A Magyar Izraeliták Országos Irodájának iratai
- Documents of the National Office of Hungarian Israelites
Extent and Medium
Ca. 5 linear meters
Creator(s)
- National Office of Hungarian Israelites
Biographical History
The National Office of Hungarian Israelites (in certain periods: National Office of Israelites of Hungary) was the umbrella organization of Neologue Jewish communities in Hungary until 1950. After the March 1944 German occupation of the country the bureaucracy of the Jewish Council partially integrated the administration of the Office, which, however, kept its partial independence.
Archival History
The documents have been in the possession of the Jewish community since their creation.
Scope and Content
This body of documents holds the records of the National Office of Hungarian Israelites. Its elements with relevance to the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust range from 1939 to 1945 and include: documents regarding the organization’s responses to the anti-Jewish legislation, such as appeals and petitions written to the Hungarian governmental and legislative authorities; correspondence with Jewish individuals, communities and Hungarian and foreign authorities regarding the individual cases of persecuted Hungarian Jews in the country and abroad; documents regarding the aid and relief actions for labor servicemen as well Jewish prisoners of the Hungarian internment camps. Especially noteworthy elements are the documents regarding the special taxation imposed by the Office upon the Jewish communities to counterbalance the negative financial effects of the antisemitic legislation, as they include collection of yearly budgets and balance sheets of hundreds of communities from 1942-1943, shedding light on their situation on the eve of the destruction. As part of the Jewish Council’s bureaucracy, the administration of the Office maintained contact with the countryside communities through an extensive correspondence regarding the disenfranchisement, plunder, ghettoization and deportation of the countryside Jews.
System of Arrangement
The sub-fond includes registered documents (iktatott iratok) and registry books (iktatókönyvek).
Existence and Location of Copies
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum RG-39.013M
Archivist Note
Description by Zoltán Vagi
Rules and Conventions
EHRI Guidelines for Description v.1.0