Hungary: Jewish Vital Records Project grows

Does your family history connect to Hungary? Do you know where to find records? JewishGen is a good place to start.

Did you know that Jewish Gen's All-Hungarian Database (AHD) has been increased with an additional 105,000 new vital records. The AHD now includes some 800,000 records (180,000 birth, 45,000 death, and 25,000 marriage).

Thirteen databases are incorporated into the AHD: including 1828 property tax census, 1848 Jewish census, 1869 Hungarian Census, 1781-1850 other censuses; births, deaths and marriages databases; Holocaust Memorials, Who's Who in Budapest 1837 and 1845, Yizkor book necrologies, Holocaust Database, JewishGen Family Finder, and the JewishGen Online Worldwide. Burial Registry. Click here to learn more about each database.

Here's a map showing (circa1900) the ratio of Jewish residents in geographic areas. The darker the area, the higher the percentage of Jewish residents.


Geographical locations for records include Bezi, Budapest, Csenger, Eger, Erdotelek, Erk, Eperejes, Fuzesabony, Gyomore, Gyongyos, Hodasz, Jarmi, Kassa, Kemcse, Kisleta, Koszeg, Mateszalka, Miskolc, Moson, Sztropko, Szeged, Szobrance, and Vag Besztercze.

Still ongoing are the records for Budapest, Gyongyos, Miskolc and Szeged. Today, the database includes 20,000 records from Miskolc and 60,000 from Budapest.

This efforts was made possible by many volunteers who contributed their time, effort and skill to the preservation of these valuable resources. For more information on the volunteers (there were too many to list here) see the AHD site.

The Hungarian Vital Records Project coordinator is Sam Schleman of Malvern, Pennsylvania.

The AHD contains multiple databases searchable on one form. These databases have been contributed by the JewishGen Hungarian Special Interest Group (H-SIG) and individual donors.

The combined databases have over 660,000 entries, referring to individuals living in the current and former territory of Hungary — this includes present-day Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, northern Serbia, northwestern Romania, and subcarpathian Ukraine. The database is a work in progress and new entries are being added regularly.

There is a volunteer opportunity for transcribers as the project is now working on the Budapest records, including the Orthodox community, and for the towns of Miskolc, Anarcs, Apagy, Baja, Papa, Sopron, Szeged and Lackenbach. According to Schleman, no language skills are required. Their philosophy is to use as many transcribers as possible to lighten the workload. If you'd like to volunteer, email Sam.