Reichsprotektor in Bohemia and Moravia, Station for Province of Moravia, Brno

Identifier
COLLECTION.SURV.MZA_Brno/101
Language of Description
English
Dates
1 Jan 1939 - 31 Dec 1945
Level of Description
Fonds
Languages
  • German
  • Czech
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

21 linear meters

Acquisition

Documents of the Moravian station of the Office of the Reichsprotektor have not been preserved in their entirety. Following its liquidation, some of the materials passed into the registry offices of other offices. In 1942 some of the files were passed on to the Prague headquarters of the Office of the Reichsprotektor or various offices in Moravia. The Oberlandrat (Supreme District Councillor in Brno) received most of the secret files, some transferred to the Land President – administration by order of the Reich and to the Central Building Office. Out of the paperwork from the years 1939–1941, the documents concerning Aryanization and citizenship remained in Brno. Only fragments have remained in the fonds from the written material generated from the activities of the department for Cultural Policy. This material has only been gradually augmented with documents sorted out when settling the Office of the Reichsprotektor and delimitation of fonds in State Central Archives in Prague, but the fonds is not to this day complete. The inventory was made out in 1976.

Scope and Content

The fonds contains documents of the supreme political administration of Moravia documenting the Germanisation intentions of the Nazis, their penetration into and attempt to gradually control all areas of life. Materials have been preserved concerning Germanisation, the determination of domicile and citizenship and race, occupation, price economics and also Aryanization.

In the fonds we can find much material relating to the history of the Jews in Moravia during the Protectorate and Second World War. For example, these materials are kept here: Report of NSDAP in Brno from September 1941 about commentaries of Czech press against anti-Jewish measures; designation of visiting times at offices for Jewish inhabitants 1939–1941; materials for Aryanization from meetings at the Reichsprotektor 1939–1941; use of Jewish inhabitants to remove anti–German graffiti and posters 1939–1941; Jewish houses in Brno 1939–1941; camps for Jewish refugees from Slovakia 1939–1940; marking of Jewish origin in ID documents, issue of passports to Jews 1939–1941; marking the passports of Jewish citizens with red "J" 1941. Much material on the Jewish matter is contained in the item Jewish Inhabitants in the Protectorate – general directives 1939–1941 (for example, status of Jews in public life, restrictive measures against Jews, special markings, foundation of ghettos, restrictions in transport, trade, contact with so–called Aryans, restrictions on movement, securing Jewish property – lists, legal representation of Jews, list of cultural institutions where entry was forbidden to Jews, procedure against so–called Jewish persons of mixed race, merging of Jewish registers in Prague, tabular list of Jews in Brno and data about Jews in Kroměříž, Hulín, Kvasice, Morkovice, Lutopecny, Střílky, Zborovice, Věžky and Zdounky; report on secret meeting of Jews in Strážnice 1940, provision of clothing to Jewish emigrants to Palestine, foreign exchange rules for Jewish businesses and societies, financial provision for Jews, closing of synagogues, procedure against so–called Judeophilic Czechs etc., printed poster from 1939 with decree about measures against Jews in Brno and printed implementing instructions with forms for legal status of Jews in public life). Other archival records focus on the implementation of anti–Jewish measures, such as the restriction of movement and staying in inns and spas, prohibition of participation in sporting enterprises, ban on moving home, Jewish camp in Ivančice etc. 1939–1941. Here we can find material about the emigration of Jews (establishment of Centre for Emigration of Jews, managed by the Gestapo), transports of Jews from Ostrava to Poland, directive for emigration of Jews from the Protectorate, orders for evacuation of Jews and seizure of their property 1939–1941, directives for handling assets of Jewish organisations (assets of religious Jewish communities, foundations, funds etc.) 1940–1941 and for handling of assets of Jews 1939–1940; seized Jewish flats for German displaced persons 1940; there are general directives here for the area of education (ban on accepting children of German–Aryan origin at private Jewish schools, ban on accepting Jewish pupils from Bürgeschule (public schools) at institutes of higher education, securing Jewish school property, ban on acceptance of Jewish pupils at Czech schools, Jewish schools in Brno, Jewish employees and Jews of mixed race in education, dismissal of Jewish teachers from school service, replacement of dismissed Jewish employees with Germans, dismissal of Jewish employees from financial institutes and industry, Aryanization of Jewish farming businesses, discussions with Jewish religious community about sale of chateau in Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou 1939–1941, Jewish shops and businesses and their liquidation, shopping hours for Jewish inhabitants in Brno, introduction of forced administration in Jewish businesses, elimination of Jews from economic life in the Protectorate, transfer of Jewish property to German hands, overview of state of Aryanization in Moravia, list of Jewish large landowners, handling of Jewish property and its Aryanization etc.

System of Arrangement

The fonds is divided into two main parts, the first consists of written material from 1939–1941 and concerns the duties of the station for Moravia with added documents from the secret registry, after which files are included concerning citizenship and race. The second part of the fonds comes from the so–called Cultural Department from the years 1942–1945.

Finding Aids

Process Info

  • This archival description was created by the Jewish Museum in Prague in the framework of the cooperation between EHRI and the Yerusha project.

Places

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.