Okresný úrad Námestovo

Printed inventory Okresný úrad v Martine (1923 – 1945), authors Pavla Baračková and Anna Krivošíková, Martin 1965. 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. The District Office Námestovo was a state administration body. It was established during the period of 1st Czechoslovak Republic (1918 – 1938) and it existed also during the period of the Slovak state/ Slovak Republic (1939 – 1945). This office was originally enforced by the Law No.126/1920 Coll., which entered into effect on 1 January 1923. The District Office in Martin, was subordinated to the Považská County (Považská župa), which was seated in Turčiansky sv. Martin in the years 1923 – 1928, and the Ministry of Interior. After the 1928 reform of state administration in Czechoslovakia resulted in the repeal of counties and County Offices, district offices in the Slovak territory were subordinated to the Country Office in Bratislava (Krajinský úrad v Bratislave). Soon after the creation of the Slovak state (March 14, 1939) its state administration was reorganized and the District Office in Martin was subordinated to the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic (pursuant to the Law No. 190/1939 effective from 1 January 1940). In matters falling within the competence of other ministries, regulations and instructions of these ministries were implemented. Since 1 January 1940, this district was incorporated into the newly established Tatranská County (Tatranská župa) with the seat in Ružomberok. Main representative of the district was called the District Chief (Okresný náčelník) who was responsible for the state administration in the district. From 1 January 1940 District Chief was subordinated to the respected County Office and the Ministry of Interior. District Offices were superior to the notary offices which were the lowest level bodies of the state administration in Slovakia 1938 ¬– 1945. After establishing the District Office in Námestovo there were 8 notary offices with 26 municipalities in its competence and this number rose to 9 notary offices in years 1940 – 1945. Due to the fact that in the period 1938 – 1945 the majority of anti-Jewish measures in Slovakia was put to life by the state administration bodies archival documents of District Offices represent some of the most important sources for the research of Holocaust in Slovakia, both on the state and regional levels. Acessible. Archival material in the fonds of the District Office in Námestovo, as the state administration body at the regional level, contains the documents concerning political, economic, cultural and social situation in this district during the period 1923 – 1945 and as such it encloses also number of important documents pertaining the persecution of Jews living at the territory of Námestovo district in 1938 – 1945. Fonds contains various fragmentary information about the history of Jews before 1938 and mainly during the period of the Hlinka Slovak People´s Party regime when the anti-Semitic measures came in force and Jewish community was systematically persecuted. Representatives of the district office and police forces were regularly observing moods in the society, monthly Situation reports regularly written by the District Chief in Námestovo contain also the information about realization of anti-Semitic measures in this territory. Several documents inform about the Jewish convertites to the Catholic Church, limiting the Jewish social life, in particular by gradual canceling of their associations in the Námestovo District. Many documents are dedicated to the various steps of the process of so-called Aryanization of the Jewish property, list of the enterprises in the district, reports from the auctions of the movable belongings, etc. Gradual limiting of Jews in their former professions can be observed, for example, on the circumstances of the Jewish doctors. Documents address also the forced labor, in particular establishing the Labor center in the village of Slanica which was located in the Námestovo District. Fonds provides also with crucial information about the deportations in 1942, evidence of the deportees from the district, list of Jewish “deserters” who escaped from the deportation and latter searching for them.