Guide to the Records of the Vilna Jewish Community Council, RG 10

Processed by YIVO Archives Staff, 1950s; Additional processing and creation of new finding aid by Paul Radensky and Vital Zajka with the assistance of a grant from the Claims Conference, New York. Finding Aid edited, encoded and posted online with the assistance of a grant from the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org

Electronic finding aid was converted to EAD 2002 by Stanislav Pejša and Yakov Sklyar in February 2007. In 2012 the EAD finding aid was migrated to Archon and customized for display in the online Guide to the YIVO Archives. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Records of the Vilna Jewish Community Council, RG 10

ID: RG 10 FA

Extent: 12.15 Linear Feet

Arrangement: The collection is divided in three series and a number of sub-series, according to the provenance and chronology of the documents.

Abstract

From the 16th century onward the Jewish community of Vilna was governed by an autonomous administrative body, called the Kehillah (or Kahal). Under the Russian domination (from 1794) the Kehillah steadily declined in power until the institution of Kahal was altogether abolished in 1844 by an imperial edict throughout the Russian empire. The Tsedakah Gedolah which replaced the former Kehillah in Vilna was limited to charitable and religious functions. In 1919, as Vilna became part of Poland, the Tsedakah Gedolah was replaced by an elected New Kehillah (Yid. Naye kehile). This institution was eventually dissolved in 1940 by the Soviet authorities. These are incomplete records of the Kehillah covering mainly the period of the Tzedakah Gedolah, 1844-1918, and the New Kehillah, 1919-1940. Some pre-1844 records are included. Originally part of the YIVO Archives in Vilna, only a third of the collection was recovered after World War II. Additional records of the Vilna Kehillah are in the custody of the Central Historical Archives in Vilnius, Lithuania. The collection relates to all three administrations, although records of the first "kahal" period cover only the years 1800-1844 and these are very sparse. The collection also includes numerous documents of the Jewish Refugee Relief Committee, established at the beginning of World War II under the auspices of the Kehillah. That committee functioned from 1939-1940.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Vilna Kehillah archive includes documents related to the activities of the Vilna Jewish community board, the Kehillah and its auxiliary institutions, covering the period from 1800 to 1940. It mostly includes correspondence of the Kehillah with the authorities of the day-Russian, German, Polish; announcements of the Kehillah, lists of persons receiving charitable aid, materials on Kehillah elections, invoices from vendors and contractors, petitions from individuals, personal documents. The records are quite fragmentary with the bulk relating to the New Kehillah, in the interwar Poland.

The earliest pre-1844 Kehillah documents are related to the economic activities, litigations regarding the Kehillah real estate, sale of kosher meat, contacts with the local Russian authorities. Some of them bear the stamp of the S. Ansky Jewish Historical-Ethnographic Society, which suggests that at some point they were separated from the main Kehillah archive.

The Tsedakah Gedolah documents from 1844 through 1915 relate to the administrative, financial and economics activities, hiring of rabbis and cantors, charity work, Jewish education matters, kosher meat tax, maintenance of buildings, cemeteries, and other property. Represented in the collection are documents and some minutes of the committees: Rabbinic, Charity, Cemetery, Financial, Administrative, Management, and Audit. The majority of the Tsedakah Gedolah documents consist of correspondence with Russian authorities on questions ranging from the care of the homeless Jewish orphans to the changes in Russian legislation concerning Jews in the Pale of Settlement.

The 1915-1919 period includes documents about distribution of the relief aid, mostly from the American and German Jewish sources. Tsedakah Gedolah played a significant role in the Central Relief Committee, and the documents of that Committee are represented in the collection. There are minutes of the administrative board meetings, lists of people receiving aid, correspondence with German occupation authorities.

The Kehilla elections on December 25, 1918, are represented by the Elections committee correspondence, campaign materials of the participating Jewish political parties and groups, lists of candidates, list of the New Kehillah council members. Important materials represent the catastrophic situation of Vilna Jews during the so called “Vilna dispute” by which name the conflict in 1919-1920 between Poland, Soviet Russia and Lithuania for the possession of Vilna is known. When the Bolsheviks came to Vilna, the Soviet power was established for three months and the Kehillah was shut down, its activities banned. As Vilna was taken over by the Polish army, a string of vicious pogroms and plundering took place that resulted in the deaths of many Jews. The revived Kehilla received hundreds of petitions from the victims, which are present in the collection. There is also some correspondence with the Lithuanian authorities which briefly ruled Vilna in 1920.

The later documents reflect relations of the New Kehillah with the Polish authorities through the interwar period. Records of the departments of the New Kehillah, include Managing committee, Personnel, Finance, Social Welfare, Children’s Welfare, Public Health, Education, Religious, and Legal departments. Many materials relate to the Kehillah health care institutions, especially the Zwierzyniec Children’s Hospital. A large number of documents define relations of the Vilna Kehillah with other Jewish community organizations throughout the Polish Republic. A significant body of documents covers the negotiations and drafting of agreements between the Tsedakah Gedolah supervisors and the New Kehillah authorities. The collection also includes documents of the Jewish Refugee Relief Committee, established at the beginning of World War II under the auspices of the Kehillah That committee functioned during1939-1940.

The Vilna Kehillah archive allows to study aspects and the mechanism of Jewish autonomy by illustrating the role of Jewish community institutions in Vilna., and to trace the treatment of the Jewish population by Russian and Polish rulers. It sheds light on the Jewish communal activities during extremely hard times of wars and occupations. It also allows glimpses into the everyday life of Jews in Vilna, their economic condition, and the state of their physical well-being. It ultimately illuminates almost all spheres of life of the Vilna Jews, from religion to health care, from education to nutrition. Noteworthy is the large volume of documents on the topic of the kosher meat-its production, taxation, distribution and consumption.

A number of documents relate to the activities of prominent personalities who resided in Vilna, such as Rabbi Chaim Oyzer Grodzienski (Grodzinski), Tsemakh Shabad, Jacob Wygodzki, Max Weinreich, Zalman Reisen, Khaykl Lunski and others.

