Card indexes of Jews persecuted during World War II

Card indexes of Jews persecuted during World War II  

Card indexes of Jews persecuted during World War II  

The Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic (FJC) has several card indexes at its disposal: The central card index served the occupation authorities during World War II to keep an overview of most Jewish persons from Bohemia and Moravia. Before the end of the war, the Nazis tried to destroy the majority of important documents that could, inter alia, attest to their part in the extermination of Jews. They were particularly thorough with destroying the cards of deported persons. Yet they were not successful in destroying all the evidence. Some of the cards were preserved, and most of them were recreated by employees of the Jewish Religious Community in Prague after the war based on the available information. The card index also includes smaller sets containing lists of employees of the Jewish Religious Community from September 1942 (two parallel card indexes), February 1945 and May 1945. The card indexes contain information sorted based on various criteria (alphabetically by surname, by classification within the organisation, etc.). Listed here is the personal information of employees such as name, surname, address, date of birth, nationality, identity card number and passport number. A further card index of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic (FJC) is the post-war registry of Jewish persons, which was used for example to determine information on family members and to re-connect war-separated families.  

The central card index is ordered alphabetically by surname of the registered person. The employees of the post-war Registry Department of the Council of Jewish Religious Communities first collected all available material and recorded the data on index cards. In 1947 the data on those deported was filled in from the transport lists. In some cases we can also find other additional information in the entries. For example, the stamp Haft marks the cards of those who were caught by the Gestapo, but rarely do we find the exact date of arrest. The cards of prisoners who lived to see freedom are marked with the stamp Zpět do evidence! [Back into records!] For the card index of employees of the Jewish Religious Community in Prague from September 1942, there are two parallel card indexes of employees and their family members as of the date 21 September 1942. The card indexes are ordered alphabetically by surname and then by the first name of the employee. Also included are the number of the specific person, their assignment within the organisation (department, office) and their position. We also find here data on relatives of the given employee with their serial numbers. One of these two card indexes is incomplete. The records are written in Czech and it is very likely that they are post-war duplicates of the wartime lists. The card index from February 1945 is ordered alphabetically by surname and name of the specific person; the other data on the cards varies. They often include the address of residence and almost always the current department where the given person was employed. In some cases the cards also include the date of birth or registration number of the person in the Protectorate, their work booklet number and other personal information. The card index from May 1945 contains several card indexes ordered by various criteria (alphabetically by surname, by classification within the organisation, etc.) The information in these card indexes provides likely the most comprehensive overview of community employees in the spring of 1945. Likewise, the card index from February 1945 includes personal information of employees such as name, surname, address, date of birth, nationality, identity card and passport numbers, and in addition information on the employment classification within the Jewish community, including various handwritten comments on the performance of individual workers. The post-war card index records of Jewish persons are also ordered alphabetically. Aside from basic information we also frequently find the post-war address of the given person, and in the case of emigration data associated therewith, such as the date and destination thereof.