Digging up Russian Roots

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Allyn Brosz of Washington, DC has been researching his Russian roots for 25 years. That may seem odd since his heritage is ethnically German. His ancestors were part of the movement of Germans to Russia in the early nineteenth century. Brosz’s family came from Wuerttemberg on his father’s side and the Alsace on his mother’s side. Resettled in the Crimea, his family belonged to the ethnically closed community where German language, culture, Lutheran religion, tax advantages, military exemptions, and free land prevailed. Brosz has been able to trace his family’s heritage with the help of microfilmed records by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), available through its Utah-based Family History Library. He’s also made use of documents and records collected during the Nazi regime of ethnic Germans living outside Germany.

For Dave Fox of Maryland, it all began in 1989 with a conversation with his great aunt. Eighty-nine years old at the time, she was the surviving member of the large Feitelson family from Mogilev. Fox heads up the Belarus Special Interest Group for Jewish researchers. An online community, the group has more than 1,200 members across the globe, including United States, Great Britain, Israel, Australia, South Africa, and Belarus. He says, “A lot of people who emigrated from Russia—Moscow or St. Petersburg—find their families in Belarus. After the Revolution, people were allowed to move from the Jewish Pale of Settlement to other parts of the Empire.”

The partitioning of Poland put the Tarnowski family on Russian soil. George Tarnowski of Pennsylvania, who serves as U.S. representative of the Belarusian Nobility Association, traces his family back to 14^th century Poland. Once part of the Russian Empire, his forebears entered into Russian military and civil service and belonged to the nobility class. Tarnowski began his genealogical research around the age of 16 by exhausting his grandparents with questions following their post-World War II departure from the Soviet Union.

Tarnowski eventually turned his attention to information overseas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At that time, the only access to Soviet archives was through scholarly institutions. He contacted a scholar of Russian military history and found someone in Moscow who was able to dig up the family’s military records that included information on the person’s name and patronymic, birthplace and birth date, social origin, education, military service (including campaigns and awards), names of wife and children, land/estate ownership and acquisition. Then he turned to nobility records, preserved in St. Petersburg in the Department of the Herald. Tarnowski says, “Nobility was largely comprised of persons of non-Russian origin. About 8-10% came into Russia through acquired lands.”

Then and now

Russian genealogy has taken a firm hold. Says St. Petersburg-based professional researcher Andrei Shumkov, “Genealogy in Russia has become a science over the last ten years. There were two genealogical societies 100 years ago—one in Moscow and one in St. Petersburg. Now we have about 40 of them. There were two genealogical magazines 100 years ago. Now there are eight. In the nineteenth century, only genealogy of the nobility existed. Now we also have genealogies of peasants and priests.” Both Tarnowski and Shumkov are quick to point out that during the Soviet era, genealogy was practically forbidden.

Today, you can jump onto the Internet, conduct surname searches to give your research a boost, and get on your way. You can access records through the LDS microfilms and work with professionals who perform onsite research at archives throughout the former Russian Empire. It’s never been easier.

Jump starting your search

It’s a good idea to decide first what branch of your family tree you want to research. “You’ve got to do your research, starting with yourself,” says Brosz, “Work back, work through your lineage and take your time.” Set realistic goals. Talk to your oldest relatives first and gather as much information from your family as possible. Armed with that newfound knowledge, get ready to jump to the web.

The web is exploding with resources where you can access surname lists, contact others with similar interests, and learn more about your heritage and culture (see box).

For the record: Accessing archives

State archives exist for areas of the former Soviet Union in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, etc. Local town hall records are housed at Otdel Zapisi Aktov Grazhdanskogo Sostoyaniya or the ZAGS office. In Ukraine, for instance, these offices are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice and each local ZAGS office reports to an oblast (administrative division or province) ZAGS archive. By law, the metrical books—ledgers that contain birth, marriage, and death records—are retained in the ZAGS offices for a period of 75 years. Books older than that are transferred to the appropriate state archive.

Even though some archives are improving their services, archival staff in general is not equipped to handle the family history inquiries it receives. In fact, the International Institute of Social History advises that unless you really know which archive has the information you’re looking for, you should use professional genealogical services. To list all the archives here would fill the entire magazine. Access http://www.mtu-net.ru/rrr/russia.htm for a comprehensive listing. To get an idea of archival holdings in Moscow and St. Petersburg, go to http://www.iisg.nl/~abb/index.html. If you do work with the archives directly—and that’s only advisable if you know exactly what you’re looking for and where—be prepared for a long wait and research that may cost you $100-$500, even if the search comes up empty.

It’s also a good idea to consult the LDS Catalog at http://familysearch.com to see if birth, marriage, and death records for the locality and ethnic/religious group you’re interested in have been filmed. You can rent those from your local LDS Family History Center.

The challenges

Language. For many, the Cyrillic language poses challenges. Says Fox, “Even a native may have trouble with the handwriting and pre-revolutionary alphabet. It’s helpful to enlist the aid of someone familiar with genealogy.” A former native active in the Belarus SIG has helped Fox audit records filmed by LDS. Another researcher in Minsk helped him trace his Tsivin family back to the 1700s. The Belarus SIG is working with the Genealogical Society of Utah on a project to convert the Belarus records filmed by the LDS to digital images. So far, the SIG has received the first installment of 13 rolls of microfilm on CD, ready for translation. In this way, language difficulties will become a thing of the past.

Record availability/condition. During a 1999 trip to Belarus, Fox observed first-hand the records held at the National Historical Archives—Belarus in Minsk. He began to understand why it takes the Archives a long time to respond to genealogical requests. He says, “It was very hard to find records. Books were covered with dust and mold. There’s no climate control to protect the records. They’re difficult to access. So even if the records weren’t destroyed, this is no easy task.”

The benefits

The greatest benefit, according to Fox, is connecting with the past and connecting with people forgotten for generations. With the renewed interest in family roots, and the availability of information through the web and now Ellis Island, people “get a sense of their place in the world and in history,” says Tarnowski. “It’s a self-worth thing. Although your family might have come to America with just the clothes on their backs and a suitcase, your roots are from someplace else. Now you can determine that your family was really kind of special.” And it’s that feeling of pride that can be passed on to your children so the heritage is preserved for future generations.  RL 

Barbara Krasner-Khait has been researching her Krasner roots in Belarus since 1989. She is the contributing editor to Family Chronicle and the contributing editor on Jewish genealogy to Heritage Quest. She is also the author of Discovering Your Jewish Ancestors (Heritage Quest, 2001).