The collection is a valuable source in genealogical research considering a great number of lists of population with names and birthdates indicated, and a large number of personal documents, some with photographs

Historical Note

The city of Vilna began in 1323 as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1596, following the Lublin Union, Vilna became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1795 it fell under the Russian domination in result of the Third Partition of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria. During the World War I, starting in 1915 until the end of the war in 1918 Vilna was occupied by the German army. In 1920 Vilna was returned to independent Poland but was overrun by the Soviet armed forces in September1939. Occupied by the Nazi Germany in July 1941; liberated from the Germans and made capital of the Lithuanian S.S.R. in 1944; since 1991 the capital of Lithuania.

The Jews began moving to the vicinity of Vilna from Germany and Poland in the middle of the 15th century. However, only in 1593 did the Jewish newcomers receive a royal privilege from the Polish king Zygmunt II that enabled them to settle and trade in the city.

Beginning in the 16th century the Jewish community of Vilna, Lithuania, was governed by an autonomous administrative body, called Kehillah (or Kahal). After the partition of Poland in 1795, when Lithuania was annexed to the Russian Empire, the Kehillah steadily declined in power until it was abolished in 1844, along with all other community boards throughout the Russian empire. The Tsedakah Gedolah (Greater Charity Fund) which unofficially replaced the Kehillah performed mainly charitable and religious functions.

The Tsedakah Gedolah acted as a surrogate community organization with reduced scope of activities, and as a welfare fund, that took care of the cemetery, the Jewish hospitals, the Hekdesh (home for the aged), library, public baths, shelter for transients, distribution of matzot for Passover, firewood, weekly aid to the poor, and more. The official name for the Tsedakah Gedolah under the Russian rule was Vilenskoie Molitvennoie Upravlenie Glavnoi Sinagogi ( Vilna Religious Board of the Main Synagogue ), and during the German occupation of 1915-1918 Vilna Haupt-Synagogeverwaltung ( Administration of the Vilna Main Synagogue ).

The Tsedakah Gedolah was governed by a council, which consisted of eight committees-Rabbinic, Charitable, Cemetery, Financial, Administrative, Management, and Audit. After the retreat of the Russian forces in 1915 most of the Tsedakah Gedolah supervisors and board members fled into the Russian interior. To coordinate Jewish relief efforts, various Jewish institutions that remained in Vilna, united to establish the Central Relief Committee (Tsentrler hilfs-komitet), where Tsedakah Gedolah played a significant role.

At the end of 1918 the German military allowed the general election of the new Kehillah which took place on December 25. The so named New Kehillah (Yid.di Naye kehile) was thus restored in January 1919. Yet the Tsedakah Gedolah continued in its capacity as charity dispensing institution associated, as before, with the Main Synagogue. This duality of Vilna communal leadership persisted until 1935 when the Polish authorities forced both institutions to merge. The Vilna Kehillah was eventually dissolved in 1940 by the Soviets

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions:

Open to researchers by appointment.

For more information, contact: Chief Archivist, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011; Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Use Restrictions: Permission to publish part or parts of the collection or to cite verbatim from the text of a document must be obtained from the YIVO Archives. For more information, contact: Chief Archivist, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011. Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Preferred Citation: Published citations should read as follows: Identification of item, date (if known); YIVO Archives; Vilna Jewish Community Council; RG 10; folder number.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: Tsedakah Gedolah (Yid. Tsedoke gedoyle, Rus. Vilenskoye Evreiskoye Molitvennoye Pravlenie Glavnoi Sinagogi), 1800-1930,
Series 2: Series II: The New Kehillah (Pol. Gmina Żydowska w Wilnie; Yid. Di Naye kehile, Hebrew: Ha kehillah Hayehudit beVilna, 1915-1940,
Series 3: Series III. Miscellaneous Materials, 1919-1936,
All

Series II: The New Kehillah (Pol. Gmina Żydowska w Wilnie; Yid. Di Naye kehile, Hebrew: Ha kehillah Hayehudit beVilna 1915-1940

This series include documents from l918 to 1940 reflecting the formation and activities of the New Kehillah under the Polish rule, 1919-1939, and the functioning of the Kehillah departments. The documents of 1939-1940 pertain to the activities of the Jewish Refugee Relief Committee and include correspondence with Lithuanian authorities. The series includes materials of various offices of the New Kehillah that dealt with administrative, legal, social, health and welfare matters, and with religion and education. It consists of minutes, inventories, log books, correspondence with local authorities, identity papers and vital records, printed announcements.

Sub-Series 1: Central Jewish Aid Committee (World War I) 1914-1924

The Jewish Relief Committee (Yid. Tsentraler yiddisher hilfs-komitet) was organized in 1915 to provide relief for Jewish refugees as well as for the local Jewish population in Vilna during the German occupation. Minutes of committee meetings; reports of activities; documents re:s the kehillahs status in the Congress Poland.

Folder 93: Hilfs-komitet (Jewish Aid Committee), 1915-1919: “The role of the Registration Bureau in Vilna in 1914-1915”, manuscript 1915-1919
Folder 94: Audit Division Reports 1916-1918
Folder 95: Child Welfare Division report 1916
Folder 96: Joint meeting of representatives of Vilna political and economic organizations 1917
Folder 97: Plans and regulations for the Vilne Kehillah; regulations for the community boards in Congress Poland 1919
Folder 98: Presidium meetings: minutes 1919
Folder 99: Presidium meetings: minutes 1920, 1924
Folder 100: Farvaltung (administrative board) meetings: minutes 1919
Folder 101: Farvaltung (administrative board) meetings: minutes 1919-1924
Folder 102: Plenary meetings: minutes 1919-1923
Folder 103: Collegium meetings: minutes 1919, 1921
Folder 104: Seniors Convent (oversight body composed of leading members from the various political parties) 1920-1922
Folder 105: Miscellaneous minutes undated
Folder 385: Documents of German army rabbis 1916-1917

Sub-Series 2: Elections to the Kehillah 1917-1936

Materials related to the first democratic elections to the secular New Kehillah on December 25, 1918.

