The Register of the Dead from Cholera in Vilnius Pohulanka Hospital in 1831 as a Source for Demographic and Social Studies

Abstract

During the first cholera epidemic in Vilnius in 1831, a hospital for cholera patients was set up in the Pohulanka district. Over a thousand patients were treated there, of whom approximately half died. Although it was intended for the Roman Catholic population, people of various faiths were admitted. The article is an attempt at a demographic and social analysis of those who died during the epidemic, with the source for the research the register of those who died of cholera, drawn up and kept between April 10, 1831 and January 3, 1832 by Father Kazimierz Kontrym. Thanks to the preserved data, it was possible to determine the age structure of 553 men and women, their religion, social status, information on whether they received the last rites and where they were buried.

Keywords

• register
• cholera epidemics
• hospital
• Vilnius
• Pohulanka
• the dead