Austria, Vienna Population Cards - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Record
Österreich, Wien, Meldezettel

Record Description
This collection is an index of population cards for individual residents of the city of Vienna, Austria from 1850-1896. Many people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Eastern Europe passed through Vienna and may also be included on these cards.

Record Content
Vienna Population Cards generally contain the following genealogical facts:


 * District and street address
 * Name of the individual registering
 * Occupation
 * Place and country of birth
 * Home town and home country
 * Birth date, religion, and marital status
 * Name(s) and age(s) of spouse and children
 * Previous residence
 * Date of the registration

How to Use the Records
To begin your search it is helpful to know the name along with some other identifying information such birth date and place or spouse's name.

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals 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 the information on several individuals comparing the information about them 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.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at FamilySearch Search Tips.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Download a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. The information may also lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example, use the date and place of birth or marriage to locate christening or marriage records in church records.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Continue to search the records to identify children, siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have also live in Vienna.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for another index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby communities.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals with the same family number.

For Help Reading the Records
These records are in German. For help reading the records, see the following wiki article:


 * German Word List

Additional Information About These Records
The cards include name, birth date and place, marital status, old and new places of residence, dates of arrival and departure. Occasionally the name of spouse and children are listed. Many people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Eastern Europe passed through Vienna and are included on these cards.

The broader collection was maintained from 1850-1928. The current publication, however, only includes information on individuals born before 1897 because of privacy restrictions for those born in the last 100 years.

All the forms are in German and the majority of the names are in German. However, because Vienna was the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire some names are written in the languages of the Empire. The records were in a generally good state of preservation at the time that they were microfilmed from 1981-1995. This collection contains 3.8 million hand written entries recorded on pre-printed cards.

The registration of Vienna residents began in the middle of the 15th century. The city was divided into 8 districts around 1850. Between 1850 and 1904 these 8 were subdivided and supplemented bringing the number of districts to 21. The Zentralmeldeamt (central registration office) was created in 1889 and associated with the Vienna police department. The cards cover most of the population of Vienna.

This type of registration informed the government of who was in the city of Vienna and where they resided within the city.

These are generally very reliable records, being information directly reported by residents about themselves and their families.

Related Websites
Tracing your Ancestors in Vienna - Some Guidelines

Related Wiki Articles

 * Austria
 * Austria Vienna Population Registers

Citations for This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information (often called citing 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:

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):