Some Less Frequently Used Sources in Danube Swabian

Some Less Frequently Used Sources in Danube Swabian
Genealogical Studies
By
Staša Cvetković, genealogist
Mt. Angel Treffen & Conference 2014
0
Mt. Angel Treffen & Conference 2014
Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues and friends,
It is my great honor to be here with you. 12 years ago, when I was starting my professional genealogist
career, giving a lecture to someone like you was something I did not even dream about. My goal was to
escape from my boring job in a pesticide company, to do something I love to do, and to be able to put
some food on the family table by doing this job.
I am especially proud that, over the past 12 years, I have guided so many people from all over the world,
but mostly from USA and Canada, through Serbia and the surrounding region, and I have made many
friends along the way.
My special gratitude goes to those people without whom this lecture would not be possible: Mrs Rosina
Schmidt, najlepše hvala, Mr John and Norma Michels, Mr Henry Fisher, Mr David Preston, University of
Mary in North Dakota and, last but not least, to my wonderful host Mrs Leah Ott and her dear family!
I have tried to shed some light on several sources that people do not use so often in their studies and my
goal is to make people realize that they can explore much more beyond the parish registers.
Finally, I have to say that by no means all of the sources could be embraced by this humble work. I invite
you to tomorrow’s forum, where I will preside and will be glad to answer your questions. Thank you and,
if you agree, let us begin!
Staša Cvetković,
Novi Sad, Serbia
01 September 2014
1
CONTENTS
The definition of the Less Frequently Used Sources in Danube Swabian (DS)
Genealogical Studies ………………………………………:…………………………………………….…. Page 3
MONOGRAPHIC BOOKS AND SIMILAR PUBLICATIONS
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•
•
•
•
•
Monographic Books and Similar Publications ……………………………………….… Page 3
Short-run Printed Publications ……………………………………………………………….. Page 3
Newspapers in German Language in Vojvodina ………………….…………………… Page 7
Newspapers Before the WWI ………………………………………………………………….. Page 7
Between Two World Wars …………………………..………………………………..………… Page 9
Some Sources and Repositories………………………………………………………………… Page 9
CHURCH DOCUMENTS OUTSIDE OF PUBLIC ARCHIVES
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•
•
•
•
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Introduction …………………………….……………………………………………………………… Page 10
Short History of Church and Civil Records and Document-Keeping …………. Page 11
Canonical visitations ……………………………………………………………………………….. Page 13
First Communion (Eucharist) and Confirmation (Chrismation) records ……. Page 13
Status Animarum …………………………………………………………………………………….. Page 14
Historiae Domus (Parish History Books) …………………………………………………… Page 15
ARCHIVAL SOURCES
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Investigation in Vojvodina’s Archives ……………………………………………………..… Page 16
Sources on Colonization ……………………………………………………………………..……. Page 19
Sources to Other Lists of Colonists ……………………………………………………..……. Page 20
Orphans Foundation …………………………………………………………………..……………. Page 22
Cadastral Records ………………………………………………………………..………………….. Page 23
Personal Documents ………………………………………………………….……….……………. Page 27
Ormos Collection – One Important Source of General Value for
Understanding of the Life in XIX C ……………………………………………………………. Page 34
Work of the institutions, administration and courts on a city, district,
county and state levels (as the general research and genealogical source) …Page 34
Archival Fonds, Collections and Other Inventory Units that Contain DS
Genealogy Related Documentation …………………………………………………..….…... Page 36
APPENDIX …………………………………………………………..…….………………..……………… Page 38
2
The definition of the Less Frequently Used Sources in Danube Swabian (DS) Genealogical Studies
There is a wide consensus with regard to the definitions of primary and secondary sources in genealogy.
A primary source is any document or record created at the time of an event or very close to it, such as
church or civil vital records, school and military records, population, land and housing censuses, deeds,
wills and probates, passenger lists and so on. Secondary sources pertain to material that was not
created at the time of an event and can comprise published records, books, various compilations of
records, general historical works and family histories, oral history, letters etc. Having this definition in
mind, we can conclude that the less frequently used sources treated in this work are mostly those
primary sources which are not so often used.
In terms of the resources we will address in this work, it is clear that the above definition puts archive
records, church records and documents 1 in the category of primary records, and only monographic
books and similar publications belong to the category of the secondary sources.
MONOGRAPHIC BOOKS, STUDIES:
Short-run Printed Publications
There is a vast number of short-run monographic publications about the various aspects of the history of
people and places in Vojvodina 2. Historian Bogdan T Stanojev wrote a useful compilation of such titles
which can be translated as “Contributions to the Bibliography of the Monographic Publications on the
Settlements in Vojvodina 3”. The book was published by the Archive of Vojvodina in 1996. This booklet
lists the titles of and provides basic information about 841 books that cover various topics related to 256
settlements. The author compiled this bibliography in 1992 using the Matica Srpska library and other
libraries, museums and archives located in Vojvodina. In his own words, the list is sorely incomplete due
to the historical failure of a number of publishers to comply with their obligation to forward copies of
each publication to the National Library and the Matica Srpska library, resulting in those titles’ absence
from the library catalogues. It is hard to estimate the number of volumes unregistered for this reason,
but there may be around 300 such books. Given the fact that this bibliography was written in 1992, it is
safe to say that about 20 new books have been published annually since then, which gives a total
number of at least 1,500 monographs on the various towns and villages in Vojvodina.
1
Other than the vital records which are not emphasized by the work
Vojvodina as the geopolitical term is reduced in this paper to the geographic region of today Autonomous Serbian Province of
Vojvodina because it mostly corresponds to the repositories and sources mentioned in this work. The region is divided by
the Danube and Tisa rivers into: BATSCHKA in the northwest, BANAT in the east and SYRMIEN (Srijem, Srem) in the southwest.
Today, the western part of SYRMIEN is in Croatia, the northern part of BATSCHKA is in Hungary, the eastern part of BANAT is
in Romania (with a small piece in Hungary), while BARANJA (which is between the Danube and the Drava) is situated both in
Hungary and Croatia.
3
Bogdan Stanojev, “Prilog bibliografiji monografskih publikacija o vojvođanskim naseljima“, (Arhiv Vojvodine, Posebna izdanja
Arhiva Vojvodine“, p. 8
2
3
When we add the books of non-Serbian authors to this number, in the first place Heimatbücher or
Ortsfamilienbücher by American and German-Austrian authors that have been published after 1992 4,
we come to the figure of nearly 1,800 titles.
The majority of the titles by Serbian authors are unknown to researchers abroad and, except for the
small number of books with the abstracts in English language, I believe that fewer than 1% of those
books have a full English translation. Around 10 % of these publications were written in the languages of
Vojvodina’s ethnic minorities (Hungarian, Ruthenian, Slovakian etc).
Certainly, it is not about the quantity but the content. The writers of these publications come from
diverse backgrounds and levels of knowledge. The range spans from local amateur historians to the
members of academic society. Also, the topics and approaches to the matter vary from the predominant
general histories of the settlements, ethnographical, ethnological and anthropogeographical works of
various scope, to some very specific, narrowly defined themes such as the history of a local guild, school,
professional association (e.g. volunteer firemen association), history of a prominent family (industrial,
e.g. Weifert , Dunđerski or Bohn), biographies of noble families and individuals, history of local churches,
companies, newspapers etc.
The vast majority of these monographs do not offer something new or valuable. Even a superficial
analysis would show that most of the authors used well-known and familiar sources. However,
surprisingly, a lot of the publications do contain original material to some extent, and the most valuable
employ secondary sources such as interviews and testimonies of people who were in some way involved
in an event or were familiar with the matter. Also, the choice of archive documents is often narrowly
focused to a chosen local theme and thus, while they publish documents which may be of limited use
for more educated historians dealing with the “big picture”, nevertheless they may prove very worthy
for researchers studying local history.
