Efforts to digitize and post records online going strong at Ukrainian archives

The Russian war in Ukraine seems like it will never end but the war is not dampening efforts to digitize records at Ukrainian archives.

So here’s the important highlights about these efforts from October to this week, as reported on the archives’ websites.

Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine of Lviv posted 130 cases online from Roman Catholic books. Meanwhile, the State Archives of the Lviv Region posted three books of births, marriages and deaths for 1941-1942 and 25 files on Union of Defenders of the City of Lviv.

The  State Archive of the Dnipropetrovsk Region added books with marriage and death records from the Church of the Annunciation in Katerynoslav.

North of that region, