Finally getting somewhere in a strange time

I finally have figured out which archive that could have my grandfather’s WWII military records- Central Military Archives of Ukraine in Kiev.

Talk about the wrong time to send a letter to archives in Kiev. I am hoping that by the time my letter arrives that the city will have some normalcy so I can finally get an answer on my grandfather’s military service.

I had assumed that since my grandfather served in the Red Army during World War II that all the records are still in Moscow. But since he was serving from Kiev, his hometown, it seems that Ukraine possesses his records.

A little more than a year ago, I learned the regiment where he served. I sent a letter to Russian Central Military Archives (ЦАМО Российской Федерации, ул. Кирова, д. 74, 142100, Московская обл., г. Подольск, Russia) back in January 2013.

The archives wrote a letter in April 2013, stating it did not have any records for that regiment. For some reason, the Russian Consulate General in New York City mailed this letter to me a few weeks ago.

So I am going to cross my fingers that my letter arrives at Ukrainian Central Military Archives (Галузевий державний архів Міністерства оборони України, вул. Бориспільська, 16, 02093, м. Київ) and the archives will find something on my grandfather. I don’t know about the chances that my grandfather’s records still exist.

He, his wife and baby daughter escaped Kiev in winter 1943 to southern Germany, thanks to my grandmother’s half-German ancestry. People in the Soviet Union were able to escape with the help of Germany if they could prove German ancestry.

It was bad enough that my grandfather was a POW of the German Army. Many Soviet soldiers were killed for being a POW so it was best for my grandfather to run for his life. His escape from a POW camp is another mystery.

I’ve heard that records of Soviets who were POWs or escaped the USSR were destroyed. My grandfather’s records also could have been destroyed by the terrible bombings of Kiev.

Unlike so many Americans, I don’t have letters from my grandfather to my grandmother while he served in the war nor photos of him in uniform. Some people are lucky enough to have relatives’ WWII uniforms and medals.

I don’t have a scrap of paper stating my grandfather served in the war that engulfed his hometown. My mother only has stories from her mother. I am hoping soon I can tell my mom about her father’s service in the Soviet Army.

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Getting closer to finding grandpa’s WWII military record

Hoping to learn about my grandpa’s mark in Russian history

I have been lucky that my mother kept letters from my grandfather to my father and made time to translate the dozen handwritten letters.

It’s been a struggle to research some of the details my grandfather writes about in his letters. My grandpa Pavel did not give enough details on some of his experiences for me to find documents in archives.

Luckily, my grandfather sent a clipping of an article written about him in his local newspaper. He participated in the 1958 Всесоюзной сельскохозяйственной выставки (All-Union Agricultural Exhibition) in Moscow as an exhibitor of his prized grapes.

It took awhile to understand the importance of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition because not many websites have information on the event. When I read the page on Wikipedia about the event, it was so exciting to learn my peasant-born grandfather participated in such an important national event.

I tried for two years to figure out how I could get documents from archives on my grandfather’s participation. I finally found that the Russian State Archive of the Economy in Moscow has records on the event by using keywords All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, Moscow and participants in Russian on Google.

The search results on Google sent me to the location of records at Russian State Archive of the Economy- Фонд 7857 (Fund 7857). I thought I would quickly get a response from that archive when I provided the fund number, my grandfather’s personal details, a scan of the newspaper article on him and my address.

But that was not enough to spark a response from the Russian State Archive of the Economy six months after I sent the archive an e-mail message. So I e-mailed my cousin in Moscow to contact the archive.

I got a response within two weeks of my cousin calling the archive, which wanted me to send within an e-mail message “payment is guaranteed,” a scanned signature and my mailing address. I had no idea how large of a bill I would be promising to pay so I asked for a bill estimate.

The archive estimated that the research and document copies will cost about $42-$69 in U.S. dollars. This sounds a lot but this expense will be well worth it if documents are found on my grandfather.

My cousin will submit my request because the archive only takes payment directly to its bank account. My bank requires foreign bank transfers to be at least $100. I cannot use Western Union because it only can send money to a Western Union store in Russia.

So now, I will wait patiently for the archive’s research results. I will be so thrilled if documents of my grandfather will be found.

This experience has taught me to ask for estimates and information on payment methods when sending research requests. Then I will send scans of my signature and a statement that “payment is guaranteed” after I get a response.

Hopefully, this method will increase the chances that archives will respond to my requests. It takes awhile to figure out how former USSR archives operate.

Case closed unhappily

I was hoping that the marriage record of paternal great-grandparents from Kharkiv, Ukraine, would open some doors to continue research on their families.

I paid the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York City $75 for an extraction of my great-grandparents’ marriage record. I had hoped that I would get information that I do not already have on my great-grandmother’s high school diploma.

Nope. My wish was not granted. I got the same information my grand uncle Nick wrote on his mother’s high school diploma.

When I wrote to the civil registry office in Kharkiv for information from my great-grandparents’ marriage record from 1890, I asked the office whether the record has any additional information. I provided all the information I had from the high school diploma.

So when I received the response without any new information from the Consulate General, I was so angry for several days. Why couldn’t the civil registry office just send me a response that it could not release any other information to me? Instead I paid $75 for information I already had from my grand uncle.

The real truth is that I paid another $100 last year for information from this marriage record. I found a respected researcher to visit the civil registry office and he managed to get information however he did (aka unofficial). That researcher got the names of four witnesses of my great-grandparents’ marriage, in addition to the information I already have.

I didn’t want to believe that the birthplaces and parents’ names of my great-grandparents were not on the marriage record so I contacted the registry office, hoping that the researcher wasn’t able to get all the information available.

So, now I am waiting for the day someone from my great-grandmother’s family will e-mail me to say we are related as did with her husband’s family. My great-grandmother’s family is a mystery with tales of wealth and nobility.

I will have to count my other successes and accept that not every mystery will be solved until that time comes.

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The drama continues to get one marriage record

A learning lesson in a Ukrainian registry office

A door opens wide after three tries

Find free help in Russia and Ukraine easily

I have been so lucky that my grandmother’s family in Russia uses Odnoklassniki, the best social network for the former USSR. This free website is such a great resource to find family and information.

I haven’t found more relatives on Odnoklassniki but the groups on the site give great opportunities to get free help. The site has groups for regions, neighborhoods, villages, surnames, etc.

I recently posted information on group pages for my family’s home region that I was looking for someone who visits my family village.

A man who lives a few miles from the village immediately responded and I learned in a week that no one carrying my maternal great-grandfather’s surname lives in the village. It is disappointing to hear that news but I am hoping sometime soon someone related to my family will see my post.

Sadly, too many church records between 1880 and 1919 went missing or were destroyed in my great-grandfather’s village. My great-grandfather had 11 brothers and sisters born from 1880-1909 but I only know spouse names for three and some children’s names for two. A census has two sisters unnamed with their birth years.

My great-grandfather said several siblings died and I don’t know which ones because the records are missing. He wrote about his family in a letter to two children but he didn’t give much details on his siblings.

So, I will continue waiting on Odnoklassniki for my grandmother’s cousins to see my post. I have found so many relatives on Russian forums. It is only a matter of time now.

Related post: Finding lost family online in a few clicks

Keeping an open mind for the new year

I’m trying to stay positive for the new year of researching and finding family. The last two months of 2013 were filled with disappointment.

My latest attempt to get my maternal grandparents’ Alien Case Files, the gems of immigration records, failed. I’ll have to wait a few years to see whether the reorganization of the files nationwide will put them in the right place eventually.

A researcher in Kiev could not find my grandfather’s nor his sister’s birth record in a book of the church nearest to their childhood home. I’ve asked a cousin from my mother’s generation to see whether she knows which church our family attended before the revolution. We’ll see if she knows.

I thought it would be easy to find the birth record of my paternal grandmother’s oldest brother. The rules changed for obtaining information and records from archives in Lugansk, Ukraine. A power of attorney letter and documents proving ancestry are required.

That meant the researcher jacked up his price from dirty cheap to ridiculous for one record. So, I am praying archives will answer my e-mail message. I know the exact location of the record from the researcher so I hope that will motivate archives to answer my e-mail message.

Then, I was hopeful when my mother took a DNA genealogy test from FamilyTreeDNA. Some of my matches were confirmed as those from my maternal line but I have yet to get any breakthrough matches to solve family mysteries. I guess I will have to keep waiting.

My mother keeps telling me that I have 95 percent of everything done. I know I have accomplished a lot in finding family and uncovering new information but I hope I am not that done.

So 2014 will be an interesting year. I don’t have any major items from my to-do list that is getting me excited. Maybe I will have some unplanned surprises this year.

If you are stuck in a rut in your search, e-mail me at bepa.miller at mail.ru. I answer all messages asking for help.

Crossing my fingers for a miracle

Next week, I may learn where my grandfather was baptized. A researcher in Kiev, Ukraine, is convinced he knows which church where my great-grandparents and their children attended church before the Russian Revolution.

I almost gave up hope that my grandfather’s birth record could be found because I have had zero luck with archives in Kiev. The bombing of Kiev by the Germans and their occupation probably caused a lot of record loss.

I was contacted by a researcher in Kiev who seems to know archives well. I am testing him out by having him search for my grandfather’s birth record. Luckily, my grandfather was born in 1914 before the Russian Revolution and I know where my grandfather’s family lived for many years.

If my grandfather’s birth record is found, I will be so excited. I know one day I will visit Kiev, the birthplace of my maternal grandparents and their siblings, and I will be able to see the site where the family church stood.

I already know all the information that could be in the baptism record, except for the godparents’ names. Maybe those names will help me more on researching my grandfather’s family.

I am crossing my fingers for success in Kiev. It would be great to tell my mom where her Dad’s family attended church. Any drop of information from Ukraine is a miracle lately.

Two years of frustration may end soon

I received my maternal grandparents’ petitions for naturalization in the mail yesterday, with hope that I would find new information on my grandparents.

I learned the witnesses of my grandparents’ naturalization were longtime friends and a co-worker. I didn’t see other new information until I looked closer.

My grandparents’ alien numbers were on the petitions. I thought their alien numbers were listed on their certificates of naturalization. So, I compared the numbers and they were different.

That made me realize I finally have the correct alien numbers for my grandparents. For the past two years, I have been frustrated that the National Records Center for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) could not find their Alien Files.

Now, I have renewed hope that I could get their Alien Files, which are gold mines of information on immigrants. I have submitted new Freedom of Information Act requests to USCIS, hoping that the correct alien numbers could help with finding their files.

My mother gave me lots of records from her parents but their marriage record is very faded and her father’s birth record is missing. Could these records be in the Alien Files? I could know in two months.

I am crossing my fingers that I can get these files, which could tell my mother how her parents traveled with her through Ukraine, Poland and Germany before they immigrated to the USA. My mother knows some information but documents in her parents’ Alien Files will confirm those stories.

We’ll see if the U.S. government will deliver me a Christmas present from my grandparents.

*****

More info on Alien Files:

Documents that open doors to information

Finally, a useful database on ancestry.com