Folder 106: Kehillah elections material (Organization Committee for the Kehillah elections, electors’ lists, reports from voting stations, lists of voters, lists of candidates and regulations for chairs of voting stations 1918
Folder 107: Kehillah Council, members 1919
Folder 108: Zionist Organization Campaign material (1918): correspondence (1921) 1918, 1921
Folder 109: Jewish Democratic Party Campaign material (1918) and correspondence (19191920) 19181920
Folder 110: Bund, correspondence and miscellaneous 1920: (including notes by Max Weinreich)
Folder 111: Tseirei Tsiyon, campaign material; correspondence 1918-1922
Folder 112: United Jewish Socialist Workers Party, campaign material 1918-1919
Folder 113: Artisans’ Association, notes and correspondence 1918-1919
Folder 114: Rabbinic proclamations on Kehillah elections 1918
Folder 115: Lists of candidates and voting stations (FILED IN OVERSIZE) 1918
Folder 116: Kehillah Election Commission Expenses 1917-1922
Folder 117: City Council elections-miscellaneousellaneous materials 1919
Folder 118: List of voters 1925
Folder 119: Kehillah Election Commission Correspondence (especially with Mayor of Vilna, Starosta ) 1928
Folder 120: Kehillah Election Commission, correspondence 1928
Folder 121: Kehillah Election Commission, mMinutes of meetings, declarations by candidates that they will fulfill their duties if elected 1928
Folder 122: Kehillah elections, lists of candidates 1927-1928
Folder 123: Proclamation in favor of the dissolution of the elected Kehillah and in favor of the nominated one 1935
Folder 124: Kehillah Election Commission, members 1936
Folder 125: Eligible and ineligible voters (list of people born in 1911, lists of residents in the Jewish old age home, recipients of other Jewish charities, etc.) 1936
Folder 126: Kehillah Election Commission, lists of candidates, miscellaneousellaneous correspondence 1936
Folder 127: Receipts for ballot boxes, lists of voting districts and district personnel 1936
Folder 128: Election Commission reports from local election districts 1936
Folder 129: Kehillah Election Commission, blank forms 1936

Sub-Series 3: Administrative Committee 1919-1939

Correspondence with other community boards in Poland re: organization of the kehillot, correspondence with Polish authorities on various matters, internal correspondence.

Folder 130: Conference of the kehillahs of the Vilna region, credentials (mandatn) of participants, miscellaneous 1924
Folder 131: Conference of the kehillahs of the Vilna region, rules and minutes 1924
Folder 132: Conference of the kehillahs from the eastern wojewodstwos: Vilna, Białystok, Nowogródek, Volhynia and Polesie regions. Resolutions, minutes, correspondence 1926
Folder 133: Conference of the kehillahs from the eastern provinces: lists of participants, credentials (mandatn) of the participants 1926
Folder 134: Conference of the kehillahs from the eastern provinces, greetings 1926
Folder 135: Correspondence with various departments of the Polish government 1919-1938
Folder 136: Correspondence with General Commissioner of the Eastern Provinces 1919-1920
Folder 137: Correspondence with local Polish authorities 1919-1938
Folder 138: Correspondence with the Jewish National Council of Lithuania and miscellaneousellaneous 1920-1923
Folder 139: Correspondence with the Białystok Kehillah ofconcerning reimbursement of 10,000 marks paid on behalf of Vilna Jews interned in Białystok 1919
Folder 140: Correspondence with other Jewish communities 1922-1936
Folder 141: Correspondence internal 1919-1939
Folder 142: Correspondence with various social and cultural aid organizations (Women’s Society, Help Committee of German Jews, American Joint Distribution Committee, Friends of Yiddish Theater) 1920-1930
Folder 360: Summonses to the Tsedakah Gedolah central committee meetings, map of a Jewish relief society chapter’s responsibility area in Vilna undated

Sub-Series 4: Kehillah Personnel 1919-1934

Lists of empoyees, medical insurance contracts and correspondence related to Kehillah employees.

Folder 143: Correspondence, Executive Committee of Kehillah Employees 1919-1921
Folder 144: Correspondence with Kehillah employees and employee groups concerning wages 1919-1921
Folder 145: Correspondence with Kehillah employees and miscellaneousellaneous 1922-1934
Folder 146: Kehillah employees, salaries and miscellaneousellaneous correspondence; blank invitation for the prayer in honour of president Moscicki’s visit 1920-1938
Folder 147: Correspondence with the Professional Association of Trade Employees (Zwiazek Zawodowy Pracownikow Przemyslowo-Handlowych, the union that represented the Kehillah workers) 1919-1931
Folder 148: Correspondence with the Association of Nurses and with the Assocation of Teachers 1919-1933
Folder 149: Medical insurance, Kehillah employees (Kasa chorych) 1922-1923, 1929-1930

Sub-Series 5: Department of Finance 1919-1938

Financial documents of the New Kehillah, minutes of meetings on financial matters, budgets and reports.

Folder 150: Minutes of meetings of the Finance Committee, miscellaneousellaneous related correspondence 1919
Folder 151: Information forms 1930
Folder 152: Appeals to pay Kehillah taxes 1919-1933
Folder 153: Kehillah tax bills- Zalmen Reisen, Max Weinreich 1930, 1932, 1935
Folder 154: District Tax Committees, minutes and miscellaneousellaneous 1920-1921
Folder 155: Requests for reduction in taxes 1932
Folder 156: Lists of Kehillah taxpayers (by street address) 1920
Folder 157: Kehillah budgets, cash reports 1921-1929
Folder 158: Preliminary budgets 1936, 1938
Folder 159: Reports from the Kehillah Control (auditing) Committee 1919
Folder 160: Expenses 1933-1934
Folder 160 A: Financial reports of the Kehillah; Kehillah budget with the list of real estate 1930-1931

Sub-Series 6: Department of Social Welfare 1898, 1919-1939

Minutes of the Department meetings, requests for assistance and reports.

