EHRI - Okresný úrad v Trstenej

Extent and Medium

80,67 linear meters, paper documents

Biographical History

The District Office in Trstená was a state administration body. It was established during the period of 1st Czechoslovak Republic (1918 – 1938) and it existed also during the period of the Slovak state/ Slovak Republic (1939 – 1945). This office was originally enforced by the Law No.126/1920 Coll., which entered into effect on 1 January 1923. The District Office in Trstená, was subordinated to the Považská County (Považská župa), which was seated in Turčiansky sv. Martin (today: Martin) in the years 1923 – 1928, and the Ministry of Interior. After the 1928 reform of state administration in Czechoslovakia resulted in the repeal of counties and County Offices, district offices in the Slovak territory were subordinated to the Country Office in Bratislava (Krajinský úrad v Bratislave). Soon after the creation of the Slovak state (March 14, 1939) its state administration was reorganized and the District Office in Martin was subordinated to the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic (pursuant to the Law No. 190/1939 effective from 1 January 1940). In matters falling within the competence of other ministries, regulations and instructions of these ministries were implemented. Since 1 January 1940, this district was incorporated into the newly established Tatranská County (Tatranská župa) with the seat in Ružomberok. Main representative of the district was called the District Chief (Okresný náčelník) who was responsible for the state administration in the district. From 1 January 1940 District Chief was subordinated to the respected County Office and the Ministry of Interior. District Offices were superior to the notary offices which were the lowest level bodies of the state administration in Slovakia 1938 ¬– 1945. Originally, there were 6 notary offices with 22 municipalities in the competence of the District Office in Trstená. Administration has changed after 1939 when some villages were returned from the Polish territory and afterwards 11 notary offices and 34 villages were directly subordinated to the District Office in Trstená. Due to the fact that in the period 1938 – 1945 the majority of anti-Jewish measures in Slovakia was practically realized by the state administration bodies archival documents of District Offices represent some of the most important sources for the research of Holocaust in Slovakia, both on the state and regional levels.

Archival History

Fonds was inventarized by Etela Czocherová (prezidiálne spisy) and Peter Huba (administratívne spisy) in 1971-1972. Systematic archival processing of this fonds started in mid-50s and it was partially shred in 1955, 1961 and 1962 by the archivist O. Kompan and finally organized by Elena Valeková and Emília Bruncková in 1969.

Acquisition

No data available.

Scope and Content

More than 80 linear meters of the archival material in the Fonds of the District Office in Trstená, as the state administration body at the regional level, contains the documents concerning political, economic, cultural and social situation in this district during the period 1923 – 1945 and as such it encloses also number of important documents pertaining the persecution of Jews living at the territory of Trstená district in 1938 – 1945 when Jewish community was being systematically persecuted. Several documents particularly inform about the history of Jews before 1938 and mainly during the period of the Hlinka Slovak People´s Party regime when the anti-Semitic measures came in force. Printed inventory, however is only selective, pays significant attention to the persecution of Jewish community in the years 1938 – 1945. Trstená district was located in proximity to Slovak-Polish borders, so the fonds contains some specific information about the circumstances in the borderland, in particular the migration of Jews, for example the Soviet ones in 1938. There are some documents addressing the acting of the members of local Hlinka Guard against Jews such as manifestation of the anti-Semitic slogans in the public places and its role in organizing the Labor camps for Jews. Many documents are dedicated to the various steps of the process of the so-called Aryanization, confiscation of Jewish property, revision of Jewish business licenses, liquidation of some enterprises and gradual limiting of Jews in their professions such as the revision of the business licenses or dismissal from state and public service in the district. Fonds encloses also documents retaining the information about withdrawing the driving and hunting licenses. From the perspective of the Gentiles, there are several documents informing about the inhabitants of Trstená District who kept in touch with Jews. Documents from the presidential department of District Office in Trstená reflect also the forced inner-state migration in autumn 1941 when Jews were “disclocated” from the capital city of Bratislava. Period of deportations in 1942 is also adequately covered, fonds contains the evidence of Jewish women in the age 16 – 45, lists of deported Jews from the district and especially from the city of Tvrdošín, information about the “deserters” and searching for them, etc.

Appraisal

No data available.

Accruals

No accruals expected.

System of Arrangement

The documents are arranged chronologically and numerically, by the department.

Conditions Governing Access

Accessible.

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Archival documents can be reproduced with the permission of the archive and in accordance with archive´s Research Rules (Bádateľský poriadok) as well as other internal regulations of the Ministry of Interior.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Undammaged

Finding Aids

Printed inventory Okresný úrad v Trstenej (1923 – 1945), authors Etela Czocherová and Peter Huba, Dolný Kubín, 1965.

Archivist Note

The fonds was identified and described by Michala Lônčíková and Ján Hlavinka.

Rules and Conventions

EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0