For example, “Iz prošlosti Srpske Crnje”, a book by Nebojša Faranov, we can extract valuable
information from the author’s recording of details from the locals, who told him about the exact way of
building the “švapska kuća” 5, agricultural varieties that had been used in 1920s, names of localities
dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, brands of agricultural tools, customs, dietary habits, holidays etc.
4
5
Some of those published up to 1992 were included in his work
Swabian-type house
4
Toponyms from Srpska Crnja (Deutsch-Zerne) obtained from local informants, Nebojša Faranov, “Iz
prošlosti Srpske Crnje 6”, Art-Projekt, 2013
The part of these books that I never fail to carefully study is the bibliography and references. To me, it is
a great resource for “fishing” for new material, previously unknown to me, that I could use.
A special place is occupied among the monographs by the books and studies written by professional
historians and archivists, and by reprints and revisions of old publications. Such books are of great
importance, since the information is reliable, direct and processed in an expert manner, and the
bibliography and citations usually provide useful links to other interesting authors and titles.
Below is a page from the book which is a comprehensive guide through Pančevo in 1922, with a
description of all the town’s administrative, religious, cultural and other institutions and buildings.
Furthermore, it lists all the merchants, craftsmen, industrialists and entrepreneurs by name and trade.
6
Title translation: From the Past of Serbische Zerne (Deutsch Zerne, rem. S.C.)
5
“PANČEVO u 38 slika, u tekstu šematizmom pančevačkih trgovaca, industrijalaca, reklamnim odeljkom i
mapom Pančeva”, Dr. Nikola Milutinović, 1922; reprint by Historical Archive in Pančevo, 2011” 7
7
Title translation: “Pantschowa in 38 Pictures and the Schematism of Pantschowaer Merchants, Craftsmen,
Industrials and with the Advertisement Sections and the map of Pantschowa” pančevačkih trgovaca, industrijalaca,
advertisement section and the map of Pančevo”, Dr. Nikola Milutinović, 1922; reprint by Historical Archive in
Pančevo, 2011
6
German Language Newspapers in Vojvodina
There is one other source that is widely used among researchers all over the world: newspapers and
magazines, with their articles, advertisements, engagement and wedding announcements, and
obituaries.
Our historian, Dr Branko Bešlin wrote a concise but extraordinarily informative book about the German
press in Vojvodina during the period 1933-1941. A free translation of this book’s title would be
“Harbinger of Tragedy: the German Press in Vojvodina from 1933-1941 8”. It was the period of the strong
growth of national consciousness among the Germans in the region. For almost two centuries, that
consciousness had been unrecognizable – rather, small local communities shared a sense of a local
common identity sourced from their “old home” ancestry.
The author’s review of the history of German newspaper publishing from its beginnings to the outbreak
of WWI is supported by a comprehensive list of the newspapers published within the territory of today’s
Vojvodina. It is an invaluable tool for the identification and selection of local newspapers for the
purpose of research.
Newspapers Before WWI
The first newspaper in the German language published in Hungary (according to some sources, the first
ever printed outside of Germany) was “Temeswarer Nachrichten”, printed in 1771 in Timisoara by
Mathias Joseph Heimerl.
Timisoara held, without any doubt, primacy in publishing, at all times. From the total number of 20 daily
newspapers, 13 were published in Timisoara, along with more than half of all weekly magazines. On the
eve of WWI, in 1914, the only daily newspapers in Southern Hungary were printed in Timisoara (Die
Zeitung, Temeswarer Zeitung, Temeswarer Volksblatt, and Südungarische Reform) with one newspaper
published in Arad (Arader Zeitung)” 9.
8
Branko Bešlin, “Vesnik tragedije, Nemačka štampa u Vojvodini 1933-1941”, Platoneum, Izdavačka knjižarnica
Zorana Stojanovića, 2001
9
Ibid, page 17, 18
7
Temesvarer Zeitung from 4 November 1885 celebrates 25-year jubilee of Bishop Alexander Bonnaz at the
helm of the Csánad Bishopric 10
The first newspapers in Vojvodina appeared in 1850s and, up to 1914, about 80 different newspapers
circulated in all larger towns. 11
The prevailing type of newspaper - until the period when Kulturbund gradually achieved a decisive
influence on the German press in Vojvodina - was the so-called “Provinzblatt” 12, or provincial newspaper
owned by a single family who printed the papers on their own presses. This concept of family business
provided longevity to “Provinzblatt”, which “newspapers whose existence depended on elusive luck in
the political arena could never expect 13”. “Provinzblatt”, local and provincial as they were, are a good
source for researchers of the history of local communities. The content of those newspapers was almost
exclusively composed of local and regional news and depicts the life of the community in detail. News
from Europe and the world were “copy-pasted” from major metropolitan newspapers. Sometimes,
established German media issued special news editions to be distributed with the provincial
newspapers. For instance, Die Nera (Weiskirchner Zeitung), Gross-Kikindaer Zeitung and Torontaler
10
After Vatican denied funds for the school for girls in the developing Iosefine district of Timisoara, this philanthropic bishop
invested his personal wealth into the construction of the Notre-Dame sisters order school with two-tower Neo-Romanic church.
11
Ibid, page 18
12
According to Branko Bešlin, term used by Felix Milleker in „Geschihchte des Buchdruckers“ and adopted by many journalist
between two world wars.
13
Ibid, page 21
8
Zeitung used German Allgemeine Miteilungen from Stuttgart. Other local newspapers used several other
major German newspapers.
Between the Two World Wars
After the disintegration of Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918, six German language newspapers
survived: Werschetzer Gebirgsbote and Deutscher Volksfreund in Vršac, Bacs-Bodroger Presse in Apatin,
Die Wacht in Bačka Palanka, Werbas und Umgebung in Vrbas and Weisskirchner Volksblatt in Bela Crkva.
After the establishment of Kulturbund in 1919, that organization started their own publishing and
printing shareholding company “Druckerei- und Verlags- Aktiengesellschaft” (DVAG) in the same year.
Very soon, it started to act as the national publisher for Germans in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, slowly
growing the number of its own newspapers and magazines and imposing its authority on most of the
other independent publishers and shaping public opinion among the German population.
Needless to say, this is another important station for researchers. Compared to the “Provinzblatt” in this
period, newspapers became more nationally, politically and socially engaged, shrinking the space
available for more local themes and people.
Some Sources and Repositories:
For the identification of newspapers published within the territory of today’s Vojvodina, besides Dr
Bešlin’s book, I often use a few comprehensive sources which are available online:
Deutschsprachige Presse in Ungarn 1850-1920 by Maria Rozsa in two volumes:
https://www.google.rs/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjA
A&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmek.oszk.hu%2F01900%2F01970%2Frtf%2F1kotet.rtf&ei=ggf6U6KoFufh4QSUjo
DQAw&usg=AFQjCNG46JVCz-XoCt3-cu5xpjULotn8hw&bvm=bv.73612305,d.bGQ
https://www.google.rs/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCUQFj
AB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmek.oszk.hu%2F01900%2F01970%2Fpdf%2F2kotet.pdf&ei=ggf6U6KoFufh4QS
UjoDQAw&usg=AFQjCNEdIR_MxcO-OFQJ0VwD-zCAH5hVNQ&bvm=bv.73612305,d.bGQ
As for the repositories for newspapers and magazines, one of the major ones is the archive and
microfilm collection kept in the Museum of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, although there are more or less
valuable collections in most of the regional archives and major libraries.
