Documentation from the Archive of the Landrat of the Ludwigslust district (Mecklenburg Province, Germany)

Documentation from the Archive of the Landrat of the Ludwigslust district (Mecklenburg Province, Germany)
 
 In the18th century the rulers of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Herzogtum (Duchies) established their residential palace in Ludwigslust. In the 19th century barracks were also established in the city, which housed the Duchies' army units. The district, with the city of Ludwigslust at its center, was established in 1922. In the Mecklenburg-Schwerin State, its administrative unit was defined and called the Amt (office). In 1933, when the Nazis acted in order to create uniformity among the local authorities in Germany, the name was changed to Kreis (district), and in 1934 it was changed to Landkreis (rural district). In 1939, it encompassed 99 local authorities with a population of approximately 51,000 residents. After the war, the area was included in the area of Communist Eastern Germany.
 
 Except for Ludwigslust itself, Jewish life developed in the area from the end of the 18th century, which later developed into the establishment of organized Jewish communities, with institutions and educational institutions, in the cities of Hagenow, Wittenburg and Boizeburg. At the end of the 19th century, a process arose in which many Jews started to move from small cities to the large cities, in particular in the northern and eastern parts of Germany. By the end of the Weimar period, there were no longer any active Jewish communities in the district's area.
 
 The Landrat is the official supervisor over the district, on behalf of the authorities. The files from the record group which were copied for Yad Vashem are from the Nazi period and from the period after the war. There are however also individual files that deal with the history of the Jewish communities in the area, which were created earlier (even during the 19th century). Some of the files were created by lower authorities, and these files were apparently transferred to the Landrat office for the purpose of their safeguarding following the completion of their handling.
 
 The files in the Yad Vashem Archive include: lists of property belonging to specific Jews; survey reports regarding the history of the Jews in the area (in the city of Hagenow and in Mecklenburg in general); Jewish cemeteries in the area, including the possibilities of their sale following the deportation of the Jews, and their fate after the war; and, a property file dealing with Jewish owned land in Hagenow, which was found in a trusteeship after the war.