Folder 161: Committee (later Department) for Social Welfare, minutes of meetings, balance sheet 1919-1922
Folder 162: Department of Social Welfare, correspondence, miscellaneousellaneous 1919-1920
Folder 163: Department of Social Welfare, correspondence, miscellaneousellaneous 1925-1939
Folder 164: Requests for communal assistance and replies 1919
Folder 165: Requests for communal assistance and replies 1919
Folder 166: Requests for communal assistance and replies 1921
Folder 167: Requests for communal assistance and replies 1921
Folder 168: Requests for communal assistance and replies 1919-1921
Folder 169: Passover relief (various lists, correspondence) 1920-1924
Folder 170: Clothing distribution, lists of recipients 1920
Folder 171: Lists of loan (or grant) recipients 1922
Folder 172: Admission card to a kosher kitchen 1930
Folder 173: Transfer of money from abroad to relatives 1920-1921
Folder 174: Investigation reports of intelligentsia in need, N.D.; request on behalf of the teacher and writer Eljas Goldszmidt 1920
Folder 175: “Bilige hayzer” (Subsidized housing), Repairs 1920-1921
Folder 176: “Bilige hayzer”, miscellaneous 1922-1923
Folder 177: “Bilige hayzer" 1921-1923
Folder 365: Minutes of the committee of affordable housing for the Vilna Jews 1898

Sub-Series 7: Department of Child Welfare 1908-1939

Information about institutions active in child welfare and education under the auspices of the New Kehillah; orphanages, school kitchens, camps.

Folder 178: Society for the Care of Children, Society for the Care of Orphans and Poor Jewish Girls, minutes, reports, letters 1908-1931
Folder 179: Committee/Department for Child Welfare, minutes of meetings, lists of goods for various Vilna schools, circulars, miscellaneous 1917-1939
Folder 180: Committee/Department for Child Welfare, miscellaneous correspondence 1919-1922
Folder 181: Committee to Send Children to Warsaw 1919-1920
Folder 182: Income and expenses ledger of the Committee for Child Welfare 1920
Folder 183: Department of Child Welfare, monthly accountings lists of expenses, budgets 1922
Folder 184: Food requisitions, miscellaneous 1919-1920: Removed to Folder 353 A
Folder 185: Employees and wages in children’s institutions, partial list 1920
Folder 186: American Committee to Help Children in Wilno (may be the same as Polish-American Committee to Help Children in Wilno), correspondence 1921-1931
Folder 187: Kropla Mleka (Drop of Milk-supplementary milk program for infants), list of children undated
Folder 188: Lists of orphans and children supported by the Kehillah early 1920s
Folder 189: Orphan Committee, lists of contributors 1921
Folder 190: Abandoned or orphaned children: individual cases 1920: Arrangement: Alphabetical.
Folder 191: Lists of children studying or living in various schools or orphanages 1919-1920
Folder 192: Summary reports on orphans and half-orphans undated
Folder 193: United American Distribution Committee (AJDC?), registration questionnaires for war orphans undated
Folder 194: OZE Home for Nurslings, lists of children, correspondence 1920-1921
Folder 195: Beis Eliohu orphanage, (formerly, Achieser) inspection forms, letters, list of residents, miscellaneous 1919-1924
Folder 196: Workers’ Children’s Home of the Professional Associations, list of residents, correspondence 1920-1921
Folder 197: Ostrobramska Street No. 39 orphanage, lists of residents, inspection form, monthly budget 1917-1921
Folder 198: Second Day Children’s Home, description of the institution early 1920s
Folder 199: Shnipishker Home for Orphans and Poor Children (a.k.a. Khiviner orphanage), petitions for aid to buy food, lists of students, budgets, expenses, correspondence concerning painting and window repair 1919-1921: Also includes two documents concerning the Dinezon school which was at the same location
Folder 200: Wilkomirska Street No. 3 children’s home, list of residents undated
Folder 201: Evening Home for Young Workers 1920-1922
Folder 202: School kitchen, Baszta Street, list of children who attend 1920
Folder 203: Children’s Kitchen, 15 Wielka Pohulanka Street, report, request (to the Kehillah), list of children who are fed at the kitchen 1919-1921
Folder 204: Children’s Kitchen, Mostova No. 14, list of children, subsidy request form 1920
Folder 205: Yugendflege, Children’s kitchen, subsidy request forms 1920
Folder 206: Second Children’s Kitchen, list of children who attend, subsidy request form circa 1920
Folder 207: Third Children’s Kitchen, correspondence, lists of income and expenses 1918, 1920
Folder 208: 2nd Children’s Kitchen Radunska Street No. 32, list of children who attend the kitchen sent to the American Committee to Aid Children in Vilna, lists of children served by kitchen, income lists circa 1920
Folder 209: Children’s Kitchen, St. Jerska Street, subsidy request forms 1920
Folder 210: Summer colonies (camps) for children, minutes, correspondence, receipts circa 1920
Folder 211: Colony (camp) for Weak Children, lists of campers 1920
Folder 212: Summer Colony of the Fareynigte Talmud Torahs, list of equipment undated

Sub-Series 8: Department of Education and Culture

Documents relating to educational and cultural organizations associated with the New Kehillah.

