Hungary, Jewish Vital Records Index - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
Magyarország, Zsidó Anyakönyvek

Record Description
This collection covers records for the years 1800 to 1945.

Jews in Hungary generally did not keep vital records unless required to do so by law. In 1781, the Emperor Joseph II issued the Toleration Patent, which recognized Judaism throughout the empire. Jews did not use fixed surnames until 1788 when another patent required them to adopt and use German surnames.

Beginning in 1788, Jews were required to keep records of births, marriages, and deaths in German under Catholic supervision. Because these records were required for conscription and taxation purposes, Jews often evaded registration. The law was reemphasized several times during the early 1800s. Most Jewish communities did not actually start keeping records until the practice was again codified into law in 1840. In 1885, the Hungarian Royal Ministry of Cults required Jewish vital births, marriages, and deaths to be recorded in vital registers that included several congregations in a sub-district rather than in registers for each individual congregation. Exceptions were allowed when individual congregations paid to have their own registrar. With the beginning of civil registration in 1895, Jewish registers ceased to be official state documents.

Jews constituted between 4% and 5% of the total population. Few Jews were recorded until the 1840s, after which 80% to 95% of the Jewish population was covered.

Beginning in 1788, Jews were required to keep records of births, marriages, and deaths. Jewish vital records establish individual identity and are excellent for family and relationship linkage. They identify names of parents, prove other relationships, and are very useful for linking generations.

Jewish vital records are extremely reliable and accurate family history sources, more so than census and other records. Ages, birth dates, and birthplaces found in marriage and death entries are only as accurate as the informant’s memory. This is the most reliable record for birth, marriage, and death dates.

Jewish vital records are held in county archives under the direction of the National Archives of Hungary [Országos Leveltár] in Budapest. Records that are not part of this collection may be accessible for research by correspondence, or researchers can get permission to research the records in person at the archives. Research by correspondence is often quite slow and costly.

Some of the earliest Jewish records have not been preserved and, in many cases, have missing years. Often only the transcripts remain, and the originals are unaccounted for. These records are kept under good storage conditions but are subject to catastrophes.

The records for births, marriages, and deaths mostly consist of bound volumes with entries on two facing pages. The images were scanned from microfilm copies of the originals.

Record Content
Birth records may contain the following:


 * Child’s name
 * Date of birth
 * Gender
 * Legitimacy
 * Father’s name, occupation, and place of birth
 * Mother’s name, maiden name, and place of birth
 * Parents’ residence
 * Child’s place of birth
 * Midwife’s name
 * For a boy, date of circumcision and who performed it
 * For a girl, date of naming
 * Witnesses’ names
 * Death date of infants who died in the year of birth

Marriage records may contain the following:


 * Groom’s name, occupation, and place of birth
 * Names of the groom’s parents and their residence
 * Groom’s residence, age, and previous marital status
 * Bride’s name and place of birth
 * Names of the bride’s parents and their residence
 * Bride’s residence, age, and marital status
 * Date and place of the marriage
 * Proclamations, witnesses’ names, and the officiating rabbi’s name

Death records may contain the following:


 * Deceased’s name, occupation, place of birth, gender, status, and age
 * Cause of death
 * Date and place of death
 * Date and place of burial
 * Parents’ names and occupations

Please note that the information contained in the records varies. Not all of the facts listed above may appear in every record.

Search the Collection
Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

As you are searching, it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

How to Use the Record
Use these Jewish vital records to identify ancestors (individuals, their parents, and their spouses) and make family connections.

For Help Reading These Records
These records are in Hungarian. For help with reading the records, see the following resources:


 * Hungary Language and Languages
 * Hungary Genealogical Word List

Related Websites

 * JewishGen Hungary Database
 * JewishGen Hungarian Jewish Genealogy
 * Researching Your Hungarian Ancestors

Related Wiki Articles

 * Hungary Jewish Records
 * Hungary Genealogy
 * Hungary Beginning Research

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually. Collection Citation:

"Hungary, Jewish Vital Records Index, 1800-1945." Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : accessed 2015. Magyar Orszagos Leveltar, Budapest (Hungary State Archives, Budapest, and county archives, Hungary).

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):