Germans from Russia Archives and Libraries

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Archives and Libraries
Archives collect and preserve original documents of organizations such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published sources such as books, maps, and microfilm. This Wiki page describes the major repositories of genealogical and historical records and sources for researching Germans from Russia.

Although the records you need may be in a foreign archive or library, the Family History Library may have a digital or microfilm copy of them. Check the FamilySearch Catalog before writing to or visiting archives in Russia, Ukraine, former Soviet countries, or Germany. You may also want to check the holdings of major genealogical societies such as the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), the Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS), or the Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe (SGGEE). For more information about these societies, refer to the Germans from Russia Societies page on the Wiki.

Archives can generally be contacted via email or letter correspondence. To learn more about writing to an archive see............ Occasionally archives do not have the funding to respond to correspondences. In these cases, researchers must either visit the archives personally or hire an agent to do research for them. If you plan to visit one of these repositories, check their website, or contact the organization and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, fees, and whether they allow visitors. For tips on visiting archives in Russia, Ukraine, and the Former Soviet Union, please see..........
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Archives in Russia, Ukraine, and the Former Soviet Union
It's a common misconception that the Soviets systematically destroyed all genealogical records from the Russian Empire. In fact, the Soviet government did quite the opposite - metrical books, revision lists and other records were gathered, collected and preserved in state historical archives throughout the Soviet period. For example, the State Archive of the Saratov Oblast, an archive that holds many important Germans from Russia genealogical records, was established during the Soviet period.

Arrangement of Russian Archive Records:

Russian archive material is organized by фонд/fond (ф.), опись/opis (o.), and дело/delo (д). The fond, opis, and delo are similar to a library call number and are necessary for locating a specific record in an archive.

Фонд/Fond

The records in a фонд/fond are simply the records of a specific organization, portion of an organization, or an individual. An institution creates records for its own purpose and use. When the administrative or personal value of the records expires, they are transferred to an archive. Church records are often grouped together in one fond - for example, Lutheran church records may be grouped together in one fond, while Catholic records may be found in another.

Archives may also create collections as opposed to fonds. These collections contain records of differing authorship and are filed together on some logical or thematic basis. In some archives, therefore, vital records may be found in collections rather than fonds. These collections usually include records of more than one religious denomination.

Fonds and collections are often described in путеводители/putevoditeli. Путеводители/putevoditeli are essentially guides or findings aids to archival holdings. They help the reader understand what kind of materials and/or year ranges are contained within the fond or collection. Some putevoditeli are available only at the archive while others have been published online. When available, online putevoditeli have been linked to the corresponding archives in this Wiki page.

Дело/Delo

The individual item in a fond is a дело/delo, which can be translated as a file or volume. Each delo is given a title or number based upon the record type and contents. For example, church records from a specific parish could be considered as one delo. Within the delo, contents may be numbered with a page number, often referred to as the лист/list, or the page, sheet or leaf number. Items are usually filed chronologically by the earliest year of information found in that item.

Oпись/Opis

The inventory of files in a fond or collection is known as an опись/opis. While a fond is a statement of authorship, opis is a statement of content. An archive may have an established fond or collection, but as time goes on, more records that would fall under the fond or collection are added to the archive. The opis is an inventory of the documents submitted to the archive at one time. They are essentially an index or inventory of individual delo, or packets of documents. As such, the opis is the key to finding records in a fond and is considered the most significant finding aid used by researchers. Some opis are available only at the archive, while others have been published online. When available, online opis have been linked to the corresponding fonds and archives in this Wiki page.

A fond may have more than one opis. These sometimes reflect different types of material or blocks of material accession by the archives. The decision as to what to include in an opis is in the hands of the archival cataloger, and will vary significantly from archive to archive.

References to materials from Russian archives will generally follow a citation similar to this format:

Below you will find information about archives with documents and materials pertaining to Germans from Russia research. Most archives have an associated acronym which will be found in parentheses following the name of the archive. Each archive section contains contact information and in some cases, a description of records available at that archive. This Wiki page is still in process, so check back often to see if more information has been added.

Central State Historical Archives of Belarus (Branch in Minsk)
The Central State Historical Archives of Belarus contains church books of the Lutheran Bishopric of Minsk, vital records of the Mogilev Roman Catholic Consistory, and revision list records for the Minsk gubernia. Explore the archival holdings at http://archives.gov.by/eng/.