The Library of Matica Srpska 14 and the National Library of Serbia in Belgrade, along with other academic
and public libraries in Serbia, keep some of the local newspapers in the German language, but also some
newspapers, bulletins, gazetteers, calendars and annuals not contained in any other of archives or
museums in Vojvodina and, thus, this is the source always worth checking. Their online catalogue with
more than 3,500,000 publications can be searched online through basic, advanced and keyword search:
http://www.vbs.rs/scripts/cobiss?command=CONNECT&base=80017&lani=enI
14
Oldest cultural and scientific institution in modern Serbia, Matica Srpska was established in 1826
9
The search interface is very similar to the Library of Congress online catalogue (now when I mention this
great institution, it is always clever to check what they have! Whole trick is in clever use of the keywords
and syntax)
I would like to mention two other major sources that could be used in a search for local newspapers in
German language:
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien http://www.onb.ac.at/index.php
Széchényi-Nationalbibliothek, Budapest http://regi.oszk.hu/index_en.htm
To broaden the search to the network of Serbian libraries whose catalogues are available through the
joint (shared) online available database, use the following link:
http://www.vbs.rs/scripts/cobiss?ukaz=BASE&bno=99999&id=1335132483660761
It will include the titles from the National Library in Serbia in Belgrade and 162 other Serbian university
and public libraries which are in the system.
CHURCH DOCUMENTS OUTSIDE OF PUBLIC ARCHIVES
Introduction:
Most of the church vital registries (CB’s) from the period beyond 1895 up to date, and the registries and
documents that will be treated in this paper (Historiae Domus, Libri Confirmatorum), are kept in
Bishoprics and parishes.
In Vojvodina, we have:
•
Three Roman Catholic Dioceses with 38 parishes in Zrenjanin Diocese (cca. 70,000), 94 parishes
in Subotica Diocese (cca. 300,000) and 34 parishes in Srem (Srijem, Syrmien) Diocese (with
Petrovaradin rectory) (cca. 50,000);
• Slovakian Evangelical church of Augsburg Confession with the bishopric in Novi Sad with 40
parishes; and
• Evangelical Christian Church of Augsburg Confession with the Bishopric in Subotica with 18
church communities.
Both of these Lutheran churches (of A.C.15.) claim to be the successors of German Evangelical Church of
A.C. which was discontinued in the beginning of the 1950s. It is important to say that more than half of
those formally speaking parishes are in fact filial churches, and the mother churches cover two or three
villages on average.
15
Of Augsburg Confession or in Latin, Confessio Augustana, primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church
10
The availability on request of the records kept in the Roman Catholic parishes is also quite problematic
due to poor English language 16 knowledge and consequent unresponsiveness. Over the last year or two,
the prices of issued certificates significantly increased, probably due to the increased demand. The
prices are not standardised at diocesan level and can range from 5 to 10 EUR per certificate.
Sometimes, beside the language problems, there may be an unwillingness to conduct the more complex
search requests.
Short History of Church and Civil Records and Document-Keeping
The serious approach to the keeping of vital records in the Western Rite Christian Europe relates to the
Council of Trent (Concilium Tridentinum) which defined the obligation for Roman Catholic parish priests
to keep records of baptisms and marriages. Pursuant to the Trent Council decisions, Pope Paul V
prescribed in 1616 the keeping of five types of church record:
Birth registries (Liber baptisatorum), marriage registries (Liber copulatorum), death registries (Liber
defunctorum), Confirmation registry (Liber confirmatorum) and the book of parishioners/parish families
(Liber status animarum, lit. “state of souls”).
Within the territory of today’s Vojvodina, the keeping of vital registries became mandatory for all
acknowledged religions by Imperial Decree in 1784.
Civil or public records in the lands of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy became operative from 1
October 1895 after Article XXXII of the Law on State Vital Records Registries was passed by the
Parliament in 1894.
After WWII, pursuant to Article 48 of the Law on State Vital Records Registries in 1946, church vital
records were acknowledged as public documents and consequently were taken away from the churches.
According to the same Law, they were supposed to be transcribed and brought back to the churches by
31 December 1951 at latest. They have not been returned yet.
On 7 July 2011, the Serbian Government signed the agreement on returning church books to their
respective owners but, surprisingly, both sides concluded that this move would be premature at this
moment – the Government still has not digitized the church records (or the majority of them) and the
Church is not ready to take responsibility for the adequate receipt, storage and preservation of such a
huge collection. In my personal opinion, this will be accomplished within two (very optimistic estimate)
to six years (being the anticipated time by which Serbia may join EU and comply with its regulations,
standards and recommendations).
16
Although the number of English speaking priests is constantly growing, most of the parish priests speak
Hungarian, Serbian and a number of them speak the German language (S.C.)
11
07 July 2011, Msgr. Stanislav Hočevar and Gov. Minister Marković signing the agreement on returning of
the parish records to the RC church (same agreement was signed with dignitaries of other religions
Over its three centuries of existence, Germans within the territory of today’s Vojvodina used to belong
to one of three main churches. Most Germans were Roman Catholics, while the rest were mostly
members of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of A.C. A minority used to belong to the Reformed or
Calvinist church.
After the ethnical cleansing of Germans from Yugoslavia under the Communists, German presence in the
church community life in all of those churches practically ceased to exist. Today, Hungarians and
Slovaks, as the most populous minorities in Vojvodina, comprise the vast majority of non-Eastern
Orthodox believers.
First of all, we have to point out that diocesan archives exist for all the religions within the territory of
Vojvodina, but, from the point of view of a researcher, the situation with those archives is quite
disappointing. The scope of documentation important for genealogists that is kept there is too often
limited to the period after WWI, while the availability of the documentation for researchers is restricted
since the archives are not meant for public but for internal use only. They would provide a vital
certificate on a request but that is about it.
Recently, the Zrenjanin Diocese archive decided to create a central diocesan archive. The order was
given to all parish priests to prepare for the transferring of all books and old documents from their
parishes to the former Franciscan monastery of St Charles Borromeo, now seat of the Roman Catholic
parish of Pančevo. They already provided appropriate space and metal archival shelves for this purpose.
At this point, it is unknown if the doors of this archive will be open for researchers not belonging to the
clergy and under what terms but, personally, I feel optimistic with regard to this.
12
Whilst waiting for the church archive to become operational, which will certainly take some time, a lot
of valuable sources can be found at the basic organizational church units – the parishes.
Parish home closets and shelves and church towers often hide forgotten and overlooked important
documentation. Fortunately, the church has recently begun to put serious plans into effect in order to
assemble, record and organize such documents. The central RC archive and the library in Pančevo are a
good example for that. Generally speaking, the most common documentation comprises the following:
a) Canonical visitations 17
The practice of appointing “patriarchs, primates, metropolitans and bishops 18” to visit their respective
dioceses, personally or by their “vicar-general or visitor” on a regular basis, “with a view of maintaining
faith and discipline and of correcting abuses by the application of proper remedies” 19 was established in
early Christian days, abandoned in High Middle Ages and reintroduced by the Council of Trent 20.
In practice, such visitations meant the complete investigation and insight into the spiritual and material
affairs of the diocese.
Available canonical visitations reports for the territory of today’s Vojvodina are kept (one copy) in the
Dioceses of Zrenjanin and Subotica and are of great interest for RC Church historians and to some extent
to the chroniclers of local communities, but they do not have much value for genealogists.
b) First Communion (Eucharist) 21 and Confirmation (Chrismation) 22 records
Having the importance and weight of the Holy Sacraments in the RC Church, the attention that both
deserve is accompanied by the strict and mandatory keeping of records on children and (in some special
cases adults) who received those Holy Sacraments. In Protestant denominations, it is less elaborate in
the Lutheran (Evangelical) Church than in the Reformed and is considered more as a ceremony of
coming of age.
