Okresný ľudový súd v Košiciach

  • District People´s Court in Košice
Identifier
11962
Language of Description
English
Dates
1945 - 1948
Level of Description
Fonds
Languages
  • Hungarian
  • Slovak
Scripts
  • Latin
Source
EHRI

Extent and Medium

63 boxes, paper.

Creator(s)

  • Okresný ľúdový súd v Košiciach

Biographical History

Following the Second World War trials with Nazi criminals and their collaborators were organized on the territory of restored Czechoslovakia just like in many other European countries of those days. Three-tier retributive justice system was established in the Slovak part of post-war Czechoslovakia by the Regulation of the Slovak National Council no. 33/1945 on the Punishment of Fascist Criminals, Occupants, Traitors and Collaborators and on the Establishment of People’s Judiciary. District People’s Courts (Okresný ľudový súd), which were established at district seats with the jurisdiction over the territory of specific districts represented the second tier within the system of the retributive judiciary in Slovakia. Within their jurisdiction fall all criminal offenses stipulated by the Regulation No. 33/1945 with the exception of cases under the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Court (which tried only the leading officials of former Slovak Republic (1939-1945)). A 5-member Senates of District People´s Courts, consisting of a Senate president and four member decided cases. The Senate president and his deputy had to be professional judges.

Archival History

Once the Regulation on the retributive justice ceased to be valid on 31 December 1948, documents of District People´s Courts together with the documents of their prosecutors were transferred to respective Regional Courts (Krajský súd). Documents of several District People´s Courts were thus concentrated in the Regional Court in Košice. The court had transferred those to the State archive in Košice on 31 October 1961. These documents were however quite unsorted and incomplete and the State archive in Košice started to sort them out in 1961. Documents were then divided into several archival fonds, including the fonds of the District People´s Court in Košice. Printed register of the fonds was created in 1964.

Acquisition

Documents were transferred to the State archive in Košice on 31 October 1961.

Scope and Content

Fonds contains files pertaining the post-WW II prosecution of various suspects and convicts for crimes committed at the territory of Slovakia (1938-1945) as well as Hungary (1938-1945). It thus contains information on various forms of persecution of Jews, Roma and political opponents which took place not only at the territory of Košice and its vicinity but also at the territory of war-time Slovakia as well as quite distant places abroad. Besides files pertaining the so called Aryanization of Jewish property in Košice and its vicinity; blackmailing and denouncing of Jews; as well as the deportation of Jews from Košice and its vicinity in 1944 this fonds contains also the file pertaining the mass execution of people in Košice in January 1945. Some files include the information on the Jewish ghetto in Košice and/or the so called brick-factory camp in Košice. There are also files which contain the information and/or testimonies on the activities of the Hungarian Police Capitanate in Košice and various anti-Jewish measures. Among various suspects and convicts one can find members of the Nyilaskeresztes Párt - Hungarista Mozgalom (NKP) and other political and security bodies active in Košice and surroundings during the period of 1938-1945. Several files inlcude the information on the forced labor of Jews at various places, including Davidka in Ukraine or Gyimesközeplak. As was mentioned above, the fonds also contains the information on the persecution of Jews in war-time Slovakia, including Aryanization of Jewish property in Sečovce or Vranov nad Topľou. Various files contain the information on deportation of Jews from several places in Slovakia in 1942 including Humenné, Michalovce, Medzilaborce and Vranov nad Topľou. Some files contain information about the death of specific individuals in various concentration camps. One of the files contains the information about the conditions in the concentration camp Javorzne in 1944.

Appraisal

No data available.

Accruals

No accruals expected.

Conditions Governing Access

Acessible.

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

Undamaged.

Finding Aids

  • Printed register: Ľudové súdy. Obžalobcovia ľudových súdov. 1945 - 1948, Author Alžbeta Pápaiová, 1964. Researcher´s Room of the archive.

Existence and Location of Copies

  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., USA.

Archivist Note

Fonds was identified and described by Ján Hlavinka.

Rules and Conventions

EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Places

  • Michalovce
  • Vranov nad Topľou
  • Medzilaborce
  • Humenné
  • Ghetto Jaworzno
  • Sečovce
  • Kassa
  • sk:Košice

Genre