Folder 213: Education Department, accounting records 1915-1924
Folder 214: Education Department, draft of report on kindergartens, correspondence, letters from Rabbi Grodzienski 1919-1920
Folder 215: Education Department, documentation and correspondence 1921-1929
Folder 216: Va’ad ha-meuchad system of Talmud Torahs and national religious schools (Umbrella organization headed by Rabbi Yitzhak Rubinstein of eleven schools and orphanages) 1919-1923
Folder 217: Talmud Torah Ha-Ironi (The City Talmud Torah), list of classes 1920-1921
Folder 218: Toras Emes school and orphanage, lists of classes, lists of students requiring aid, correspondence 1915-1920
Folder 219: Ezro children’s shelter and kitchen (former “Esro” heder?), list of garments distributed, teachers’ salaries 1919-1920
Folder 220: Tiferes Bakhurim folk-school for boys, lists of faculty, lists of students correspondence, budgets, miscellaneousellaneous reports, announcements 1919-1920
Folder 221: Talmud Torah ha-meuchad, Tojras Chesed Toras Izrael, reports, lists of classes, list of students, request for subsidy from school kitchen 1920
Folder 222: Beis Jehudah Folk-School (formerly heder), requests, list of wages 1919-circa 1920
Folder 223: Torah Temimah boy's school, letter 1920
Folder 224: Torah Temimah children’s kitchen, lists of children served by the kitchen undated
Folder 225: Va’ad ha-meuchad girls school, correspondence 1920
Folder 226: Gertrud (Golde) Marx, orphanage, invitation to opening, inspection form, list of residents, bills 1917-1924
Folder 227: Borochow nursery and school, list of students undated
Folder 228: Mendele Moykher Seforim nursery, list of children; First Children’s kindergarten, list of children, list of expenses 1919-1920
Folder 229: Poplaver Street kindergarten, report and statement concerning kitchen 1920
Folder 230: Gan yeladim ivri, kindergarten, lists of students, letters, miscellaneousellaneous circa 1920
Folder 231: Lukishker kindergarten, requests for soap 1921
Folder 232: Meficei Haskolah school and kitchen. Complaint against the Kehillah for not providing enough shoes for the students, lists of students, miscellaneousellaneous 1916-early 1920s
Folder 233: Tevunah school, lists of students undated
Folder 234: Epstein elementary school, report about soap delivery, correspondence 1920
Folder 235: Epstein school-kitchen, request to have a door repaired, list of children served by the kitchen, subsidy request form 1920-1921
Folder 236: Toshiah school, list of orphans attending school undated
Folder 237: Y.L. Peretz Folk School and orphanage, correspondence 1920
Folder 238: Talmud Torah orphanage and school, inspection form, receipts 1919-1922
Folder 239: H. Haskels, school, list of students 1920
Folder 240: Elementary School for Girls, Tse’irei Tsiyon, (formerly Jewish Girls School ), Russian petition to the Jewish Communal Administration, correspondence 1918-1921
Folder 241: Devorah Kupershteyn girls’ folk-school, requests, list of classes 1920-1921
Folder 242: Yehudiah, school, list of classes 1920-1921
Folder 243: L. Gurvitch folk-school, salary lists, class schedule 1920
Folder 244: Elementary School, Tse’irei Yisrael, list of students, letter 1921
Folder 245: Toras Hayyim school , list of orphans undated
Folder 246: Pomocy Pracy (Hilf durkh arbet) school, petitions for wood, shoes 1919
Folder 247: Antokol Street heder undated
Folder 248: Shaarei Torah, heder, lists of students, petition for shoes for the students circa 1920
Folder 249: Ramayles yeshiva-requests from teachers to be paid by the Kehillah, list of salaries circa 1920
Folder 250: First Real Gymnasium, correspondence, lists of classes 1920-1921
Folder 251: Girls Gymnasium, minutes of meeting, lists of students, correspondence 1911-1922
Folder 252: Coeducational school, Shul Kult, monthly budget 1928
Folder 253: YEKOPO Pedagogic Courses, correspondence 1920
Folder 254: Y.L. Peretz evening school, letter 1920
Folder 255: Mefitsei Haskolo Library, balance sheet undated
Folder 276: School certificates 1920-1930s

Sub-Series 9: Department of Public Health 1922-1936

Records related to the Jewish Children’s hospital in Zwierzyniec.

Folder 256: Correspondence of the Children’s Hospital of the Vilna Kehillah (Child Section of the Obstetrics-Pediatric Hospital ), advertisement leaflets, letter from the Hospital administration too the plenary meeting of the Vilna Kehillah, memorandum about the Hospital undated
Folder 257: Fragments of medical texts in German and Polish, list of illnesses with which there were patients in the hospital in 19291930 1930
Folder 258: Annual reports on movements of patients in the Vilna Children's Hospital (1922, 19271930); lists of patients (1923), inventories, transfer reports, missing supplies reports 1922-1930
Folder 259: Szpital dla kobiet i dzieci. Wydzial dziecinny-Rachunek do Wydzialu Opieki Spolecznej Magistratu m. Wilno 1924-1932
Folder 260: Balance sheets of the children’s hospital, 1921-1932. List of parishoners (spisok prikhozhan). Petition to the German authorities on behalf of childcare institutions undated
Folder 261: Children’s hospital, bills to health insurance funds (kasa chorych) 1922-1932
Folder 262: Blank invoices for hospital personnel' salaries; list of hospital's suppliers; Correspondence with the local authorities and other governmental institutions; lists of hospital personnel; correspondence with the medical workers' union; list of patients, sent by the doctors undated
Folder 263: Monthly budgets and balance sheets 1920-1931: Included is an explanation to the budget (circa 1926)
Folder 264: Monthly food supply lists, Zwierzyniec hospital 1927-1934
Folder 265: Charity collections on behalf of the Zwierzhyniec Children’s Hospital (Kwesta uliczna)-lists of places in Vilna and collectors’ names, protocols of charity box openings, applications for financing to Vilna magistrate, applications for charity collecting, collection lists, protocols on lottery drawings 1923-1926
Folder 266: Correspondence of Zwierzyniec hospital with local authorities, list of personnel Correspondence of Zwierzyniec hospital with the magistrates of towns in eastern part of the Polish Republic 1927-1928
Folder 267: Correspondence of Zwierzyniec hospital with Jewish communities and local authorities in Eastern Poland, with private persons, Polish Red Cross 1927-1928
Folder 268: Correspondence with local authorities of eastern Poland undated
Folder 269: Correspondence with local authorities of eastern Poland undated
Folder 270: Questionnaire of krankenkase, announcement circa 1924
Folder 271: Zwierzyniec hospital, correspondence with kranken-kase of Vilna undated
Folder 272: EKOPO's help List of items received, receipts on clothes, bills undated
Folder 273: Hospital's correspondence with TOZOZE undated
Folder 274: Agenda of a conference on child care. Report on mortality in Vilna 1936

Sub-Series 10: Department of Production and Economy 1919-1937

Records dealing with the maintenance of the Kehillah property, various aspects of economic life of the community, distribution of funds for the support of artisan workshops and cooperatives, distribution of firewood (Firewood Committee), subsidies for small enterprises and individual producers, supervision of vocational schools.