These records cannot be found in archives other than as rare exceptions, since the new communist
authorities did not need them. At the time, they were after the church vital records that were taken
away from churches after the WWII, brought to the local civil registries and gradually transferred to the
regional archives according to the territorial criteria.
Thus, these records are kept in parishes but the annual lists of the children eligible for the Confirmation
used to be delivered to the bishop who is, “being a successor to the apostles 23”, the original minister of
Confirmation.
17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_visitation
Meehan, Andrew. "Canonical Visitation." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912
19
Ibid
20
Church nineteenth ecumenical council that lasted from 13 December 1545 to 04 December 1563
21
(typically received around the age of seven in the Latin Rite)
22
(usually received several years after First Communion)
23
apostolic succession, “Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions“, Wordsworth Reference, 1995 edition, p. 29
18
13
The Archive of Vojvodina church book fond (F-402) 1826-1895 is the biggest fond of church vital
registries in Serbia (bishop’s transcripts), covering hundreds of villages within the territory of today’s
Vojvodina. However, there are gaps within this fond. Typically, the characteristic pattern for most of the
parish registers is for gaps of sporadically missing years during the period 1826-1840s and for a gap for
the period around the 1850s.
The very good news is that the Confirmation records and the records on First Communion were
preserved in majority of the parishes for the period where gaps exist in vital registries. This information
is confirmed by the Zrenjanin Bishopric and the source says that the Confirmation and the First
Communion records start along with the vital records, mostly from the end of 18th and the beginning of
19th century. It is true that there are certain gaps produced by the parish priests’ inactivity but this was
more the exception than the rule.
Early Kovin (Kubin, Kevevara) Confirmation records (extracted from the volume 1776-1828)
This makes the Confirmation and First Confirmation records a valuable auxiliary source for
supplementing the missing vital registers.
The biggest problem with these records are the availability issues, due to the fact that they are
dispersed across parishes, not catalogued and sometimes hard to access – RC parish priests now, due to
the dwindling numbers of parishioners, often cover two or more villages and it is sometimes hard to
locate and budge them to look for some old records. But, as long as the records are there, there is
always a way to eventually obtain them.
c) Status Animarum
For some unfortunate reason, there is a sad lack of Status Animarum (SA) - in the form of separate
church records or the records included/attached to the vital registries - for the parishes in Banat. I tried
to find at least a hint on the state of SA in a few manuscripts of Dr Friedhelm Treude which he wrote
after the WWII and were available to me. Dr Treude was a historian who committed a good part of his
14
studies to the Germans from Banat and is responsible for the microfilming of Banat parish records (later
used by FHL of LDS church) but I was able to find only some lapidary reference to SA in his papers.
I have tried to find some answers in the church sources but no satisfactory answer ever reached me. I
have high hopes in a few very knowledgeable contacts I intend to consult in the near future, in Timisoara
and Pančevo but, at this point, I cannot provide you with answers.
It is a pity, since neighboring Croatia has an extensive collection of SA and, while investigating there, I
realized how useful SA would be for my studies.
There is a somewhat better situation in the parishes in Batschka, but again nothing like the fortunate
situation in Croatia.
d) Historiae Domus (Parish History Books)
Since we just established with regret that we are short of SA for Banat, it can come as a surprise to
reveal that almost every parish has its own Historia Domus, or parish history book (PHB), kept by the
parish priests. While this type of book is not focused on individuals and an assessment of their efforts to
lift up their spiritual state and knowledge as the case is with SA (while providing us with the super useful
genealogy information), PHB can be absolutely a delicacy for the parish and town historians.
Wars, troubles with “haiducken24” and horse thieves, famine, founding of schools and fire watch towers,
fixing the roads, good or bad years for vines, bishops in canonical visitations, the railway coming to
town, plague and cholera, festivals and holidays... everything has its place in a parish priest diary. If, that
is, he is not too lazy to write (which happens sometimes, leaving frustrating 10-year blanks a
possibility…).
Here are two examples from Kudritzer parish history book. One is not so cheerful and pertains to the
worrying increase in Syphilis transmission in 1833 in Timis and Torontal:
24
Hajduks, Heiducks - Outlaws and highwaymen, sometimes romantic figures of freedom fighters in Balkans (S.C.)
15
But the news from 1926 was much happier – new church organs with pneumatic tube systems were
ordered from the master organ-builder Josef Brandl of Magdeburg 25:
ARCHIVAL SOURCES
Investigation in Vojvodina’s Archives
Vojvodina, which is the Autonomous Province in the Republic of Serbia, has nine regional 26 archives plus
the Archive of Vojvodina in Novi Sad which is superior to the regional archives and coordinates and
controls their activities.
There are few limiting factors for researchers in archives, the most important being the following:
25
Saxony, Germany
Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Bela Crkva and Pančevo in Banat; Novi Sad, Subotica, Senta and Sombor in Batschka and
Sremska Mitrovica (Archive „Srem“) in Srem or Syrmien.
26
16
The laws and regulations with regard to access to archival documentation and obtaining copies of
archive documents are in some aspects obsolete and conservative compared to the majority of similar
archives in, for example, Europe, USA and Australia. Foreign citizens have to obtain a permit prior to
research. These permits are issued by the Provincial Ministry of Culture and Public Information in Novi
Sad. Formally, the time for issue is 30 days from application, but in practice it only takes a few days
(technically, it is possibly to get it in one day). It is a formality since no permits are ever denied but, still,
it is a nuisance. Applications can be sent by e-mail.
A standardised policy for accessing records does not exist, although the central archive (AV) is recently
trying to make it more uniform. Their effort to improve information management, accessibility and
user-friendliness toward the researchers is evident in the past years. Their contemporary looking
website is growing fast and the content is becoming increasingly interesting and informative 27. Some
archives issue photocopies, some make digital photos upon your request (when the documents have not
already been digitized).
The majority of archive fonds and collections in Serbia have not been digitized. In comparison with other
archival collections, some of the church registry book collections have being digitized to a somewhat
greater extent.
At the present time, no archives in Vojvodina make available any online records (either commercially or
free of charge) 28, which restricts the possibility of remote research only to individual and personalized emails to the archives. Some archives, such as the Archive of Vojvodina, make available contact forms on
their websites for researcher requests. They charge for the work of their employees per your request (a
typical daily fee is about 15 EUR), plus the costs of scanning, which is quite high and goes from 1 EUR
upwards for a scan of a single parish register entry. Cost of photocopies for the majority of the records
other than the parish registers is much lower, ranging from 0,10 to 0,20 EUR per page. There is no fee
for the use of archive documents within the reading rooms meant for researchers. However, the
quantity of archive documents which can be ordered in one day is limited, and those limits are set
internally by each archive. E.g., in the Archive of Vojvodina, the limit is set to two archive boxes per day
(about 0.2 m per box) for the parish registers. An average town is “covered” by two or three archive
boxes, so sometimes you need to plan two days for researching an entire town’s parish registers.
There are differences in archival terminology in different countries, so I will provide a brief description of
the terms that will be used as we go along.
