Czechia Emigration and Immigration

Back to Czech Republic Page►

Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigration) or coming into (immigration) a country. These lists include passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, and records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the name, age, occupation, destination, and place of origin or birthplace of the emigrant.

These sources can help you determine where in the Czech Republic your ancestor came from and also in constructing family groups. Unfortunately, there are no emigration records from the Czech Republic, but there are some useful records of Czech immigrants into America.

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists
Czech Immigration Passenger Lists by Leo Baca (FHL book 973 W3bL) can be a useful source of genealogical information. There are 9 volumes:

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume I

Galveston 1848-1861, 1865-1871 New Orleans 1848-1879

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume II

Galveston 1896-1906 New Orleans 1879-1899

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume III

Galveston 1907-1914

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume IV

New York 1847-1869

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume V

New York 1870-1880

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume VI

New York 1881-1886 Galveston 1880-1886

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume VII

New York 1887-1896

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume VIII

Baltimore 1834-1879

Czech Immigration Passenger Lists, Volume IX

Baltimore 1880-1899

Czech Settlements in the USA
Czechs were the largest ethnic group in Cleveland by the early twentieth century. An excellent article Czech Migration Patterns to Cleveland, 1865-1940 has been published in the Rocenka, volume 2 (winter 1995-1996), 943.71 D25r v.1-2 of the Family History Library Collection. Click the name of the article to read about your Ohio immigrants.

European Passenger Information
HAMBURG Passenger Lists, 1850 - 1934.


 * A. The direct Passenger Lists
 * B. The indirect Passenger Lists
 * C. Combined index 1850 - 1871 (Klüber- Kartei- two alphabetical indexes on film; also contains some entries from sources other than the Hamburg passenger lists).
 * D. Police registers of city residents and passports issued, various sets of records found in the Catalog under “ Hamburg- Emigration and Immigration “, “Hamburg- Population” and “Hamburg- Passports”

BREMEN Bremen began keeping passenger lists in 1832, but most lists have been destroyed. Currently, 2953 passenger lists dating from 1920 to 1939 are kept in the Archive of the Bremen City chamber of Commerce. They are fully indexed at http://www.schiffslisten.de/ B. Some reconstructed passenger lists have been published, the information was taken from the U.S. arrival lists.

ANTWERP, BELGIUM These records are cataloged under “Belgium, Antwerpen, Antwerpen- Emigration-Immigration”. The “Vreemdelingendossiers” begin in 1840. There are indexes. The first film number of the set is 2234256.

LE HAVRE, FRANCE The only actual ships’ lists known to exist are crew lists, which are of very limited usefulness. Records of some Le Havre ship departures may be found at the Archives Départementales de la Seine-Maritime Cours Clemençeau F-76000 Rouen France

STETTIN Some passenger lists are found in the record groups Pommersches Polizeipräsidium and Schifffahrtsdirektion Stettin in the Vorpommersches Landesarchiv Martin-Andersen-Nexö-Platz 1 D-17489 Greifswald Germany. The lists cover the years 1869-1892, and contain about 500-800 passengers per year.

ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS Lists kept by the Holland- America Line from 1900 to 1940 are available on microfiche, beginning with FHL INTL Fiche 6109126.

The Family History Library has books of emigrants from various areas of European countries. They are usually cataloged under:

Country, Province or Region Name- Emigration and Immigration

REMEMBER: 90% of all places of origins are found by examining American sources very carefully. Use every possible avenue in order to find the place of origin for your Immigrant ancestor. And "never, never give up!”