An overview
The Monitor Polski was established in 1918 as the official legislative
paper of the new Republic of Poland. From September to December 1939, the
government section was published in exile in France. The gazette was
resumed in 1945. Since 1950, it has been published by the office of the
Prime Minister (Chairman of the Council of Ministers) to announce
legislation of the Parliament (Sejm). The Polish Monitor has traditionally
consisted of two sections, the governmental and non-governmental. The
first included orders and decrees and the latter contained varied
material.Legal, Mortgage and Inheritance Announcements
Proceedings pertaining to inheritance and mortgage regulations in the years of 1946-1947 were widespread and published as court announcements. Inheritance proceedings provide information such as date of death (year, month, and day), address of the property and its area. The mortgage regulatory proceedings provide only the name of the former owner and the address of the property (not necessarily the same as the address of the owner's residence.)
From 1949 to 1953 (inclusive) material pertaining to takeover of private enterprises by the Communist state, based on the January 3, 1946 legislation, can be found in the Monitor. Lists were organized by the provinces (wojew\ dztwo), in alphabetical order based on firms' names. The information included first and last name of the owner, name of the firm and its location.
Preliminary reviews of the pre-war volumes of The Polish Monitor have also resulted in finding information that could be useful in genealogical research. This includes announcements of registration of associations, which contain names of the organizations, dates of registration, names of the founding members as well as location and goals of the organizations. The trade register provides information on newly established businesses, including date of registration, names of companies and their locations. In the context of the 1949-1953 records, it is possible to trace the continuity of enterprises.
Columns pertaining to missing documents and surname changes may also prove to be very useful in tracing some families.
Honorary hereditary citizenship
Honorary hereditary citizenship was a special class
between the nobility and unprivileged classes. This status was given to
civil officers who had not obtained the rank of 8th class; later, it was
given to military officers up to captain of non-noble birth, to
university graduates, to philanthropists, and to other persons of
distinguished public service.
Personal honorary citizenship could not inherited.
Personal honorary citizenship could not inherited.
- children of personal noblemen;
- children of the Orthodox clergy;
- children of Lutheran Pastors excluding those who were born after the father left all positions in the Church;
- persons who being personal honorary citizens continued any activities useful for the society for the period of ten years. These persons were to apply for the estate. Persons, who were not personal honorary citizens but whose activities were really useful for the whole society during 20 years, were also allowed to apply for the estate of hereditary honorary citizen. This usefulness was to be certified by a state institution;
- persons who graduated from any university of the Empire with an academic grade of master or doctor. The Law stated that this was also accepted for doctors and masters of medicine, pharmacy and Orthodox theology (evidently these academic grades could be acquired not only in the universities). The graduates from some other educational institutions of the Empire were granted this estate by the application of the appropriate Ministry after ten years of successful work in the acquired specialty. Riga Polytechnic institute was among these institutions. It should be remembered that this institute was established in 1896 by granting appropriate rights to Riga Polytechnicum. The graduates of Riga Polytechnicum were not among these privileged persons except those who took additional examinations and acquired the rights of the graduates from Riga Polytechnic institute;
- merchants who had honorary titles of Commercial councilor or Manufacture councilor (in Russian - Kommerciji Sovetnik, Manufaktur Sovetnik). The councilor was a honorary title that could be conferred on those merchants who had been in the 1st guild for at least 12 years at the beginning of the 19th century and later for 25 years.
- merchants decorated with any order of Russia;
- merchants or merchant families who belonged to the 1st guild for 25 years uninterruptedly. It follows, if a merchant of the 1st guild died before he was in this estate for 25 years, his heirs could continue his business until 25 years were reached and then apply for the estate of hereditary honorary citizen;
- Jews who invested in Jewish agricultural settlements in the amount sufficient for creating of 50 farms. This was allowed by the rules adopted in 1848, but the practice of creating Jewish settlements soon was abandoned. The regulations concerning Jewish settlements strictly defined what a farm should have comprised, and so it was not possible to make some sort of "economy farms".