Archives in Vojvodina keep substantial quantity of documents sorted in archival fonds according to the
largely accepted principles of provenance and original order. Fonds, or as you prefer to say in US and
Canada, record groups or collections, 29 are the “chief archive units in the Continental system 30” and can
27
http://www.arhivvojvodine.org.rs/index.php/sr-yu/
With the exception of the Archive of Subotica parish records collection which started a project of publishing the collection
online free of any charge http://e-arhiva.suarhiv.co.rs/index.php?lang=eng You have to register before you proceed with your
online research
29
In our (Serbian) archivistic, term „collection“ correspondents with the definition given by Steven Hensen in his „Archives,
Personal Papers, and Manuscripts: A Cataloging Manual for Archival Repositories, Historical Societies, and Manuscript
28
17
be described as “the entire body of records of an organization, family, or individual that have been
created and accumulated as the result of an organic process reflecting the functions of the creator 31”.
In order to stay focused on the topic, I will not list ALL repositories and sources that may contain
references to the genealogy of DS. Instead, I will rather speak about the sources that provide significant
and substantial information in regard to the study of DS family history in archives in Vojvodina.
In my investigations, for practical and organizational purposes, I often plan and divide the investigation
phases to the periods that roughly but essentially correspond with the various archive fonds (principle of
provenance). There are several such important milestones:
-
-
-
-
Second half of 18th century to the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 after which feudalism and
serfdom were abolished and civil rights became common for all citizens.
Period of Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar (Woiwodschaft Serbien und
Temescher Banat), short-lived autonomous crown province of the Austrian Empire from 18491860
Period of the dual monarchy (Austro-Hungarian Empire) from 1867-1918
WWI (1914-1918)
Period between the disintegration of Austro-Hungarian Empire and WWII. Treaty of Trianon
from 1920 confirmed the de facto situation from the end of 1918, delivering sizeable portions of
several ex-Hungarian counties (Bacs-Bodrog, Torontal and Temes) to the newly established
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
WWII - in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, started by German bombing of Belgrade on 6 April 1941,
and ended in 1945.
Period between October 1944 and the beginning of 1948 is certainly the darkest hour in the
history of DS, during which about 50,000 32 or 10 % of total population of this ethnic minority lost
their lives and almost everyone lost their property and their motherland. Various types of camps
for Germans existed on the territory of Vojvodina: internment camps, working camps, central
camps for civilians and the camps for civilians incapable for working (elderly people and
children) which, given the treatment of the inmates, equaled the death camps. Central camps
provided the forced labor for the working camps and for local agriculture and, to a lesser
degree, industry.
And the last period would be period after the camps for Germans were disbanded in early 1948
to the present day.
Libraries – 2nd ed.”, Society of American Archivists, 1989: „A body of archival material formed by or around a person, family
group, corporate body, or subject either from a common source as a natural product of activity or function, or gathered
purposefully and artificially without regard to original provenience.”
30
Jenkinson, Hilary,” A Manual of Archive Administration”, Percy Lund, Humphries, 1966
31
Richard Pearce-Moses, “A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology”, Society of American Archivists, 2005
32
Number of victims ranges between conservative and underestimated 36000 to equally not credible 90000.
18
There is one additional division that is important in terms of availability of vital registry records and it is
the one to the period until and beyond 1895 when the civil registries started on the territory of today’s
Vojvodina, but we will not be addressing those sorts of records here.
Sources on the Colonization
An epic effort by Martha Remer Connor to transcribe the 1828 census helped many to get closer to their
origins. Microfilming of the censuses that followed in 1857 and 1869 was restricted to some particular
regions and does not cover the historical counties on the territory of today’s Vojvodina.
I would like to draw your attention to some other sources that are, in my opinion, not used often and
extensively and are 50 to 100 years older than 1828 census.
•
•
Pursuant to the first “impopulation” (colonization) patent brought by Neoaquistica commisio
(Committee for the Newly Acquired Regions), that presided over by Leopold Karl von Kollonitch
(Leopold Kolonić) in 1689 was such a success that the administration in Moravia and Schlesien
had to ban further immigration 33. As “kammeralist”, Kollonitch favored German settlers. Due to
the Ferencz Rakoczi uprising from 1703-1711, this colonization wave was short-lived. The next
colonization groups arrived from 1712 to 1718, but larger groups of colonists started to arrive in
1723 when some 17 villages, mostly in eastern Banat, were settled. That colonization was
organized through the administration in Timisoara and the administrative counselor Franz
Samuel von Rebentisch.
Colonization by the very first German settlers at the end of 17th century - and before the
“impopulation” patent sanctioned by Emperor Karl (Charles) VI in 1722/23 - was recorded in the
1715 and 1720 Urbarial census of Hungary. This census is of no major genealogy importance for
DS for several reasons, but it has some limited value. 1715 census did not yield expected results
and the soldiers in the frontier were not listed, unlike in the 1720 census. A commission from
Matica Srpska compiled and published in 1968 an excerpt in five volumes with a list of and
information on Serbian inhabitants emphasized by this Urbarial census (mostly the soldiers but
other categories, too), which I have used extensively for Serbian-related investigations. It is
available online through Hungarian State Archive (Magyar Országos Lévéltar), so it is worthwhile
trying http://mol.arcanum.hu/ It gives some free information but later requires payment. Also,
you need to install their application in order to use the database.
Second one are the “Impopulation” (colonization) records 1783-1785 34, kept on 16 microfilms 35
with tens of thousands of colonists’ records, containing the name of the settler and names of his
dependant family members (women, children), age, place of origin (in approximately 90 % origin
is listed) and the place of destination. Records are sorted in chronological order, starting in May
1783, and several different forms that were used. Most of the settlers were heading to BacsBodrog County but there are a significant number of families which were directed to Timisoara.
33
Branko Bešlin, „Naseljavanje Nemaca u Vojvodinu“, Platoneum d.o.o., 2006, p. 14
Microfilms exists in the Archive of Vojvodina under the signature I-279-295,“Registratura Mađarske Komore Budimpešta“ and
in Budapest State Archives as Magyar Kamara Regisztratúrája, E-67, Impopulationalia, Magyar Országos Levéltár
35
It seems that in Budapest Archive, the same collection comprise 12, not 16 microfilms. I cannot explain the difference (S.C.)
34
19
•
Protestants are clearly distinguished in the religion column (sometimes simply as “acatolics” and
sometimes more precisely as “Lutheri”, “Lutherani” or “Calvini”, “Calviniani” etc).
The second collection could be very interesting for the researchers whose primary interests are
the villages in Syrmien (Srem, Srijem) and Slavonien.
There are four boxes of Xerox prints from 1969:
The first, second and third boxes contain the registry of Urbariums: “Urbaria et Conscriptiones” registers of fief ownership with the lists of the lands with their serfs.
1st box: 444 prints, spans years 1722-1749; 2nd box: 358 prints, spans years 1720-1745, 3rd box:
261 prints, spans years 1745-1773
The fourth box is the census of the church and feudal (seigniorial) tax of 1/10 and 1/9 of the
agricultural yields – “Conscriptiones Decimarum et Nonarum Croatie et Slavonie 1594-1734 ” 36,
with 469 prints ranging from 1718- 1721
Sources to the Other Lists of Colonists
Other resource for the research of the colonization and migrations comprises various contracts,
transactions and deeds between, on the one side, the various landowners (many of whom received vast
lands as the spoils of the successful war against the Ottomans), magistrates of free Imperial cities,
merchants who were buying land through direct deals or at auctions, and the church which sometimes
traded lands, and, on the other side, the colonists.
I would like to present an example. Below you can see one page of the early census of colonists from
Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, German states, Lothringen (Lorraine), Alsace and Luxembourg settled Baja,
(Nagy)Baracska, Csatalya, Hercegszanto, Bereg, Kolut (Ringdorf), Gakowa, Kruschiwl, Gara, Vaskut, Istvan
Megye, Csavoly, Melykut, Tatarhaza, Katschmar and Bajmok (Nagelsdorf). This page is a part of 16-page
list and pertains to the part of the settlers to Gakova and Kruschiwl (there is one more whole page with
Gakova settlers and four pages with Kruschiwl colonists).
