Kerületi Elöljáróságok iratai

The Hungarian Law 1893:XXXIII. turned the Budapest district councils, at that time ten of them to which another four were to be added during the 1930s, into modern administrative bodies. Their functions extended way beyond administrative cases and combined functions of an office with an authority responsible for the issuing of certificates, the judging of cases of misdemeanor, the registration of children obliged to attend schools, the arrangement of public health-related issues, the pursuit of poor relief, etc. The combined profile of the disctrict councils of Budapest as administrative offices and authorities in their own right was strengthened over time, however, without them becoming agents of self-government or even pursuing local interest representation. The Budapest Municipal Archive contains the papers of these district councils of Budapest with the exception of the papers of the first district from before 1945 since the latter was fully destroyed. Parts of this massive collection is relevant for the study of the various local administrative steps and roads toward the Holocaust in Budapest as well as the events of 1944-45 when the surviving Jews of Budapest were first segregated into so called Yellow-Star Houses and later concentrated into two ghettos with high casualty rates.