Bratislava Region, Slovakia Genealogy

Europe Slovakia  

Guide to Bratislava Region (Bratislavský kraj), Slovakia ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Bratislava region is the smallest region in Slovakia, bordering with Austria and Hungary. It features the capital city - Bratislava, the Little Carpathians and wonderful lowlands of vineyards.[1]. The Bratislava Region lies in south-western margin of Slovakia and consists of five Bratislava City districts, three rural districts (Pezinok, Malacky and Senec) and 73 municipalities. With some 300 inhabitants per square kilometre the Bratislava region is the most densely populated part of Slovakia.[2]

History
The first written reference to a settlement named "Brezalauspurc" dates to 907 and is related to the Battle of Pressburg, during which a Bavarian army was defeated by the Hungarians. The city's 19th-century history was closely tied to the major events in Europe and the Peace of Pressburg between Austria and France was signed here in 1805. As a reaction to the Revolutions of 1848, the city chose the revolutionary Hungarian side, but was captured by the Austrians in December 1848. After World War I and the formation of Czechoslovakia on October 28, 1918, the city was incorporated into the new state despite its representatives reluctance. On March 27, 1919, the name Bratislava was officially adopted for the first time. Bratislava was declared the capital of the first independent Slovak Republic on March 14, 1939, but the new state quickly fell under Nazi influence. After the Communist Party seized power in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, the city became part of the Eastern Bloc. 

Church Records
Church records are the prime source for information about the vital events in an individual's life. This information can be used to compile pedigrees and family groups. They identify children, spouses, parents, and often grandparents as well as dates and places of vital events. They establish individual identity and are excellent sources for linking generations and identifying relationships. Contents:
 * Christening registers – infant's name, name and surname of father and mother, christening date (most also give the birth date); sometimes names of grandparents; names of godparents.
 * Marriage registers – names of groom and bride, date of marriage, often include ages, residences, occupations, previous marital status, names of parents, sometimes the birthplace; names of witnesses.
 * Burial registers–name of the deceased, date and place of death and burial, residence; sometimes cause of death, names of survivors, occasionally the date and place of birth.

In December of 1949, all church vital records were declared state property. In 1952 the state began centralizing all these records into state archives (štátné archívy). In many cases records as late as the 1940s have been placed in state regional archives. Registers more recent than those in the state archives are still at local city or subdistrict registration offices (matričné úrady). The Family History Library has copies of almost all birth, marriage, and death registers for the following religions: Catholic (the majority religion), Evangelical Lutheran, Reformed, Jewish, Greek Catholic, and Orthodox.

1. First search the indexed and online digitized copies of the church records.
The following records include areas of Hungary that are now part of Bratislava:
 * 1592-1935 - at FamilySearch — index and images. The Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books Coverage Table will show which parishes are included in the index.  Other parishes will need to be searched in browsable images, microfilms, or by writing to the local parish.
 * 1592-1910 - - at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, browseable images only, not complete for all localities.
 * Slovakia, Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1910, at Ancestry.com, index and images ($), not complete for all localities.
 * 1895-1980 - - at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, index, not complete for all localities.
 * 1895-1980 - - at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, browsable images, not complete for all localities.
 * 1624-1895 - - at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, index, not complete for all localities.
 * 1636-1895 - - at FamilySearch Historical Records — free, index, not complete for all localities.

2. If the records for either the parish or the time period you need are not in the online collections, try to find them in digitized records of the Family History Library.
Many church records were microfilmed. Currently, these microfilms are being digitized, and plans are to complete that project by 2020. Some records will go directly to digitized form, skipping the microfilming step. Check back occasionally to see if your records have become available. To find digitized records:
 * a. Find your village in the Genealogy Slovakia online gazetteer. At the bottom of the left sidebar, find the names of the town for the parish of each religion that served that village. If a religion is listed in capital letters without a town name, the village is a larger town with its own church.
 * b. Find the town of that parish in the Wikipedia list of municipalities and towns in Slovakia.
 * c. Locate your town on the list and click on the link. Find the name of the "District"' for that town.
 * d. Click on the FamilySearch Catalog for Slovakia. Open the "Paces in Slovakia" list by clicking on the blue link.
 * d. Click on the District name for the town of the parish.
 * e. Click on the name of the town.
 * f. Click on "Church Records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * g. Choose the correct event and time period for your ancestor.
 * h. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

3. Try contacting the regional archives that should have collected the records for Bratislava.
In some cases, parish records were collected after the major filming effort. If records for your parish of interest are not microfilmed, next contact the archives to ask about the location of the records:

Statny archiv v Bratislave (Bratislava) Krizkova ulice c. 7 811 04 Bratislava 1 Slovakia

Website: http://www.minv.sk/?slovensky-narodny-archiv-1 Telephone: 02/ 57 28 31 11, fax: 02/ 57 28 32 00 E-mail: archiv.saba@mvsr.vs.sk The Slovak Letter Writing Guide will help with wording requests in Slovakian, including PDF form you can use for your request.

4. For more recent information, not yet transferred to the archives, contact the local civil registrar.

 * MATRIČNÝ ÚRAD - Slov-Lex Directory of municipality civil registrars (here listed as matrimonial offices, but they handle births and deaths also. Use your computer's "Find" function to navigate the list. The list shows which municipal office covers smaller villages.
 * Send requests to:
 * Matričné Úrad
 * (Zipcode) (Town)
 * Slovakia


 * A form for requesting records, information on payment, and other details can be found in the Slovakia Letter Writing Guide. Use the address above, not the archive address shown on the form.
 * You can arrange an international bank order or electronic transfer through Western Union  or MoneyGram. Do not send money until the office notifies you of their fees and preferred payment method.

Word Lists - Language Aids

 * You do not have to be fluent in any foreign language to read your documents. Genealogical records usually contain a limited vocabulary: born, married, buried, mother, father, husband, names of the month, etc. Names of people and numbers in dates don't have to be translated.
 * Before 1918 the Slovak lands were part of the Kingdom of Hungary which, together with Austria, constituted the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Records written before 1918 may be in Hungarian, Latin, German, or Slovak. Slovak records often contain Hungarian, Latin, or German words.
 * To help you read genealogical records see the following:
 * Hungarian Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List
 * Slovak Genealogical Word List
 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * The Slovakia Reading Aids article provides English translations of headings in Slovakian, Hungarian, and Latin church forms used for baptisms, marriages, and burials. Knowing which column of the form gives the pertinent names and dates allows you to efficiently and successfully search these records.

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.