Slovenia Letter Writing Guide

Introduction
In order to get genealogical information from Slovenia, it is necessary to know what town/parish your ancestor came from, as there is no electronic search available. If you do not have this information, it is impossible to proceed at this moment. It is only possible to get information from books that are over 100 years old.

To determine where to write and if your ancestor was Catholic, go here and search for "your" parish. If it says Ljubljana or Novo Mesto under "škofija" (diocese), write here. If it says Maribor, Celje or Murska Sobota, write here. If it says Koper, you must write to the parish in question, the address is provided on the website (first link). Include all the information you have on your ancestor! If you don't have an exact date, at least include the year s/he was born.

The Ljubljana archives will charge you 7€ per record, and they will send the invoice with the records. Their research fee is 15€. Maribor charges 7€ per record also, an hour of research costs 25€. The prices vary for individual parishes, some of them won't charge anything, others won't even reply and everything in between.

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 writing a letter, requesting your ancestors' records. Formerly you would have included two International Reply Coupons in your letter to cover their postage costs in answering you. You formerly could obtain International Reply Coupons at your post office. However, as of January 27, 2013, the U.S. Postal Service no longer sells international reply coupons." (See section 381.1 on page 163 of "Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (May 7, 2018)," available at https://pe.usps.com/cpim/ftp/manuals/imm/full/imm.pdf .)

Consider using, instead, an international bank draft.

Ruesch International bank drafts. An easy and inexpensive way to send money from North America to Europe is to telephone Ruesch International Financial Services at 800-424-2923. Ask for an international bank draft for the equivalent of the amount in Euros. There is a service charge. Have the check made payable to the organization. Ruesch will give you a transaction number to write on your payment check. Send the payment to:

Ruesch International Financial Services

700 11th Street NW

Washington, D.C. 20001-4507

When they receive your payment, Ruesch will promptly send you a foreign currency draft (check) that you can mail to Europe and other international locations outside of the United States.

Don't forget to add your own address!

Please note the following when writing your letters:

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

januarja, februarja, marca, aprila, maja, junija, julija, avgusta, septembra, oktobra, novembra, decembra.

Sample Letter A
(your address) (address of archive or parish)

Spoštovani!

Iščem podatke o mojem predniku, ki se je rodil v Sloveniji.

Ime in priimek: Datum in kraj rojstva: Datum in kraj poroke:

Iščem informacije o njegovem/njenem datumu rojstva in poroke. Iščem tudi informacije o njegovih/njenih starših.

S spoštovanjem,

Translation of Sample Letter A
(your address) (address of archive or parish)

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am looking for information about my ancestor that was born in Slovenia.

Name: Date and place of birth: Date and place of marriage:

I would like information about his/her dates of birth and marriage. I would also like information about his/her parents.

Respectfully yours,

If your ancestor was NOT Catholic, you should write to the Archives of Slovenia, following Sample letter B. Don't forget to include his/her religious affiliation. It is possible that the record is unavailable, and they might be willing to point you in the right direction.

Again, consider sending an international bank draft to pay for return postage (see above under "Use Sample letter A"). Don't forget to add your own address!

Sample Letter B
(your address)

Arhiv Republike Slovenije p.p. 21 1127 Ljubljana SLOVENIA

Spoštovani!

Iščem podatke o mojem predniku, ki se je rodil v Sloveniji.

Ime in priimek: Datum in kraj rojstva: Datum in kraj poroke: Veroizpoved:

Iščem informacije o njegovem/njenem datumu rojstva in poroke. Iščem tudi informacije o njegovih/njenih starših. Če teh informacij ni pri vas, ali me lahko prosim usmerite naprej?

S spoštovanjem,

Translation of Sample Letter B
(your address)

Arhiv Republike Slovenije p.p. 21 1127 Ljubljana SLOVENIA

Dear Sir/Madam: I am looking for information about my ancestor that was born in Slovenia.

Name: Date and pl of birth: Place of birth: Religion:

I would like information about his/her dates of birth and marriage. I would also like information about his/her parents. If this information is not available in your institution, could you please point me in the right direction?

Respectfully yours,