Serbia Letter Writing Guide

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). Formerly you would have included two International Reply Coupons in your letter to cover their postage costs in answering you. You previously 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.

The answer you receive after using Sample letter A 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, consider sending an international bank draft.

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