Folder 275: Economic department resolutions. Joint meetings with educational department of the Kehillah undated
Folder 276: School certificates undated: Removed to folder 254 A
Folder 277: Productive Help Section Reports 1919-1920: Included are list of buildings with maintenance expenses, letter of Dr. Makover to Kruk, reports of the Kehillah maintenance section, letter to maintenance section with a project of vocational education
Folder 278: Statistical report of the Productive Help Section, 1919-1920. Reports of the Production Help Section, 1919-1920. Monthly budget of the Production Help Section 1919
Folder 279: Correspondence with Tseire Tsion bakery, Jewish Artisans’ Union, List of expenses of Technical committee of Productive Help Section, list of foremen of the Section’s productive cooperatives, correspondence with artisan unions, pay lists and bills of the productive cooperatives. Memorandum of students of Weliczany agricultural school undated
Folder 280: Lists of loans distributed monthly, 1919-1920. List of handymen. Correspondence with the Jewish Savings Bank., 1919-1920. Balance sheets of Production Help Section, payroll lists 1920-1923
Folder 281: Correspondence with Jewish Savings Bank, correspondence with Vilna branch of EKOPO, correspondence with the Jewish agricultural school in Weliczany, 1919. United Committee for productive help. Correspondence with Zavel’s Shul Vorstand d. Synagoge Germaise u. Lewinsohn, Blumenstr., 6), 1919. Correspondence with the Home for the Aged, 1919. Gaboim of the Alter Kloyz, 1919. Correspondence of the education section of Kehillah, correspondence with financial section of Kehillah. Medical council 1919
Folder 282: Applications for aid 1920-1921
Folder 283: Towarzystwo Szkol Zawodowych Pomocy Pracy , 1919-1921, 1938. Szkola Rolnicza i Ferma w Wilnie, 1920. Correspondence of Ts. Shabad with local German authorities 1919-1921, 1938
Folder 284: Protocol of inspection of the school Help Through Work, 1920. Balance sheet of Productive Help Section, 1919. Letter with expenses of the Help Trough Work Association 1920: Arrangement: By three staff types: executive, general and group work.
Folder 285: Association of Medical and Food Aid Correspondence with German authorities, report on work of the Association of Medical and Food Aid clinic 1916-1917
Folder 286: Minutes of the economic committee meetings, 1920. Nutriton section, 1919 1919, 1920
Folder 287: Nutrition section of the Economic committee Correspondence, inventories, circular letters 1919-1921
Folder 288: Circular letters to Kehillah shops, 1919. Circular letters to Kehillah kitchens, 1919. Daily balance sheets from Kehillah shops and storehouses, 19171918. Invoices on potato shipments, 1919. Correspondence on Kehillah kitchens, 1919. List of shops, 1920. 1917-1920
Folder 289: Reports of firewood committee Letter from timber and construction Workers Union to the Technical Section of the Kehillah; lists of recipients of firewood aid 1919-1920s
Folder 290: Report of the economic/management section; request for soap from Dvoyra Kupershteyn School for Girls (1920); report on food supply for schools (1937) 1920, 1937
Folder 291: Correspondence of the Nutrition Section with Executive Committee of Kehillah employees. Appeals of shop employees to Executive Committee undated

Sub-Series 11: Department of Religious Affairs 1912-1935

Correspondence of the Vaad ha-rabonim (Rabbinical Council)

Folder 292: Vaad ha-rabonim, correspondence 1919-1923
Folder 293: Vaad ha-rabonim, correspondence. Includes letter on behalf of an agunah whose husband immigrated to Canada 1919-1923
Folder 294: Vaad ha-rabonim, correspondence. Includes letter from R. Ch. O. Grodzienski 1923
Folder 295: Vaad ha-rabonim, kesubos, birth and death certificates 1912-1922
Folder 296: Vaad ha-rabonim, proclamations concerning shabes 1923-1924
Folder 297: Vaad ha-raboinim, proclamations concerbing kashrus undated
Folder 298: Vaad ha-rabonim, proclamations regarding contributing or establishing various charitable organizations 1919-1929
Folder 299: Vaad ha-rabonim, Vaad ha-yeshivot proclamations undated
Folder 300: Vaad ha-rabonim, miscellaneousellaneous handbills and proclamations (including one in honor of the 200th birthday of R. Eliyahu of Vilna (the Vilna Gaon) 1919-1935
Folder 301: Vaad ha-rabonim, Proclamations regarding the Polish state 1929
Folder 302: Rabbinic salaries 1919
Folder 303: Rabbi J. Kahan, correspondence 1920-1923
Folder 304: Rabbi J. Kahan, correspondence, 1919-1922, miscellaneous rabbinic correspondence 1919-1922
Folder 305: Memorandum on the rabbinic question in Vilna circa 1919-1920

Sub-Series 12: Department of Legal Affairs 1902-1939

Issuing vital records, personal documents and residence permits: correspondence with state civil and military offices; representing victims of pogroms and other anti-Jewish acts.

