Központi Zsidó Tanács korszaka (Period of the Central Jewish Council)

The fond contains the records of the Pest Israelite Congregation, predominantly from the period when the Congregation’s administration worked as part of the Central Jewish Council’s bureaucracy. After the March 1944 German occupation of the country the bureaucracy of the Jewish Council was partially built on the administrative system of the Congregation. The most important unit of the Congregation incorporated into the Council was the Welfare Bureau of Hungarian Israelites that became the Council’s Social Department. Other units were not merged, but attached to the Council’s offices. These included the Cultural and Social Department, the Department of Education and Religious Education, the Liturgical Department – Office of Vital Registries, the Department of Charity, the Department of Hospitals and the Department of Foundations. The Congregation’s administration created documents regarding the confiscations by the German and Hungarian authorities; supply of various Jewish institutions; aid and support of labor servicemen; and interpretation and implementation of the antisemitic decrees. Notable documents include, among others: • letter of the secretary-general of the Pest Israelite Congregation to the Liturgical and Registration Department regarding the use of the birth, marriage and death registry books stored in the vaults of the Kőbánya Malt Factory (Kőbányai Malátagyár) (January 18, 1944) • letter of the Central Jewish Council to the Ministry of Trade and Transportation regarding the restaurants Jews are allowed to visit (May 26, 1944) • correspondence of the Pest Israelite Congregation with various financial institutions (Magyar Általános Hitelbank, Magyar Bank és Kereskedelmi Részvénytársaság, Hazai Bank Rt.) regarding the deposits and accounts of the community’s various foundations and institutions (May – October 1944) • joint memorandum of the Pest Israelite Congregation and the National Office of Hungarian Israelites to Prime Minister Miklós Kállay regarding the general situation of the Hungarian Jews (July 26, 1943) • letter of the leadership of the Pest Israelite Congregation to the leaders of the synagogues regarding the obligatory reading out of the Central Jewish Council’s proclamation (March 23, 1944) • letter of the leadership of the Pest Israelite Congregation to the Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank regarding the account of the community (March 23, 1944) • documents regarding the 21 cases of liturgical objects and archival materials of the community that were deposited in the warehouse of the Daru Ltd. and were confiscated and removed by the Hungarian authorities in 1944 (Mach 1944 – July 1945) • reports, notes, memoranda, protocols, correspondence of the Pest Israelite Congregation, the National Office of Hungarian Israelites and the Jewish Council (including internal correspondence between the three, partially identical bodies and their various departments (Legal Department, Taxation Department, Technical Department, Department of Liturgy, Human Resources Department) regarding and with various Jewish community organizations and institutions (hospitals, social and charity institutions, foundations (Chinuch Neorim, Bikur Cholim), Committee for Veterans of the National Offices of Israelites, Pest Israelite Women’s Association, Office for Support of Hungarian Israelites, Rabbinical Seminary), countryside Jewish communities, Pest synagogue district, the Budapest municipal authorities, various companies and organizations (e.g. Hungarian Chamber of Physicians) pertaining to the following topics: material requests and confiscations by the German Nazi authorities, employees, patients, donations, supply of institutions, aid of labor servicemen, interpretation and implementation of the antisemitic decrees issued by the collaborating government, financial matters, legal cases (lawsuits initiated by and against the Jewish community), taxation issues, disbanding of Jewish community organizations by the collaborating Hungarian government, setting up and furnishing the makeshift hospitals in 2 Bethlen Square and 44 Wesselényi Street, Jewish physicians; correspondence with individuals requesting financial, administrative help, employment, certification of World War I merits, travel and moving permits; • correspondence with financial institutions regarding various financial matters, including Prime Minister’s Decree no. 1600/1944 confiscating Jewish deposits; • circular letter on the rules of entering the 3rd floor of 12 Síp Street, the headquarters of the Jewish Council • claims of the Pest Israelite Congregation to various companies regarding the release of certain assets frozen due to Prime Minister’s Decree no. 1600/1944 • entrance permits to the Síp Street headquarters of the Jewish Council • registry sheet of the Pest Israelite Congregation compiled as requested by Prime Minister’s Decree no. 1600/ • invitation cards to the commemoration organized by the Pest Israelite Congregation and the Pest Chevra Kadisa in honor of the fallen Jewish soldiers of World War I • letter of head of the Good Shepard Committee József Éliás to Jewish Council member Sándor Török regarding Éliás’ opinion that the Jewish Council discriminates against convert Jews (May 24, 1944) • letter of Jewish Council member Sándor Török to the Jewish Council regarding the situation of the convert Jews (May 1944) • miscellaneous documents of the Pest Chevra Kadisha (March - April 1944): letter of the Downtown Savings Bank to the Chevra Kadisha regarding the changes in handling its account as stipulated by the antisemitic decree issued by the collaborating government (April 25); letters of the Pest Chevra Kadisha to the Housing Department of the Central Jewish Council regarding the lodging of patients of institutions sustained by the Chevra Kadisha; report on the number of tenants in the convalescent home sustained by the Pest Chevra Kadisha (April 16, 1944); datasheet regarding the financial situation and the assets of the Pest Chevra Kadisha compiled as stipulated by Prime Minister’s Decree 1600/1944 (no date, probably April 1944); individual case files of Jews applying for help to the Chevra Kadisha • letter of the Jewish Council to the Ministry of the Interior requesting freedom of movement to Imre Heller, their ordinance official at the internment camps • announcement of the Pest Israelite Congregation to renew the rent of seats in the Dohány, Rumbach and Páva Street synagogues • letter of the Óbuda Jewish Community to the Jewish Council requesting its help to exempt the community’s leaders from labor service • documents regarding the safeguarding of the Pest Israelite Congregation’s liturgical objects, artifacts and documents in 1943-1944: inventory, protocol of transfer and acknowledgement of receipt regarding the liturgical objects deposited by the Pest Israelite Congregation in the National Hungarian Jewish Museum for safeguarding, inventories of the liturgical objects of the Rumbach Street and Dohány Street Synagogues deposited in the vaults of the Daru Shipping Ltd., internal correspondence of the Pest Israelite Congregation (later the Jewish Council) regarding the fate of the liturgical objects deposited in the vaults of the Daru Shipping Ltd, internal correspondence regarding the transfer of the liturgical objects of the Nagyfuvaros Street, Páva Street, Csáky Street, Bethlen Square and Aréna Road Synagogues into the vaults of the Dohány Street Synagogue