How do you research in Serbia from outside the country?

Question

The family left Belgrade during  WW2, and ended up in Australia in 1950.

I have immigration records on the way from the National Archives, but cant find any info at all from Serbia.

Any help appriciated.

Also - if I need it, are there any serbian speakers out there who could fill in a form for me if needed??

Answer 1

According to the Serbian Archives website, on the page for family history [Link] "More complete information about the origin can be found in the registers of births, marriages and deaths, which are kept in local archives."

So you would probably need an idea of where the person of interest originated.

You might also be interested in looking for resources through the Serbian Genealogy Society

Comments

If your family research involves the part of Serbia that was in Hungary, let me know.

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If your family is directly from Belgrade, you will need to know from which part of the city (e.g. Čukarica, Vračar, Stari Grad to name only a few) your family comes from. Every part has its own registry.

Answer 2

I can help with filling the form

Answer 3

There have been books published with transcripts of select regions of then-Serbia according to the Census of 1863, the second that listed all people dwelling in the country (of all ages and both sexes) but the only one from the 19th century that remains extant for 94% of the territory of the Principality at the time.

If you know the region you are interested in, it should be fairly easy to have access to books, you can even order photocopies of certain pages, or maybe get it through interlibrary loan.

But, sadly, not all regions have had enthusiasts who transcribed the census into books, so for some of those you need to go to the National Archives of Serbia in Golsvordijeva (Galsworthy) Street just behind the Belgrade University Library.

Comments

I don't know if you are as a foreigner allowed to research in the National Archive. I remember talking to mum about that saying she'd be allowed but I would not as I don't have Serbian citizenship.

Answer 4

https://archive.org/details/@yanniedog

This link currently contains all the birth, baptism, marriage and death records written by churches in Vojvodina, Serbia, between 1765-1896.

Each document in this link represents a compilation of all available handwriting church yearbooks for birth/baptism/marriage/death in that particular village, between 1765-1895.

The bookmark section of each PDF allows you to jump to whichever religion, year and life event (birth, baptism, marriage, death) that you're interested in.

These documents were obtained from the Archives of Vojvodina.

Community assistance is needed to transcribe these handwritten records and obtain copyright clearance to allow them to be transmitted/replicated on FamilySearch, MyHeritage, Ancestry etc.

Please spread them far and wide. Make your own backup and upload them to other places on the internet to ensure they will never disappear. They must always be provided free to the world, with no restriction or cost, forever.

It took me several challenging weeks to collect and organise these records, but it was worth it.

You're welcome. Enjoy :)