Folder 306: Minutes of meetings of the Regulations Committee, summonses to the meetings 1919-1920
Folder 307: Birth certificates, registration cards undated
Folder 308: Birth certificates undated
Folder 309: Marriage certificates, text of a ketuba in German undated
Folder 310: Personal identification documents 1919-1920
Folder 311: Correspondence with law enforcement, military and counterintelligence, petitions for issuing passports and residence permits undated
Folder 312: Free passage permits, affidavits of wellintendedness, correspondence with police and gendarmerie authorities. Copies of temporary personal identification documents. Announcement for those having relatives in Russia 1919-1920
Folder 313: Correspondence between juridical department and real estate department. Complain petitions about the persecutions by the Polish soldiers. Minutes of a meeting on violations against Jews in the time of issuing residence permits by the Polish authorities. Interventions of behalf of arrested Jews. Intervention stating property rights for the Zwierzyniec children's hospital. Circular letter of the Kehillah leadership. Records of convictions of Jews by various courts. Court appeals, appeals to judge of the peace. Death certificates. Photograph of three soldiers in Polish uniforms. Letters of authorization 1919-1920
Folder 314: List of petitioners to the Juridical department and brief description of matters, 1920. Applications for replacement of the lost passports, free pass permits. Affidavits on identity of private persons. Letter from police administration of Vilna about its moving into the premises occupied by a Jewish school 1919-1920
Folder 315: Petitions of the Jewish population of Polotsk about the repressions by the Polish military, and letter from security division of the LithuanianBelarusian Front. Petitions of private persons on behalf of their relatives, arrested by the Polish military authorities. Correspondence of the Juridical section with Polish police and gendarmerie authorities. Petition of Luzhki inhabitants about release of a Luzhki conscript to the Red army from the internment camp 1920
Folder 316: Identification papers, affidavits of authentication (legitymacja) 1919-1920
Folder 317: Interventions on behalf of people arrested by the Polish military authorities. Affidavits of identity 1919-1920
Folder 318: Court appeals, petitions to the Polish military authorities, affidavits of identity 1919-1920
Folder 319: Identity documents, interventions on behalf of the Jews arrested by the Polish military authorities. Affidavits of identity of Vilna Jewish inhabitants. Questionnaires about the arrested. Tseire Tsion of Vilna letter to the Vilna Kehillah undated
Folder 320: Interventions by the Juridical Department on behalf of the arrested Vilna Jews, correspondence with the Polish authorities. Affidavits, identity documents undated
Folder 321: Lists of petitioners, petitions. List of handicapped. Akt notarialny 1939
Folder 322: Identity documents of Kehillah employees (Bescheinigung) 1916
Folder 323: Personal identification documents 1902-1929
Folder 324: Petitions for replacement of lost documents. Identification papers, affidavits undated
Folder 325: Identity documents, affidavits of identity 1919-1920
Folder 326: Affidavits of "political reliability", identity papers 1919-1920
Folder 327: Identity papers, affidavits. Declaration of intention 19191921
Folder 328: Identity documents, affidavits undated
Folder 329: Identity papers, political reliability affidavits 1919-1920
Folder 330: Identity papers, political reliability affidavits 1919-1920
Folder 331: Court summonses, verdicts, court appeals 1920-1928
Folder 332: Minutes of meetings of Juridical committee undated
Folder 333: Payment summons undated
Folder 334: Documents of reclamation committee. Taxation petitions 1932
Folder 335: Correspondence of the reclamation committee 1932
Folder 336: Documents of reclamations committee 1932
Folder 337: Correspondence of reclamation committee (1932). Section for the Kehillah dues (1936-1939) 1932-1939
Folder 338: Juridical Committee 1920
Folder 339: Juridical committee. Correspondence with Polish authorities 1919
Folder 340: Statements of victims of robberies and abuses during the pogrom by the Polish military 1919
Folder 341: Statements of victims of robberies and abuses during the pogrom by the Polish military; forms in Yiddish 1919
Folder 342: Doctors' statements on corporal damage to Jews; interventions on behalf of arrested Jews undated
Folder 343: Lists of shops and enterprises, robbed by the Polish military, lists of people arrested, beaten and tortured by the Polish military undated
Folder 344: List of apartments, robbed by the Polish military. Lists of people, robbed on the streets during pogrom. Letter from Kehillah leadership to general Szeptycki, commander of the LithuanianBelarusian Front 1919
Folder 345: Statements of people robbed and abused by the Polish military undated
Folder 346: Statements of people robbed by the Polish military undated
Folder 347: Juridical section. Evidence records about the crimes and abuses committed by the Polish military against the Jews undated
Folder 348: Juridical section. Evidence records undated
Folder 349: Statements of people robbed by the Polish military (on special forms in Yiddish) 1919-1920
Folder 350: Statements about robberies, lists of robbed items, and the related documents undated
Folder 350 A: Search forms for missing relatives 1918
Folder 372: Pogrom of the Polish military against Jews Fragment of a typewritten report contains lists of victims and of robbed property undated
Folder 351: Statements on robberies, vandalism and abuses by the Polish military and civil persons 1919-1931
Folder 352: Correspondence with the polish military authorities 1919-1920
Folder 353: Memorandum of the Vilna Kehillah to the Polish authorities 1919 May 12
Folder 184: Food requisitions by Polish military authorities 1919

Sub-Series 13: Department of Nutrition 1896-1928

Documents related to the efforts of the Kehillah to provide nutrition to the needy Jewish population of Vilna.