36
Popis desetina i devetina u Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji 1594-1734, Hrvatski Državni Arhiv
20
From the Catalogue with chronologically arranged summary descriptions of the contents of the chosen
documents from the fond of Bacs-Bodrog County (1688-1849) 37
The list comprises 5 columns, from left to right: 1) Place of colonization (2/3 of the page lists Gakowa
settlers and 1/3 is the beginning of the list for the colonists to Kruschiwl), 2) Given and family name, 3)
Age of the colonist, 4) Place of origin of the colonist and 5) Year of colonist arrival to the place of
colonization.
37
Lajčo Matković, Tadija Grosinger, „Bačko-Bodroška županija (1688-1789)“, Katalog odabranih sadržaja dokumentata (17881789), vol. VIII/7, Arhiv Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 1996
21
So, if we take as the example my client whose investigation was the reason for obtaining this list, we
have determined that one of his ancestors, Michael Pleli, age 37, arrived in Gakovo (Gakowa) from
Kernbach (Germany) in 1771.
Dozens of similar lists can be found in this one (Bacs-Bodrog) and the other fonds covering Torontal
and Timis counties by using the catalogues 38 published by the Archive of Vojvodina. Some of the
regional archives use other kinds of publications for tracing such lists, but it is a fact that the existence of
some lists of this kind is not highlighted and they have to be pinpointed through the right choice of the
fonds and the narrowing to the archival units that may contain the desired materials. Both summary
inventories and analytical guides can be of help.
Orphans Foundation (Funds) 39
Very often, researchers hit brick walls caused by an ancestor having been an orphan. Also often,
researcher may not be aware that THIS is the problem and they turn their attention in other directions.
So, if at one point in your investigation you uncover potential adoption situation, you should turn to the
Orphans Foundation (OF) records. As the name itself says, certain attention is needed in order not to
confuse this institute with the institute of adoption of the children. So, what was OF in Vojvodina at the
time?
Legal custody, care and control over orphans within the territory of today’s Vojvodina existed as the
ward of the community as early as the end of the 18th century and were monitored and managed by the
parish. It existed in a form of OF. In the social environment where orphanages did not exist for a long
time, usually not until the end of the 19th century, care in the community care was the major way of
looking after orphaned children.
State regulation of this matter was later defined by law. Gyámsági törvény (HUN) (Guardianship Act) was
the law brought by Hungarian Parliament on 7 July 1877 to define and regulate the institution of legal
guardianship and the matters related to the care, support and protection of both orphans and
incapacitated seniors. Pursuant to this Law, OF were established in Hungarian counties and
consequently Torontal County OF was established with a seat in Gross Betschkerek. After the collapse of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Torontal County, its territorial jurisdiction was limited to the part of
Banat belonging to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the activities of this institution ceased in 1948.
The content of this sort of material which is most appealing for researchers is the orphans’ files and lists.
Other than that, you can expect to find records and information about the appointments of legal
guardians and the guardian committees, lending money on interest, guardians’ reports about their
clients’ assets, reports on guardians’ abuses, auctions in favor of OF, solving disputes between guardians
and the heirs, claims of tutors and curators, general and vocational education of clients, ending of
38
39
Catalogues of the chosen contents from the archival fonds
In Serbian/Croatian: siročadski sto(l)
22
guardianship with the clients who attained the age of majority, annual censuses of the orphans’
property, legal representation before courts, and so on.
The archive fond for the Banat OF is vast and very well preserved. It is kept in the Archive of Zrenjanin as
“Banatski siročadski sto (1849-1947)” under the signature F-471 and comprises 89 meters of document
placed in no fewer than 640 archive boxes (!), which makes it the biggest fond of this kind in Vojvodina.
Similar but considerably smaller collections exist also in archive of Zrenjanin for Bacs-Bodrog county
under the name and signature: “Siročadski sto Bačko-Bodroške Županije 1880-1949”, F-404 comprising 5
meters of documents and 40 archival boxes, missing years span: 1881-1888 and 1890-1899 and for the
city of Zrenjanin: “Gradski siročadski sto Petrovgrad - Zrenjanin (1881-1946)”
Also, in the other regional archives:
Historical Archive Bela Crkva: “Siročadski sto Vršac (1866-1918)”, “Siročadski sto Vršac (1941-1945)”
Istorijski arhiv Bela Crkva, “Siročadski sto Vršac (1919-1940)”
Historical Archive Subotica, “Siročadski sto grada Subotice (1874-1947)”
Historical Archive Sombor, “Siročadski sto (1913-1947) 40”
Cadastral (Land Survey) Records 41
Meaning:
Cadaster, cadaster (n. ) -A public register showing the details of ownership and value of land made for
the purpose of taxation
Short regional cadastral history:
The first general cadastral survey for the territory of Habsburg Empire was conducted under Emperor
Joseph II (based on the decision of his mother, Empress Maria Theresa) between 1763 and 1768.
The second cadastral survey for the whole territory of Habsburg Empire (the so-called Franciscan after
the Emperor Francis I) was carried out between 1806 and 1869.
The third general cadastral survey was performed under the Emperor Franz Josef I between 1869 and
1916 and the cadastral measurement registers with the cadastral maps for Banat, Batschka (Bačka), and
Syrmien (Srem) are kept in several local archives.
Usage:
In genealogy, cadastral surveys can be a valuable auxiliary tool and we often use them in our genealogy
practice, not only as a substitute to partially fill gaps in vital registers but also to provide additional
information for our clients. That information may include the size and nature of the ancestral real estate
property. Furthermore, it gives us the vital information on house numbers which can be then related to
the appropriate cadastral map (if map is available). Even some other maps relevant to the period may
allow us to pinpoint the exact locations of ancestral homes when used along the cadastral books.
40
41
City of Sombor, S.C.
Not to be confused with population and housing censuses
23
About the cadastral survey records:
The majority of cadastral registries were preserved, but this is not the case with the related maps.
Practically, it means that we can almost always get the information on the property owner (taxpayer),
address and the size and the category of all of his properties, but that is not always followed by the
appropriate maps (where missing from the sets).
The language of the cadastral survey registries was mostly Hungarian and the Description of the
Boundaries of the Cadastral Municipality with the Map and the Tax Payers Directories (alphabetical and
by the address) were usually in both German and Hungarian. Cadastral survey registers consists of
several different types of records (books), most usually the following:
- Kőszégnek Számolati Jegyzőkőnyv - Geodetic part of the survey, technical and of no particular
importance for the genealogist.
- Birtokrésleti Jegyzőkőnyv - This type of registry provides the most important information: number of
land lot (which can be later associated with maps where available), name of the property owner, his
house address, category of the property (house, stable, manufacturing unit, agricultural land, vineyard,
orchard, etc) with the corresponding area measured in Ől and Hold (old Hungarian land measurement
units which we convert to modern units)
Example of the Main Cadastral Register (Ernsthausen, 1875)
24
- Adókőszégnek Határleirása - Description of the perimeter (boundaries) of the cadastral municipality;
comes with the small-scale map (these small-scale maps should not be confused with the survey largescale maps!). Usually, there are two similar bilingual booklets (in Hungarian and in German).
Cadastral Boundaries Map (Zichydorf 1874)
- Betűsorozatos névjegyzék - (alphabetical) directory of the taxpayers with their house addresses.
There existed, as a rule, a similar directory but by the house number (address) order. Both of those
were written in German and Hungarian languages.
