Records of the Prefect of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, 1876-1944

http://www.pestmlev.hu/data/files/141600381.pdf No restrictions on access Prefect (főispán) was the head of the main administrative units of Hungary, the counties and the cities of municipal rights between 1870 and 1950. According to Law 42 of 1870, prefects were appointed by the head of state (upon the initiative of the Minister of the Interior). The prefect was the representative of government policy and control over local autonomies (whereas the subprefect was elected by the local municipal assemblies until 1942). Prefects had a political and representative function, whereas subprefect was the acting head of the local civil administration. From 1886, the prefect supervised all bodies and offices of the state administration in the county/city, including the subprefect, but excluding the courts. With Hungary entering WWII, the prefect also served as Government Commissioner for Public Supply and Mobilization. The most relevant Holocaust-related thematic groups of the collection are the following: 401/a. Confidential Records, 1882-1944 Holocaust-related records are scattered throughout the collection, mostly require file-level research, and include, but not limited to the following issues: political movements, including extreme right wing parties; supervision of the press, foundations and cultural and social organizations; passport issues, national and municipal elections; requests for and decisions about various kinds of trade licences and permits; supervision of extreme right wing movements and parties, including the Arrow Cross; internment and custody; records on the nationalization of Jewish landholdings; requests and petitions reflecting the antisemitic public mood, denunciations and reports against and investigation of the cases of Jewish individuals and companies; withdrawals of weapon permits and confiscation of radio receivers; supervision of Jewish communities and cultural organizations; expulsion of Jews from municipal assemblies; expropriation, handling and distribution of Jewish wealth, and ghettoization in various localities in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. 401/b. General records, 1876-1944 This part of the collection mostly concerns the supervision of the subprefect’s office and other administrative bodies of the county. The records cover many aspects of the life of Jewish individuals, companies and institutions. 401/c. Classified Records, 1938-1941 The survived fragments of the classified records mostly contain files pertaining to the activities and organization of the Arrow Cross Party in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. 401/d Confidential Records of Mobilization, 1941-1944 This part of the collection contains information on various aspects of military service, air raid, activities of German troops in Hungary, organization and activities of the ethnic German Volksbund, and anti-partisan actions. 401/e Records of Government Commissioner for Public Supply This thematic group contains information about wartime public supply, distribution of food and the control and regulation over agricultural and commercial life, including appointments of authorised wholesalers and traders, which involved discrimination against Jewish companies. A broad selection of the Holocaust-related records from 1944 is available at the Hungarian National Archives in the special collection prepared on behalf of the National Office of Hungarian Israelites (MIOI) in the 1960s, known as ‘Series I’. Series I is held by the Óbuda section of the National Archives of Hungary. Copies are available in the YVA and the USHMMA.