Serbia Letter Writing Guide

Back to Serbia Page►

Introduction
In order to get genealogical information from Serbia, it is necessary to determine where the records you need are located. To do this you first write to the archive to inquire where the records are. After receiving a reply you send a letter to the address given to you by the archive. It may be possible for you to get information by writing. However, you can expect to wait several months for a reply and it is also quite possible, that you will not receive an answer.

Following are two sample letters to guide you in writing genealogical inquiries. Type or clearly print your letter using these sample letters as a guide.

Use Sample letter A as a guide to write a letter asking where the records are located. Then send it to the archive of the republic or the autonomous province in which your ancestor’s place of birth is presently located (addresses are listed following the sample letters). Include two International Reply Coupons in your letter to cover their postage costs in answering you. You can obtain International Reply Coupons at your post office. The answer should include the address of the archive or registry office where the records you need are located.

Upon receiving the needed address, use Sample letter B to write a letter to the place where the records are kept. Again include two International Reply Coupons.

Please note the following when writing your letters:

Dates
Write dates in day-month-year order. For example: ''12. aprila 1844 / oko [about] 1844''. The names of months are not capitalized. The months in the possessive form used in writing dates are:

januara, februara, marta, aprila, maja, juna, jula, avgusta, septembra, oktobra, novembra, decembra.

Sample Letter A
(ARCHIVE NAME AND ADDRESS) Dragi Gospodine/Gospodjo! Moj predak je rodjen [rodjena if the ancestor was a female] u (NAME OF REPUBLIC OR AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE*). Ime: Datum rodjenja: Rodno mesto: Vera: Želio bih da saznam podatke o njegovom (njezinom if the ancestor was a female) datumu rodjenja i venčanja. Takodje bih želio da saznam podatke o roditeljima moga predka. Molim Vas možete li mi napisati gde mogu da dobijem spomenute informacije? Uz pozdrav і poštovanje,  *NAME OF REPUBLIC   Serbia = Srbiji  NAME OF AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE  Vojvodina = Vojvodini

Translation of Sample Letter A
(ARCHIVE NAME AND ADDRESS) Dear Sir/Madame:  My ancestor was born in (NAME OF REPUBLIC OR AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE). Name: Birthdate: Birthplace: Religion: I would like information about his (her) dates of birth and marriage. Also, I would like information about the parents of my ancestor. Please, could you inform me as to where I can obtain the requested information? Respectfully yours,

Sample Letter B
(NAME AND ADDRESS OF ARCHIVE OR REGISTRY OFFICE) Dragi Gospodine/Gospodjo! Dobio sam informaciju od (ARCHIVE NAME*) da se podaci o mom predku mogu naći u Vašem arhivu/kancelariji. Molim Vas, možete li mi prepisati sve podatke o rodjenju i venčanju. Ime: Datum rodjenja: Rodno mesto: Vera: Takodje želim da znam informacije o njegovim (njezinim if the ancestor was a female) roditeljima i njihovoj ostaloj djeci. Molim Vas prepišite podatke kakvi su u originalu i navedite izvore sa stranicom i rednim brojem. Molim Vas da mi pošaljete račun o Vašim uslugama. Ako je cena veća od US $30, molim Vas da mi pišete pre Vašeg istraživanja. Unapred Vam zahvaljujem. Uz pozdrav i poštovanje,  *ARCHIVE NAMES   Archives of Serbia = Arhiva Srbije Archives of Vojvodina = Arhiva Vojvodine

Translation of Sample Letter B
(NAME AND ADDRESS OF ARCHIVE OR REGISTRY OFFICE) Dear Sir/Madame:  I was informed by the (ARCHIVE NAME) that records of my ancestor can be found at your archive/registry office. Would you please extract for me the records of birth and marriage? Name: Birthdate: Birthplace: Religion: Also, I would like to know information about his parents and their other children. Please extract the record exactly as given in the original, noting the record, volume and page number. Please bill me for your service. If the price is more than $30, please let me know before you start the research. Thank you for your help. Respectfully yours,

Archive Names and Addresses
Archives of Serbia Arhiv Srbije ul. Karnegijeva 2 11000 Beograd SERBIA

Archives of Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Province) Arhiv Vojvodine Dunavska 35 21000 Novi Sad SERBIA