Tax Payers Directory Alphabetical (Zichydorf, 1875)
25
- Other documentation: usually lists of land lots by the soil quality, sorts and the distribution of the
cultures and farm animals etc.
Survey maps: Those large-scale maps (1:1,500) consist of physically separated parts and one small-scale
map (master map) with the grid of quadrants, each quadrant representing one separate map part.
Depending on the size of the village or town, there are usually from 15 to 30 map parts sized 1 m x 80
cm. For big cities such as Pančevo and Novi Sad, there are several hundred map parts related to the
actual cadastral book (Birtokrésleti Jegyzőkőnyv) - “Feld Brouillon der Stadt und Comunität Pancsova”
Example: Setschanfeld Cadastral Master Map 1875 COMBINED with the section 5 of the Setschanfeld
Cadastral Map (section 5 colored blue on the Master Map grid)
Old Hungarian land area measurement units:
Hold: The official kataszteri hold or cadastral hold, used for land taxation, is 1,600 square öl or about
0.5752 hectare (1.421 acres or 5752 m2); this unit is equivalent to the Austrian joch.
Ől - a traditional Hungarian distance unit comparable to the English fathom. The öl was equal to 6 láb or
about 1.896 meter (6.22 English feet), making it the Hungarian version of the Viennese klafter. 1 square
ől = 3.594816 square meters.
26
Personal Documents
For the period of the 19th century, this category comprises mostly “Meisterbriefs” (master craftsman
licences) and “Wanderbücher” (journeyman’s “passport”).
MASTERBRIEF: Ropemakers’ guild in Neu Betsche (Aratsch) in Banat issued a master craftsman
certificate (masterbrief) of ropemaker (Seiler) to Andreas Gromann (b. 7 June 1822) on 5 December 1850,
Archive of Zrenjanin Collection of Charts and Diplomas
Wanderbuch 42 is a journey book which served as the passport and the working resume and reference. It
was issued to apprentices who completed their apprenticeship and allowed them to travel as a
journeyman in search for work and to gain experience. Such a book would contain all of the positions he
held (places he worked at) along with the record of the time and place where he worked. His
engagement was verified by a stamp or a master’s signature. Once he completed his journeyman
career 43, he usually worked on his masterpiece 44 which allowed him to get his Meisterbrief (master
craftsman license), join the guild and start with his own Master craftsman career.
42
Wanderbuch example, see page 32
Wandering was a guild regulation and in 19th century Vojvodina - 3 years of gaining experience was the most usual
timeframe
44
Masterpiece (Meisterstück) was made in front of two master craftsmen
43
27
Nearly all of the nine regional archives have their own collection of these documents but the most
important ones are in the Archive of Pančevo, which keeps the most voluminous collection of
Wanderbücher (664 books), and in Novi Sad, which holds a wide collection of personal documents that,
besides Meisterbriefs and Wanderbücher, includes travelling salesmen’s books, passports, working
books of servant staff, livestock passports etc.
Personal documents in Archive of Vojvodina are kept in fond F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal
Documents 1742-1923). Few examples of personal documents:
Begging permit, 1876 and 1877 45
45
Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923)
28
Begging permits were granted by the city captainships, district and municipal administration allowing
begging on their territory for a time limited usually to 24 to 48 hours 46
Working Book (Munkakonyve, Pracovni knižka, Arbeitsbuch) 47
46
Article of Zoran Stavanović from Archive of Vojvodina, published in a expert archival magazine „Zapisi“, Historical Archive
Pozarevac, pages 83-93
47
Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923)
29
Servants’ Books 48 (Dienstbotenbuch, szolgati konyv, cseledkonyv)
48
Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923)
30
Peddling Books - Hausirbuch (Hausirbuch, hazalokonyv, knjžka na obchodn po domich, liro di commercio
girovago) 49
49
Archive of Vojvodina, F. 470, (The Collection of Civil Personal Documents 1742-1923)
31
Vandrovke, Journeymen Books (Wanderbuch, vandorkolonyv, wandrownicka knjžka, stranovnica, putna
knjiga 50) – 152 + 664
Austrian Civil Code from 1811 (Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, ABGB) proscribed that vocational
skill is needed for doing of any kind of job. Wanderbuch served as a personal and passport document for
the journeymen who travelled to various places in Empire and abroad to improve their workmenship. 51
50
Source: Internet (Swiss Wanderbuch)
Article of Zoran Stavanović from Archive of Vojvodina, published in a expert archival magazine „Zapisi“, Historical Archive
Pozarevac, pages 87-89
51
32
Passport (Reisepass, Scheda Passualis, Passuales, Passir Schein, utazo-level, utlevel, igazolasi jegy): 216
passport sheets and 30 passport booklets
All of the above documents had status of public documents. They were tremendously important
because they allowed the freedom of movement. That freedom was, in 18th and the first half of 19th
century reserved only for the civiles, or citizens had a freedom of movement as opposed to the plebs
(plebeian) who were serfs tied to the landlords estates (their only alternative was work in the
manufactures in the cities which was often much harder than being on the land). Josef II abolished
serfdom in 1785, but it was reintroduced very soon in 1788, since the noblemen conditioned their
33
participation in Austrian-Russian-Ottoman war with restoring of old system. Serfdom was definitely
abolished in 1848 and the freedom of movement became common for everyone.
Ormos Collection - An Important Source of General Value for Understanding Life in 19th century
For researchers interested in the history of Banat villages, ethnology and ethnography, folk customs and
life in Banat in 19th century, there is a collection created by historian Sigismund Ormos which is
microfilmed (on 12 reels of film) and available in Archive of Vojvodina as “Ormosi Gyűjtemény” (Ormos
Collection), 1859-1860. This collection is originally the collection of Banat Museum in Timisoara
(established 1872).
The original collection is now held in the Romanian National Archives in Timisoara under the name and
signature: TM-F-00131 Fondul Familial Ormos Sigismund (1801-1908).
Work of the institutions, administration and courts on a city, district, county and state level (as a
general research and genealogy source)
Documents produced by the work of various institutions from the period of the colonization in 18th
century to the expulsion of DS from Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in late 1940s are sorted in a
number of various archival fonds and collections in Archive of Vojvodina and nine regional archives.
Some archival documentation is still waiting to be included to appropriate inventory units and some of it
is attached to the collections of “varia” 52.
All of the administrations and institutions at all levels, from the local to the highest, created their share
of documents that contain information significant for genealogists. Chambers of commerce, guilds,
municipalities, courts, Magistrates of Free Imperial Cities, councils, counties and others were all the
creators of this vast documentation.
Below is an example of an unfortunate event, a fire, affecting the village of Kudritz with a list of affected
households.
It is possible to track down the history of the case, through the correspondence and orders exchanged
among different administrative subjects before the relief was actually dispatched - the Imperial
Commission in Temes, Temes County, Cameral treasury in Temes and the Hungarian Royal Council in
Pozsony (Pressburg, now Bratislava, capital of Slovakia). The fire happened in 1777 and 44 houses were
destroyed as a result. It took four years before the administration responded but, once the wheels of
bureaucracy machine were started, it did not take long before local administration started to execute
the orders of the superiors in Pozsony - the first letters were exchanged in December of 1780 and the
distribution of relief funds was realized in February 1781.
52
Unsorted documents of various provenience and content. Can be grouped according to the chronological, name,
geographical and other criteria (S.C.)
