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The Courland Vedomosti Database
Database created and notes by Michael Whippman, z'l
Specialised translations by Max Michelson
This database indexes and summarises over 2,000 entries
relating to the Jewish Community in Courland (now part of Latvia) appearing
in the official Russian Government Gazette (the Vedomosti).
At present, it covers the period 1853 to 1861, but this project is ongoing
and over time it is hoped to extend the material up to 1900.
Courland was a separate Gubernia (Province) of the Russian Empire from 1797
to 1918, with its own provincial Government based at Mitau (now Jelgava, Latvia).
The Kurlyandskiya Gubernskiya Vedomosti, or Kurländische Gouvernements-Zeitung
was the official newspaper published every Tuesday and Saturday throughout
the year from 1852-1915. It contained public announcements, reports of Court
cases, "wanted" lists of people sought by the authorities, details of
arrivals in and departures from Courland, lists of appointments to various
public bodies, together with a small number of private announcements and advertisements.
In the period up till 1866, most of the entries are in German, with a few in
Russian and a sprinkling in Latvian. (From 1886 onwards, Russian was used
exclusively). As can be seen from the sample page below, the German entries are
in the old fashioned Fraktur script and with rather archaic spelling. The
language is formal, with much use of elaborate standard formulas, and with a
liberal admixture of Latin terms in the legal reports.
Detailed Description of Content
Sample Entries
The database includes a summary of all entries referring to the Jewish
Community in the relevant years. In the majority of cases, Jews are identified
explicitly in the text (as "ebräisch" or Hebrew).
Others have been recognised by their names. Where there is doubt whether a
particular individual was Jewish, we have erred on the side of inclusion.
Overlap with the Passlosen Database
The first work that was done on the Vedomosti as a source for
genealogical research was to extract and create a database of those individuals
who were "without permit". That list has in its own
introductory material and stands separately, although the entries will also
appear in this database. The reason for this is that we have wanted to create
a complete index of all entries relating to the Jews available from the
Vedomosti during the relevant time frame. The historical importance
of the Passlosen lists and the role they played in Jewish history was considered
sufficiently important that we believe it justifies a free standing dedicated
database. This is something that is being kept under review.
The database is clearly not a comprehensive guide to the Jewish population
of Courland in the relevant years: it was obviously a matter of chance whether
a particular family had the necessary brush with officialdom to be mentioned in
the Vedemosti in a given year. Where there is an entry, however, the list shows
that a named Jew was registered in a given locality on a given date and may
provide a good deal of additional information:
- several members of the same
family may be listed, with the relationships stated;
- some of the entries list
occupations, positions held or addresses;
- the entries for people sought
by the authorities often include detailed physical descriptions: colour of
hair and eyes, height and weight, facial characteristics.
Quite apart from references to specific individuals, the entries provide a
fascinating insight into everyday life in 19th century Courland and can bring
the people alive in a way that other databases do not.
The various fields in the database are:
- Entry Number – a number
of the form KGZ xx/yy/zz assigned by the Project. The figures
immediately after KGZ (for Kurländische Gouvernements-Zeitung) give
the volume number (running from 1 to 103 or 104 each year); the next two
digits give the year; and the final digits are an arbitrary reference used
by the Project. (Though pages in the Vedomosti were generally numbered,
the page numbers are not always apparent on the working copy used to
construct the database). The reference number refers to a specific page in
the Vedomosti, which may include several separate entries.
There are some entries in the form "KGZ/zz/xx" without any numbers.
This indicates an entry where we have received photocopies from Riga but
they were undated and we have not been able to trace to originals.
This in fact is all one sheet of names and the likely date is in or about
1855.
- Surname, Maiden Name,
Given Names - these are listed exactly as they appear in the
printed text, even when there is reason to believe that they have been
misspelled. In a small number of cases, the surname cannot be read in full
and is given, for example, as "…cus" or "Eck…".
In one or two cases, no surname is given and the field is left blank.
Where an entry does not refer to a specific individual – for example, an
advertisement for a new Rabbi, or a reference to the whole Jewish
Community in a District – the Surname has been entered as GENERAL.
- Town – the town given
will generally be one referred to in the Vedomosti entry itself. In the
majority of cases, this is the town in which the individual concerned was
registered, as this is the convention used in most other databases on this site.
