Customs Investigation Office Brno Zollfahndungszweigstelle Brünn (D25)

Investigative files pertaining to the confiscation by the Customs Investigation Office Brno and Gestapo Brünn of assets and valuables of Jews. In many cases, there are arrest warrants issued by the Gestapo for Jews suspected of having fled with their assets or suspected of hiding their assets or having moved their assets abroad in preparation for their emigration. The investigative files feature criminal complaints by non-Jews about their Jewish neighbors, employers and acquaintances whom they suspect of hiding assets, detailed reports about house searches and arrests, interrogation protocols, and correspondence with various agencies such as the Zollfahndungsstelle Wien (Customs Investigation Office Vienna) and the Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung (Central Agency for Jewish Emgration) for the period from 1939 to circa 1942. Types of confiscated assets and valuables include safe deposit boxes, savings accounts, life insurances, stocks and bonds, real estate, jewelry, home furnishings and antiques, artwork, automobiles, guns and rifles, small businesses, factories, and entire industries. Includes communication with the local Jewish Community in Brno about pending emigration cases, the procurement of foreign currencies, the payment of taxes, and the like. Also includes documentation about appointed commissioners (kommissarische Verwalter) and the sale of expropriated Jewish property to non-Jewish buyers, as well as cases involving the smuggling of foreign currency. The collection was digitized in its entirety and includes investigations and criminal cases involving non-Jews.

Original records D25 arranged in following groups: 1. Administrative files (Cartons 1-30, 43,200 pages); 2. Sign. E. Investigative and penal files from subsidiary in Brno (Cartons 31-218, 284,680 pages); 3. Administrative files from subsidiary in Ostrava (Cartons 220 – 226, 8,240 pages); 4. Sign. F, E, Investigative and penal files from subsidiary in Ostrava (15,840 pages); 5. Sign. F, Investigative and penal files from subsidiary in Olomouc (Cartons 24, 1,440 pages) Note: Cartons starting with carton #31 contain investigative files for individual cases, most of which pertain to Jews; 6. Correspondence, bank mailing lists (Cartons : 211-245.)