34
Table with the list of indebted citizens of Gudritz, with the amount of their debts and the estimation of
damage that fire caused to their property, dated 9 February 1781 53
53
RS 002 F. 10 Tamiška županija (Timis County), box 7, document 23, Language: Latin, 2 pages
35
Archival Fonds, Collections and other Inventory Units that contain DS genealogy-related
documentation 54:
Since it is impossible to make a comprehensive review of all of archival materials, I made a table which
covers some of the most important archival units that can be used for DS genealogical and related
studies:
Signature
Name
RS 002 F. 2
RS 002 F. 7
BAČKO - BODROŠKA ŽUPANIJA (Bacs-Bodrog County)
SLOBODNI VOJNI KOMUNITET PETROVARADIN (Free or
Privileged Military Municipality Peterwardein)
TAMIŠKA ŽUPANIJA (Timis County)
RS 002 F.
10
RS 002 F.
11
RS 002 F.
13
RS 002 F.
25
(758)
TG 56
TG
TG
TG
TG
TG
Ф. 39
Ф. 35
F. 131
4
Span (inclusive)
dates
1688-1849
1702-1918
Reposi
tory
AV
AV
1731-1849
AV
TORONTALSKA ŽUPANIJA (Torontal County)
1731-1849
AV
VLASTELINSTVO BILET (Seigniory Bilet) 55
1726-1885
AV
SREZ BILET (District of Bilet)
1850-1860
AV
NEMAČKO-BANATSKI GRANIČARSKI PUK BROJ 12
(Deutsch-Banat Regiment Nr. 12)
Grad sa uređenim senatom Bela Crkva (Bela Crkva, City
with Senate)
Magistrat slobodne kraljevske Varoši Vršac
(Magistrate of the Free Imperial Town of Werschetz)
Opština Jermenovci (Urmenyhaza Municipality)
Opština Plandište (Zichydorf Municipality)
Opština Plandište (Zichydorf Municipality)
Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Vršac (District Property
Confiscation Committee Werschetz)
Udruženje zanatlija Kikinda (Craftsmen Association
Kikinda)
Trgovinsko-ugostiteljska komora Kikinda (Merchant and
Catering Chamber Kikinda)
Nemačka narodnosna grupa u Banatu i Srbiji
(Deutsche Volksgruppe Im Banat und Serbien)
Magistrat municipalnog grada Pančeva (Magistrate of
1756-1872
PA
1786-1918
BC
1796-1918
BC
1839-1918
1931-1937
1941-1944
1945-1954
BC
BC
BC
BC
1886-1950
KI
1876 - 1961
KI
1941-1944
ZR
1794-1918
PA
54
LIMITED TO THE ARCHIVES IN BANAT - Addendum pertaining to Batschka and Syrmien will be published online
at www.synergia.rs in October 2014, S.C.). It will also include MILITARY RELATED SOURCES which are not part of
this table
55
Seigniory Bilet was constituted from the lands that Zagreb Kaptol (Bishopric) got (in 1800) as the compensation for the lands
with about 50 villages that were taken away from it in 1780’s and included to krajinas (military frontiers) of Banska and
Karlovac (S.C.)
56
From topographic guide, signatures n/a
36
23
91
Many
44
F.3
F.7
F.175
F.176
F.177
the Municipal City of Pantschowa)
Kraljevski sudbeni sto – Pančevo 57
Imperial Court Pančevo
Okružni sud – Pančevo 58
County Court Pančevo
Narodni odbori and Skupština opštine Pančevo 59
Peoples’ Committees and the Municipality of
Pantschowa
Opština Brestovac 60
Brestowatz Municipality
Nagy Becskerek - Rendezett Tanácsú Város (Gross
Betschkerek – City with Senate)
Zbirka zavičajnog muzeja u Svetom Hubertu, Solturu i
Šarlevilu
(Collection of the Homeland Museum in St. Hubert,
Seltour and Charleville)
Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Jaša Tomić 63
(District Property Confiscation Committee Modos)
Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Srpska Crnja 64
(District Property Confiscation Committee Deutsch
Zerne)
Sreska komisija za konfiskaciju Zrenjanin (Petrovrgrad) 65
(District Property Confiscation Committee Gross
Betschkerek)
1873-1918
PA
1919-1941
PA
1944(5)-1947(9)
PA
1882-1918
PA
1769-1918(20)
ZR
(1931-1944) 61
1797-1997 62
ZR
1945-1946
ZR
1945-1946
ZR
1945-1946
ZR
KEY TO THE ABBREVIATIONS:
AV - ARCHIVE OF VOJVODINA
ZR - ARCHIVE OF ZRENJANIN
BC - ARCHIVE OF BELA CRKVA
PA - ARCHIVE OF PANČEVO
KI - ARCHIVE OF KIKINDA
57
Among other documentation, contain the court cases and the registries of craft businesses and companies (Sg. 23.3)
Among other documentation, contain the court cases and the registries of craft businesses and companies (Sg. 23.3)
59
Fonds on the work of Peoples’ Committees in about 50 villages in the SW Banat (around Pantschowa), often containing lists
of persons (Germans and other nationalities) whose property was nationalized/confiscated and the list of the colonists who are
getting their property
58
60
Containing the title deeds for the households
Period from the museum's establishment to its closing
62
Year span (inclusive years)
63
District Property Confiscation Committee Modos (with the registries for Modos and the villages in the district: Pardan,
Stefansfeld, Banatsko Višnjićevo, Sartscha, Setschan, Neusin, Konak, Boka, Schurjan)
64
The same as above, villages in the district: Sankt Georgen an der Bega, Banatski Dušanovac, Banatsko Karađorđevo, Neue
Zerne, Klari, Vojvoda Stepa, Ruskodorf, Aleksandrovo (Livade), Toba, St. Hubert, Heufeld, Mastort, Tschestereg
65
Aradatz, Ernsthausen, Elisenheim, Botos, Elemer, Jankov Most, Kleck, Kathreinfeld, Rudolfsgnad, Lazarfeld, Lukacsfálva,
Sigmundsfeld, Muschla, Orlowat, Perlas, Stajićevo, Farkaždin and Tschenta
61
37
APPENDIX:
INVESTIGATION IN VILLAGE AND MUNICIPAL REGISTRY OFFICES:
Since this paper does not deal with parish and civil vital records, I will give a basic explanation about research in
village and municipal registry offices. Each municipality has a certain number of village or town offices which are
the parts of the local administration, each with its registrar handling the registry books.
Registries, except for several villages in Syrmien, mostly have complete records for the period beyond 1895 (up to
date).
The 1895-1914 civil registry books were supposed to be handed over to archives but a number of those are still in
the registry offices. The process of data input of registry information continues from several years ago up to this
day and is not finished yet; it is being performed from the newest records to the oldest. The majority of local
registry offices have managed to complete the entries from 1945 to date, and some offices have progressed
further back to the oldest records, but the process will probably not be finished for several years.
According to regulations, foreign citizens cannot apply for certificates in civil registries without special permission.
This is not just a formality. Serbian researchers are also affected by the restrictions imposed by the regulations,
since one has to produce satisfactory legal cause or be a close relative in order to obtain a certificate. Registrars
will rarely perform a look-up for a person whose vital dates or at least years are not known (unless the information
is already in the computer system). Ambitious and vague requests are likely to be dismissed. Of course, being in
the business, I know how to go around in order to get what I need; and I would gladly share tips but I am afraid
that they would not work for someone who is not local.
So, in conclusion bureaucracy is an important limitation factor in obtaining other information of genealogical
importance when some relevant information is kept in a governmental institution. Progress has been made in
recent years in some institutions but, overall, it is still a complicated process to get the required information.
Staša Cvetković
Synergia Genealogy Agency
Novi Sad, Serbia
www.synergia.rs
[email protected]
Tel.: +381 21 553 265
Mobile: +381 62 598 517
38