1879 draftee list info
The title of this list is somewhat of a misnomer for several
reasons. First, although the list may have been formed of persons living in
Kaunas, many persons listed are registered in 89 other cities and towns. The
majority of persons listed were registered in Kaunas or in Kaunas Gubernia. The
cities and towns were located in all 32 Districts and in seven other Gubernias:
Hrodna (Grodno), Courland, Minsk, Moscow, Vitsebsk, Suwalki, and Vilnius.
Second, the list includes not only draftees who are identified by a notation in
column D, but also other members of the draftees' households including heads of
households not drafted, wives of the heads, and other male members of the
family. No other female family members are listed. It is not possible to
determine for certain whether all of the data were collected in 1879, but other
historical factors support that the data are at least contemporary. This list
may be useful as a census of households with sons both eligible and ineligible
for military service, presumably living in Kaunas Gubernia, and provides
additional evidence for determining the origin of the families listed who were
registered elsewhere.
The year 1879 is significant because it marked the full implementation of the major reforms of 1874 in the conscription laws under Czar Alexander II. These reforms especially benefitted Jews, by shortening the term of service to six years (originally 25 years beginning in 1827), broadening the pool of eligible recruits and instituting a new system of exemptions thus reducing the pressure to dragoon ineligibles into service. It also appears, at least in hindsight, that Russia may have been trying to compensate for its enormous losses during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78 (nearly 15,600 killed in battle, 180,000 died from disease and other causes, nearly 60,000 wounded or missing, and 35,000 released as unfit for duty). Jews in military service still comprised a larger proportion of the Jewish population than Russians as a proportion of the total Russian population. The assassination in March, 1881, of Czar Alexander II, who was anticipating further political reforms, and the succession of Alexander III, whose reactionary oppressive and autocratic rule was often referred to as the "Age of Counter Reform" , undid much of the good that had accrued to the Jews. The "May Laws" Alexander III instituted in 1882 triggered the mass emigration of Jews from the Pale of Settlement that followed.
The Final List contains 17 columns of data including ones showing who was drafted, and for all persons who are listed, surname, given name, father's name, relation to head of household, sex, age or date of birth, several columns showing the place of legal residence and the location of the records. The Comments Column M is especially interesting in that its shows, for each draftee, his literacy level, educational achievement where applicable and occupation.
The year 1879 is significant because it marked the full implementation of the major reforms of 1874 in the conscription laws under Czar Alexander II. These reforms especially benefitted Jews, by shortening the term of service to six years (originally 25 years beginning in 1827), broadening the pool of eligible recruits and instituting a new system of exemptions thus reducing the pressure to dragoon ineligibles into service. It also appears, at least in hindsight, that Russia may have been trying to compensate for its enormous losses during the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78 (nearly 15,600 killed in battle, 180,000 died from disease and other causes, nearly 60,000 wounded or missing, and 35,000 released as unfit for duty). Jews in military service still comprised a larger proportion of the Jewish population than Russians as a proportion of the total Russian population. The assassination in March, 1881, of Czar Alexander II, who was anticipating further political reforms, and the succession of Alexander III, whose reactionary oppressive and autocratic rule was often referred to as the "Age of Counter Reform" , undid much of the good that had accrued to the Jews. The "May Laws" Alexander III instituted in 1882 triggered the mass emigration of Jews from the Pale of Settlement that followed.
The Final List contains 17 columns of data including ones showing who was drafted, and for all persons who are listed, surname, given name, father's name, relation to head of household, sex, age or date of birth, several columns showing the place of legal residence and the location of the records. The Comments Column M is especially interesting in that its shows, for each draftee, his literacy level, educational achievement where applicable and occupation.
Azriel Ber Rapoport’s school
Riga Polytechnicum
1862 –
1896
The
history of Riga Technical University dates back to 14 October 1862, when the
Riga Polytechnicum (RP) was founded. It was the first multi-discipline
technical tertiary education establishment in the Russian Empire. The RP was
established following the model of the most progressive technical universities
of that time. As a private educational establishment it was financed by the
Baltic nobility. The RP originally incorporated six departments: Engineering,
Chemistry, Agriculture, Mechanics, Commerce, and Architecture. Admission was
open only to male students for a tuition fee, irrespective of nationality,
religion or social status. There were no entrance examinations. The language of
tuition was German.