If this is not apparent from the entry, however, the town may be that in
which the individual lived (which need not be that where he or she was
registered) or the town in which some incident occurred. It should be
noted that registration area was known by the name of the chief town of a
District, but may have covered several separate smaller towns or villages.
Where possible, these distinctions are brought out in the "comments"
section.
Towns listed in this column are given their modern name (where this
can be identified) rather than the name used in the actual entry.
A table listing the two versions is available.
- Date – the date of the event.
This correlates closely with the date code in the Entry Number we have devised.
- Comment – this field
gives a summary of the relevant entry. The aim has been to give enough
information to convey the key points rather than to give an exact
translation. The amount of information given will vary: some entries are
no more than a single reference in a list of names, while others will
occupy several column inches and have been drastically shortened for the
database.
Place names are given exactly as they
appear in the entry, with the modern equivalent in brackets when it is
significantly different. Several of the places mentioned will have a variety of
different names – we have tried to use the name most likely to be familiar to
English speakers.
Initials are used to refer to the subject
of the entry. For example, the Comment for Israel Elias WEISS reads "Tax
receipt issued to IEW by police has been found".
Addresses are given where relevant. Note
that few Courland properties had a street address in the modern sense, though
there are some references to property on "der grossen Strasse"
(translated as "the High Street"). In most places, properties were
simply given a number, which ran sequentially across the town as a whole. Mitau
was divided into 4 Quarters, with properties numbered sequentially in each.
Money amounts are quoted in Roubles or
Kopecks (1/100th of Rouble). It is hard to give exact equivalents in
modern currency, but there are items in the vedomosti themselves which help to
give an indication.
-
a table was published each fortnight giving maximum prices for bread and
meat. In September 1859, for example, bread cost roughly 3 Kopecks for a loaf
weighing 1 pound; veal cost 9-11 Kopecks per pound, while lamb was
7 Kopecks per pound for ordinary quality and 10 for best quality. (The
pound used here was slightly smaller than our present pound). The penalty for
selling goods at a higher price was 15 Rbl for a first offence and 30 for a
second.
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The annual budget for the city of Libau (Liepaja) published in March
1859, shows annual rentals of 75, 180, 225 , 350 and 400 Rbl for various houses
rented by the city.
-
The return fare by coach between Libau and Polangen in 1860 was 2 Rbl 50
Kpk.
The central libraries in Latvia have an almost complete collection of the
Courland Vedomosti. The originals are frail and are rapidly perishing as the
newsprint from the time is not of particularly good quality.
The Courland Research Group has a photocopied
set of all Jewish entries between 1853 and 1860 [obtained from the copies in
the library in Riga] and continues to receive material. Copies are also held by
libraries in St Petersburg and Moscow and may be consulted there. We are not
aware of any copies in Western libraries or collections.
Acknowledgements
A warm thank you to those who assisted in the databasing of this material,
in particular Kathy Wolfson (USA), Charles Nam (USA) and Martha Lev-Zion
(Israel) who transcribed parts of the material and entered it into the
database. Max Michelson (USA) has contributed numerous translations and
continues to provide support and advice. Particular thanks go to Dr. Tatjana
Aleksejeva, an acknowledged expert in the history of the Jews of Courland, who
has worked systematically through the originals, identifying and copying
entries referring to the Jewish community. Her working collaboration on
projects has been of the greatest assistance. This project also owes a debt
of gratitude to the Centre for Judaic Studies at the University of Latvia,
Riga whose remarkable director, Professor Ruvin Ferber has lent warm personal
support not only for this particular project but for the work of the Courland
Research Group generally.
The Courland Research Group also wishes to express its thanks to our web
masters, Michael Tobias and Warren Blatt.
Sponsorship and Volunteering
The Courland Research Group welcomes volunteers as does the Database
Project. We have a full array of material that we are working to bring on line
but we depend on the help and support of volunteers. The database has grown
quickly because individual people of goodwill all around the world have worked
together to make it happen. Please join us to share your skills or learn new
ones. Contact Martha Lev-Zion if
you are able to make a donation, and Constance
Whippman if you would like to be part of our volunteer team. You will be
warmly welcomed.
Constance Whippman, Database
Co-ordinator
Copyright ©2001, Courland Research Steering Committee and Michael Whippman
Last Updated: 21 February 2001 WSB
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