus, according to the information received by Kaunas gubernia administration in 1850, out of 59 families (mostly from Raseiniai, Siauliai, and Telsiai districts) which left for Ekaterinoslav gubernia in 1847, only 23 full families and separate members from 10 other families actually settled there as farmers, 12 full families had already returned, and 8 full families did not reach their destination (the rest of the families partly returned, partly did not reach the destination).

    From 57 families which were to move to Kherson gubernia, 23 full families and separate members from 10 more families settled there as farmers, 20 full families came back, 5 families did not reach the destination, and 2 families did not leave at all but stayed in Kaunas gubernia.

    Many Jews were willing to become farmers on the land belonging to the state in the same Kaunas gubernia, especially in the Kaunas, Telsiai, and Zarasai districts. There are numerous files of correspondence on the Jews willing to become farmers which contain not only statistics, but also applications and family lists. These records do not provide enough information to estimate the actual number of the Jews who became farmers in Ukraine or Kaunas gubernia, but still supply valuable genealogical data. Yet this information pertains mostly to the Jews willing to become farmers on state land.

    Much less information can be found on the Jews who wanted to become farmers on the estates of private landowners and, especially, on their own land. Actually many of them had already been working on rented land for generations and only wanted to confirm their status as farmers, though very few succeeded in doing so. Records pertaining to the Jewish farmers in private estates are few and mostly for Kaunas (certificates given by the landlords to their Jewish tenants to confirm that they were farmers) and Siauliai districts.

    Information on the Jewish farmers who owned land in Kaunas gubernia is even more scarce. In 1859 the Kaunas gubernia administration asked the local police authorities for information about the Jewish landowners. The answers from Ukmerge and Zarasai districts stated that there were none, Siauliai answered that a few Jews who owned land did not belong to the estate of farmers officially and did not give any names, while in Panevezys district were found three, and in Kaunas, Raseiniai, and Telsiai districts there were two Jewish landowners in each. The list of landowners of Kaunas gubernia of 1882 gives information about 56 Jewish landowners (53 of them belonged to the estate of town dwellers, 3 – peasants).

    The policy of encouraging Jewish farming did not last long. Already in 1859 Jews were forbidden to settle on state land in the Western gubernias. By the order of July 10, 1864, the Jews were forbidden to buy land from the noblemen and peasants in gubernias under the authority of the Vilnius governor general. On December 8, 1867, the Jews were forbidden to rent estates or even plots of land. By the regulations of May 3, 1882,

    Jews were forbidden to settle outside towns and the eviction of the Jews living in the villages started. (There are numerous files on the eviction of separate Jewish families from villages).

    Certainly, none of these regulations were carried out completely. During all of the 19th century and on into the beginning of the 20th century numerous Jewish families lived in villages and were engaged in farming, but they usually belonged to the Jewish communities of various towns and the records provide very little information about them.

    The records pertaining to the expulsion of the Jews from the border and the Jewish farmers can be found in the fonds (records groups) of the Kaunas Gubernia Administration, the Administration of State Property for Kaunas Gubernia, and the Kaunas Municipality.

    A number of other fonds also contain genealogical information, like records of various courts (records on acquisition of property, wills, criminal cases, etc.),the Building Department of the Kaunas Gubernia Administration (permissions to build private houses, synagogues, etc.), the Medical Department of the Kaunas Gubernia Administration (personal files of physicians, pharmacists, midwives, etc.) and others.

    For the period of the independent state of Lithuania (1919-1940), the Kaunas Regional Archives hold the records of Kaunas and Kaunas district municipalities, their departments, state schools, hospitals, private enterprises, which were situated in the town of Kaunas (but no records of central institutions, such as ministries, the University, etc.) These records also contain genealogical information, but only on the residents of the town of Kaunas and, in some cases, a very small part of Kaunas district.

    The main source of genealogical data for this period are records on the issuance of internal passports to the residents of Kaunas and Jonava (though for Jonava these records are few and often in poor condition).

    Before WWI, internal passports were necessary only if a person wanted to leave his permanent place of residence for a certain period, and the Kaunas Archives has few records on the issuance of internal passports prior to WWI (they are enumerated in the Catalog of the Kaunas Regional Archives). Records on the issuance of foreign passports prior to WWI are even more scarce and exist only for separate months of separate years.

    In independent Lithuania, since 1920, every citizen had to be issued an internal passport at the age of 17 and it was the main document of personal identification.

    The records of the Passport department of the Kaunas municipality held in the Kaunas Archives contain records on the issuance of internal passports to Kaunas residents (more than 75,000 items), including passport cards with photographs, applications, copies of birth and marriage certificates, affidavits, etc. The Passport issuance records of the Jonava municipality contain only cards of internal passports.

    The Kaunas Regional Archives have no records on the issuance of foreign passports, which in 1920-1940 were issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and information on these can be found only in the Lithuanian Central State Archives.

    Other records for the period 1920-1940 stored in the Kaunas Archives also contain genealogical data concerning Kaunas residents: records on the owners of real estate, payment of business and real estate taxes, lists of army draftees for 1925 – 1940 (men were drafted at the age of 21; these lists also give information on all their family members), lists of voters in the elections, etc.

    The lists of Kaunas residents who could participate in the elections of The Supreme Soviet of Soviet Union in January 1941, which were made in the autumn of 1940 (the list is not dated) enumerate all Kaunas residents who could vote (from the age of 18) and give their addresses.

    These records can serve not only genealogists, but also help to establish one’s right to Lithuanian citizenship, and nationalized private property.

    For the period of 1941-1944 the Kaunas Regional Archives have only records of Kaunas municipality which contain no information on the Kaunas ghetto and the Holocaust.