Russian archives introduce new WWII database on Nazi victims

Databases are plentiful on those who served in the Soviet Army, but what about the civilian victims of Nazi occupation in Russia?

Now that missing piece to document the experiences those who suffered during Nazi occupation has arrived in the form of a new database.

More than 46,000 Russian victims of Nazi persecution on Russian territory are documented in the new database, “Crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices against the civilian population of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.”

Naturally, there were many more victims than currently documented in this database but this is a great beginning. I expect many more records will be posted to this database.

Thankfully, this free database doesn’t involve any registration. Also, victims can be searched by name or found through the alphabetically listing separated by the Russian letters. Filters help narrow down the name searches.

Records on this database also can be viewed by regions of Russia, Belarus and the Soviet Karelia Republic and the autonomous republics here.

This information cannot be obtained from any other website. Not a chance that these records are on the noted  Arolsen Archives database. Russian archives won’t hand over these scans to a German-based organization.

Here’s how to use this database without knowing Russian:

1. Download Google Translate or another language translator for web browsers.
2. Use Google Translate or this website to write names in Russian.
3.  Start simple with searching by surnames and use first names to reduce the number of results.
4. If results don’t appear, go through names in the alphabetical listing. The surnames may be spelled differently or incorrectly in the database.
5. To download the images,  click on the text to the right of the scanned image. If you download the small image on the left, it will be a grainy and useless scan.
6. Then the images for the victim will appear. Click on each image to see it in full view. The image can be downloaded from here.
7. For more information about the scans, click on the white bar that says Указатели и теги (Pointers and tags). The towns and regions mentioned in the scan will be listed first, then the victims and finally tags for the type of crimes.
8. Make sure to save the downloads in two places.

The scans be translated in three ways.  They can be retyped using the keyboard here on Typeit and then copy and paste the text into Google Translate.

Those who have a cell phone with a working camera can download the Google Translate app onto their phone.

Once it is downloaded, click under the blue bar to set the translation to Russian- English, press on the camera image and hold the phone steady. The app will give a decent translation of the typed text within the scan.

The easiest way to get translations is to ask nicely for help on Facebook genealogy groups that focus on Russian genealogy.

Besides this database, the website has a list of Russian regional projects offered by archives on how World War II affected people of their areas. The list can be found here.

I will post again when a large update is made to this database. Follow this blog with the top right button to catch important posts on databases and helpful resources for Russian and Ukrainian genealogy.

Related posts:
New database documents 1 million WWII citizen heroes who defended Moscow
Database reveals details on citizens, evacuees and soldiers from the Siege of Leningrad
The cure for fearing Russian-language genealogy websites to make breakthroughs
Secrets of searching the Internet in Russian and Ukrainian like a native speaker
Expert guide to using Google Translate in Russian and Ukrainian genealogy

Newly published Russian genealogy guide returns to Amazon.com

“Genealogy at a Glance: Russian Genealogy Research” is back on the market after selling out the first printing. Thank you to everyone who has bought and helped me spread the word!!!

The guide is available for $10.95  or less (sometimes around $8) with free U.S. shipping on purchases of more than $25 on Amazon.com here, plus international shipping is available. Purchases within the U.S.A. also are available through the publisher, Genealogical Publishing Co. The eBook version of the guide is available for $6.95 through the publisher’s website.

(Contact me if Amazon won’t ship to your home. I have copies available for international purchases.)

Topics such as Russian names, conversion to the Gregorian calendar, locating Russian ancestral places, metric books, censuses, archives, Russian consular records, online databases (not the ones listed everywhere else), the Russian alphabet and more complete the guide on Russian genealogy.

Two glowing reviews of the genealogy guide are posted on Empty Branches of the Family Tree here and the noted Kinsearching column of  Marleta Childs here.

Thanks to the publishing of the Russian genealogy guide, more major news is on the way. Follow this blog with the top right button. It’s worth the wait.

Plus since April, I have been working on a major project. I hope to announce it by late August or September, but hopefully earlier.

In the meantime, I have made updates to three pages on this blog.

The Free Databases page is completely updated with every database that has been featured on this blog over the almost 10 years. The blog post that explains how to use each database are linked in the same paragraph as the listed database.

Also, the Facebook Genealogy page has been renamed to Genealogy on Facebook. That page is updated with many more Facebook genealogy groups for Russian and Ukrainian genealogy, in addition to the other areas of eastern Europe.

The number of groups added to the page shows that genealogy is growing for those with Russian and Ukrainian ancestors.

And finally, Links to Resources has several more resources added to the page.

I am thinking of more resources and topics to cover on this blog. I have hope more online resources will continue to come after learning in May that Russian officials announced “Electronic Library of the Cossacks” is on its way. Read the news here. Yes, the link is translated into English.

Stay tuned to this blog to keep up with all the news related to Russian and Ukrainian genealogy.