State Archive of the Saratov Oblast (GASO)
The State Archives of the Saratov Oblast contains records for both the Black Sea, Caucasus, and Volga areas. The following is a list of available record collections: Finding aids for Lutheran and Catholic parish records in the Volga region (Nikolaevsk and Novouzensk uyezdi) are available online through the Saratov Archives. For instructions on how to use this resource, please see..........

State Archive of the Odessa Oblast
The State Archives of the Odessa Oblast was founded in 1921 and has documents from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The following table provides information regarding some of the records available at the State Archive of the Odessa Oblast.

State Archive of the Volgograd Oblast (GAVO)
The State Archive of the Volgograd Oblast contains various Evangelical Lutheran and Catholic metrical books for settlements in the Volga region. These records range from the early nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. The archive has published a putevoditel online. To access the putevoditel, visit https://gavo.volgograd.ru/documents/spravochniki/putevoditel.pdf. Information regarding church records begins on page forty-three.

State Archive of the Zhytomyr Oblast
The State Archive of the Zhytomyr Oblast, located in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, holds records for Germans living in the Volhynia area. A putevoditel is available online at http://www.archive.zt.gov.ua/left%20menu/vudav%20diyal/KMK_t1.pdf. Lists of archival holdings for Lutheran church records begin on page 94.

State Historical Archive of the Volga Germans (also known as Engels Archive) (GIANP)
The Engels archive contains records and information regarding the Volga Germans from 1764-1941. The archive was created during the Soviet period under the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the Volga Germans. It was a branch of the Saratov archives from 1945-2005, but is now an independent archive. The archive contains both Lutheran and Catholic church records as well as documents regarding colony affairs. The Engels archive website has an English option; however, more information is available in the Russian version, so use Google Translate to help you navigate the Russian webpage. For a list of their available collections, select фонды from the menu bar. For a catalog of documents prior to 1917, select Список фондов периода до 1917 года. To see what kinds of post 1917 documents are available, click on Список фондов периода после 1917 года.

The Engels archive provides genealogical look ups for a fee. Contact the email address above to begin a research request. The following lists their research fees as of 2019. Keep in mind that fees may be subject to change.

-Metrical book (church record) lookup for one year, one person: 1300 rubles.

-Family list record lookup: 1300 rubles

-Citizen list record lookup: 1300 rubles

-Index of record: 73 rubles (per page)

-Electronic copy of record: 59 rubles

The archive will begin research after they have received the payment and information including the surname and name of the person you are looking for and their birth year. The archive does not accept payments in anything but rubles, so it will be necessary to contact a friend, relative or genealogical researcher/company in Russia to complete the payment for you. If NIL results are found, payment will not be returned. The archive generally replies to inquires within two weeks and returns research to clients within four months.

St. Petersburg Central State Historical Archives
This archive contains duplicate vital records from the St. Petersburg Evangelical-Lutheran Consistory (Primarily Black Sea and Volhynia areas). These records; however, are available through FamilySearch. See Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885 and the Germans from Russia: Locating Church Records "How to" guide for more information about these records.

National Archive of the Republic of Moldova
National Archives of the Republic of Moldova has church books for many Germans-speaking Roman Catholic and Lutheran congregations of Bessarabia in fond 211, opis 22. Hiring a professional researcher may be the best way to access these archives.

German Archives
Researchers who identify the German, French, Swiss, or Austrian town of origin of their German-speaking ancestors who settled in Russia can find information about significant archives and how to contact them in the “Archives and Libraries” page of the Germany Wiki. Four German archives in particular are important for researching Germans from Russia:

German Center for Genealogy [Zentralstelle für Genealogie] was founded as an archive for genealogical materials. It has an extensive collection of German church records from Poland, Russia, Lithuania, and other east European German-speaking settlements. The Family History Library has microfilms of these records, but if you need more information, you can contact the center. For a fee, employees of the center will try to find genealogical sources. But as a general rule, research must be done in Leipzig by the researcher. The address is:

Deutsche Zentralstelle für Genealogie    Postfach 274     D-04002 Leipzig     GERMANY