Folder 354: 354. Correspondence of the EKOPO committee in Vilna, Vilna Teachers’ Union, Orphans’ committee and Vaad ha-Yeshives undated
Folder 355: Food section of the Kehillah 1917-1923
Folder 356: Materials of free kitchens of the Tsedakah Gedolah 1896-1918
Folder 357: Materials of the Control committee of the Ts.G. (Central Committee) 1915-1916
Folder 358: Search forms for missing relatives circa 1915-1918: Removed to Folder 350a
Folder 359: Materials of free kitchens board, management section of the Tsedakah Gedolah 1902-1916
Folder 360: Summonses to the Tsedakah Gedolah central committee meetings, map of a Jewish relief society chapter’s responsibility area in Vilna undated: Removed to Folder 142 A
Folder 361: Free kitchens at the Jewish educational institutions in Vilna 1916-1920
Folder 362: Free kitchens for the poor Jews in Vilna Correspondence. Memorandum of Vilna authorities on food supply of the city (April 1915). Apawieszczennie (dziela padtrymannia ladu u narodnych strauniach)/Skelbimas (del uzlaikymo tvarkos liaudies valgyklose) (September 13, 1917) 1903-1917
Folder 363: Jewish Relief Organization. Central Committee Correspondence, minutes 1919
Folder 364: Free kitchens Monthly reports on the use of foodstuffs undated
Folder 365: Committee for Affordable Apartments Minutes 1898: Removed to Folder 177 A
Folder 366: Notary note, bank loan default notes undated
Folder 367: Central committee of the Vilna Jewish public institutions. Control section undated
Folder 368: Shoe committee 1917
Folder 369: Notarized copy of the Vilna Governor’s permission to open a reading room of Strashun library 1902
Folder 370: Registration books of Zwierzyniec hospital 1926-1928
Folder 371: Central Committee Correspondence; Milk Committee; Women's school 1916-1922
Folder 372: Pogrom of the Polish military against Jews –Fragment of a typewritten report, contains lists of victims and of robbed property undated: Removed to Folder 350 A
Folder 373: List of charitable organizations in Vilna undated
Folder 374: School kitchens Free meals ration cards, OPE materials undated
Folder 375: Children's section of the OPE (Mefitsei Haskole) Documentation on the school kitchens run by OPE. Invitations to OPE meetings with the meetings' agendas 1911-1918
Folder 376: Poster of a fundraising concert for the workers' kitchens, minutes of the committee for poor Jews' relief on free kitchens undated
Folder 377: Bylaws and orders of the German occupation authorities on distribution of food and on school and medical system undated
Folder 378: Keren Kayemet Purim invitation, letters in Hebrew undated
Folder 379: Invitation cards undated
Folder 380: Materials of the German authorities in Vilna (Oberbuergermeister, Polizeiverwaltung, Stadthauptmann), 1915-1917. Memorandum on the national composition of the Vilna area 1915-1917
Folder 381: Advertisements of Vilna enterprises; .Dwutygodnik, poswiecony sprawom oswiaty, nauki i sztuki. Wyd. Ludowego Komisarjatu Oswiaty Litwy i Bialorusi 1919 March 16
Folder 382: Ration cards for Vilna residents 1916-1919
Folder 383: Summonses and announcements of the Vilna German authorities 1916-1918
Folder 384: Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden 1916-1918
Folder 385: Documents of German army rabbis 1916-1917: Removed to Folder 105 A
Folder 386: Statute of the VilnaKaunas citizens' committee, announcement of the Council of the Confederation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania undated
Folder 387: Banking documents, varia undated
Folder 388: Tymczasowa Komisja Rzadzaca Litwy Srodkowej 1921
Folder 389: Appeal of Tsedaka Gdolah 1914
Folder 390: Tsedaka Gdolah Book of expenditures (1906-1907). List of share depositors in a Vilna bank (1915) 1906-1907, 1915
Folder 391: List of the Jewish residents on Wielka and Pilsudski streets in Vilna undated
Folder 392: German authorities in Vilna Certificates, receipts undated
Folder 393: Appeals to Vilna residents from Polish Independence block, German authorities (1915); Number 25, 1918 1915, 1918
Folder 394: Balance books, obituary for Dr. Makower, announcements of Labour relief society (Trudovaia pomoshch, Hilf durkh arbet) 1914-1928
Folder 395: Vilna city council case on covering the deficit of the Vilna Jewish hospital and construction of a new building, 1907. Vilna pristav’s office on Khaia Volokhanskaia, 1913-1914 1907, 1913-1914: Removed to Folder 37 A

Sub-Series 14: Jewish Refugee Relief Committee 1939-1940

Documents relating to aid to the refugees from the Polish territories occupied by Germany after September 1, 1939.

Folder 396: Reports of the Vilna refugee feeding site (Bashpaizungs-punkt) on 37 Subocz St. 1940: See Oversized Box
Folder 396 A: Reports of the Vilna refugee feeding site (Bashpaizungs-punkt) on 15 Zawalna Street 1940: See Oversized Box
Folder 397: Letter to the Committee for Jewish Students Aid, concerning clothes for refugees 1939
Folder 398: Minutes of the Coordinating committee of the refugee relief organizations 1939 December-1940 February
Folder 399: Lithuanian legislation on refugees and related materials 1939-1940
Folder 400: Statute of the Jewish war refugees relief fund Ezrath Pleitim; correspondence with the Commissar for the war refugees in Lithuania 1940
Folder 401: Materials of the Jewish war refugees relief fund, 1939-1940. Addresses of the hostels and free kitchens for the war refugees, 1939. List of refugees receiving food at free kitchens 1939-1940
Folder 402: Requests of the Jewish refugee relief committee 1939
Folder 403: Lists of Jewish refugees in Lithuania 1939-1940
Folder 404: Correspondence of the Jewish refugee relief committee 1939-1940
Folder 405: Refugee registration forms undated
Folder 406: Free kitchens' order forms for food stuff supplies undated
Folder 407: Reisenburg internment camp pass 1939
Folder 408: Refugee registration cards undated
Folder 409: Jewish refugee committee correspondence (ORT, HIAS) 1939-1940
Folder 410: Letterheads and forms of various Vilna Jewish organizations undated
Folder 411: Blank forms of various Jewish organizations, ration cards undated
Folder 412: Blank questionnaire forms undated
Folder 413: List of Khevra kadishe/ Bikur kholim’s pinkasim from several towns, given to the YIVO Archive (Sokółka, Turisk, Białystok, Włocławek, Kutno, Lutomiersk, Siedlce; Romania). Handwritten note on pinkasim from Zoludek and Raków. List of the part of pinkasim “that were in the Historical and Ethnographic Society-Vilna” undated
Folder 414: Committee for the Jewish refugee relief documentation of resident premises under the supervision of the committee 1939-1940
Folder 415: Resident cards, resident help reports 1939-1940
Folder 416: Jewish refugee relief committee. Housing section 1940
Folder 417: Materials on the Lithuanian citizenship regulation, memorandum of the Vilna Kehillah chairman J. Wygodski, list of Vilna Jewish lawyers, letter from Mykolas Roemeris undated
Folder 418: International cables of the Jewish refugees in Vilna, letter of Wygodski to the NewcastleuponTyne Jewish community, Dec. 1939. Letter from Z. Kalmanowicz of YIVO on behalf of a YIVO member's (Dr. Sonnabend, Johannesburg) relative 1939
Folder 419: List of Kolel roshei-yeshoivoth Beith-Joseph , Yeshiva Khofets-Hayim. Requests for clothes undated
Folder 420: Textbook requests, order lists of books in Yiddish undated