Gintaras Dručkus Kaunas County Archives, Lithuania 2015-10-19 Kaunas County Archive – 4-th largest state archive in the Republic of Lithuania.

Archive preserves nearly 1 300 000 of files organized into 2410 fonds. All together they comprise nearly 10 000 linear meters of repositories shelves. Kaunas County Archive preserves: Fonds of the institutions relating to the Russian Empire period comprise a set of documents created by the institutions which were functioning on the territory of the Kaunas Governorate. Fonds relating to the period of the Republic of Lithuania (1919–1940) and the German occupation period (1941–1944) comprise a set of documents of the institutions which were functioning in Kaunas and in the Kaunas County of that time. Fonds relating to the Soviet occupation periods (1940 –1941) and (1944–1990) comprise a set of documents of the institutions which were functioning on the present Kaunas County territory. Fonds relating to the Independence period (since 1990) comprise a set of documents of the state and public institutions which were and still are functioning on the Kaunas County territory, including documents of the Kaunas Council of the Lithuanian Reform Movement Sąjūdis and personal collections of the Independence Act signatories Egidijus Bičkauskas and Algirdas Patackas.

Because of certain historical as well as political reasons Kaunas for many years has been political and administrative center of Lithuania. For instance, in the 19 th – begining of the 20 th centuries Kaunas has been the political and administrative center of Kaunas Gubernya, which covered appr. 90 % of Lithuanian territoryat that time (1843 – 1915). In 1920-1940 Kaunas was Provisional Capital of the Republic of Lithuania. This period Kaunas City and Kaunas Region related archival documents are also preserved at Kaunas County Archives. As we know, since the very begining of the 19th century up to the very 1941 number of jewish origin rezidents in this area was rather meaningful - in some periods of time in Lithuanian cities it reached up to appr. 36% and even more of total certain cities' population. So, it becomes clear that Kaunas County Archives preserves lots of documents, related with Kaunas City and Kaunas Region Jewish comunities' history since the very begining of the 19th century until The Great Catastrophe in 1941 and, in certain extent - until our days.

Kaunas City Municipality Interior Affairs Department internal passport cards applications fond, comprising passport applications for Lithuanian citizenship in 1920-1940 and other related documents are of special value for the history of Lithuanian jewish community on the whole and for the Holocaust research in particular.

Kaunas County Archive does preserve more or less (with certain exceptions) all Kaunas Region (County) civil courts and notarial offices documents from the very 1945 until the end of the 20th century. With certain exceptions most interesting period in our case is 1945-1956. These complexes of documents should be considered as very helpful in completing stories of certain persons' life and destiny.

 While investigating these documents complexes at Kaunas County Archives I noticed the following:

 just after the war ended, lots of people, perhaps mostly - of jewish origin - applied to local Civil Registry Offices to recognize somebody dead or missing and issue appropriate certificate;  either after or before this those people usually applied to the local civil court to recognize somebody dead and to recognize the rights of the applicant to the deceased person's estate;  just after the civil court desicion the applicant usually applied to notarial office to conclude a sale-purchase agreement of the inherited property.

 usually certain civil courts and notarial offices files are interrelated in between each other - civil court documents concerning certain persons can complement notarial ones about the same person and vice versa.  according to Lithuanian legislation concerning documents' retention (preservation) terms only civil courts decisions are supposed to be left for the permanent retention (preservation). All auxiliary materials were not supposed to be left for permanent retention (preservation) and are not preserved until nowadays. In our case all these auxiliary materials (various applications, evidences of witnesses, etc.) might have been of special importance.  most of these archival documents contain personal data. According to the article 20, paragraph 5 of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Documents and Archives access to the documents which contain personal data is limited to 30 years after the person's death. In cases when the person's death date is unknown, access is limited to 100 years since the person's birth either to 70 years since the certain document creation.

Kaunas City Municipality Tax Inspection fond archival documents provide evidences about Even family (husband - Jodel Even, wife - Etel Even, their son - Noach Even), who in 20-30-ies last century lived in Kaunas, Jurbarko st. 17. As all other families of those times they lived, loved each other, raised their children, dealt with their daily joys and sorrows, paid taxes and so on. At the very beginning of the 40-ies their story breaks for several years because of the lack of documents. In 1945, on the 30th of October Kaunas City 1st Region People's Court adopted order concerning Etel Even son's Noach Even's right to inherit his mother's property. From the text of this decision we find out that Etel Even was executed (shot to death) on the 25th of June, 1941. The Court decided to recognize Etel Even dead and to recognize Noach Eten's right to inherit her property. One month passed and Noach Even applied to the Kaunas City 1st Notarial Office with request to recognize him as legal and the only one heir of Etel Even and to give him inheritance certificate.

Amongst auxiliary documents preserved in this file we found certificate of Even Etel's death with remarks that she was executed (shot to death) June 25, 1941 in the age of 61 years. Another interesting document - Noach Even birth certificate witch witness that he was born on the 1st of February, 1908 in Kaunas-Vilijampolė, the name giving ceremony was provided by Chaikel Shkliarski. Conclusion: due to these documents we find out that Etel Even was shot to death on June 25, 1941 while his son Noach Even survived the Catastrophe. The other story. In 1945, on the 21st of December Kaunas City 1st Region People's Court adopted order concerning Zina Levinienė right to inherit Jurgis Levinas' property. On the basis of testimonies of witnessess the Court decided to recognize Jurgis Levinas dead in Dachau concentration camp on the 1st of February, 1945 and to recognize Zina Levinienė right to inherit his property.

Local authorities documents which may be helpful for research of Holocaust - such as local municipalities' (so called Local Executive Committees) nationalization of property lists, local municipalities' Property Department, Finance Department and, possibly, some other local authorities departments' archival documents (with the exception of nationalization of property lists) are still waiting for their researchers. Of course, investigation of these documents - long lasting and not necessarily very fruitful process. But in such kind of investigation as Holocaust even one small but new fact is of great importance.

Not a single evidence should be lost, not a single person should be forgotten! Thank You for the attention!