German Foreign Institute [Deutsches Ausland-Institut (Stuttgart)] between 1917 and 1945 created a parish register inventory, genealogies, biographies, and a dozen alphabetical index card files listing names of Germans from Russia, their settlements, and showing many of their places of origin. In 1987 this collection became part of the Federal Archive [Bundesarchiv] in Koblenz. The Family History Library has microfilms of these card files. They are described in the Author/Title Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under Deutsches Ausland-Institut (Stuttgart). Many are also cited in the appropriate Germans from Russia Wiki pages. The archival material from this collection is now at:


 * Bundesarchiv
 * Potsdamer Str. 1
 * D-70173 Koblenz
 * GERMANY

A sixteen page inventory of this collection is:

Deutsches Ausland-Institut (Stuttgart).Karteienverzeichnis: 1750-1945 (Card Index Inventory, 1750-1945). Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1988. (FHL film 1340061 item 3).Also FamilySearch.org

East German Genealogical Study Group [Arbeitsgemeinschaft ostdeutscher Familienforscher (AGoFF)] specializes in ancestors east of the Oder-Neiße line and east European settlements such as Russia and Moldova. The study group requests inquiries be typed and in the German language whenever possible.

Arbeitsgemeinschaft ostdeutscher Familienforscher    Nachtigallenweg 14     D-50997 Köln     GERMANY

Archive, Library, and Museum in the House of Germans from Russia [Archiv, Bibliothek und Museum im Haus der Deutschen aus Rußland] is an active cultural preservation organization.

Archiv, Bibliothek und Museum im Haus der Deutschen aus Rußland    Raitelsbergstr. 49    D-70188 Stuttgart     GERMANY

Latvia
State Archives of Latvia    226007 Riga     Ul. Bezdyeligu 1    LATVIA

Lithuania
State Archives of Lithuania    232016 Vilnius     Ul. Kareiviu 21    LITHUANIA

Moldova
National Archives of the Republic of Moldova has church books for many Germans-speaking Roman Catholic and Lutheran congregations of Bessarabia in fond 211, opis 22. Hiring a professional researcher may be the best way to access these archives.

Национальный архив Республики Молдова. Имеется филиал    277028, Кишинев     ул. Дзержинского, 67-б    MOLDOVA

Romania
Researchers may be able to learn about ethnic German settlers in areas that are now part of Romania by correspondence with the State Archives of Romania:

Archivelor Statului din România    Bucureşti, Sect. 5    Bdul Kogălniceanu 29     ROMANIA

The letter must be typed in Romanian to get a response. The staff at the Family History Library can provide a list of letter writing phrases to help compose a letter in Romanian.

United States
Many archives and libraries in the United States have information about Germans from Russia. For more information about these repositories see the Wiki article United States Archives and Libraries and the appropriate state Wiki pages. A significant library of German-Russian material is:


 * Family History Library 35 North West Temple Street Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA Telephone: 801-240-3433 Fax: 801-240-1925

The Family History Library has acquired German-Russian records from archives in Russia, Ukraine, and other sources. These include:


 * St. Petersburg Lutheran Consistory, including parishes near St. Petersburg, near the Black Sea, in Bessarabia, and Volhynia
 * Bessarabian Lutheran settlement church records
 * Volhynia Lutheran church records (see complete list at SGGEE )
 * Bukowina and Galicia (formerly Austria) some church records
 * Library of Congress collection of Berlin Document Center films

See the Germans from Russia “Church Records” Wiki page for details. The Family History Library has no records from the Volga region or the Caucasus.

The hours, holidays, catalog, collection, services, key resources, and how to prepare to visit the library are described in Library Services and Resources.

Inventories, Registers, Catalogs
Examples of books which describe the holdings of archives and libraries with significant German-Russia collections are:

Quester, Erich. Wegweiser für Forschungen nach Vorfahren. . . cited in “For Further Reading” near the end of this set of Wiki pages.

Miller, Michael M. Researching the Germans from Russia: Annotated Bibliography of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at the North Dakota Institue for Regional Studies, North Dakota State University Library, with a Listing of the Library Materias at the Germans from Russia Heritage Society. Fargo, N.Dak.: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1987. (FHL book 978.4 F23n). Includes sections on Bessarabia and Black Sea Germans, Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Volhynian Germans, and Volga Germans. Contains two bibliographies of family histories.

Olson, Marie Miller. A Bibliography of the Germans from Russia: Material Found in the New York Public Library. Lincoln, Nebr.: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1976. (FHL book 947 F2om; film 1181519 item 2.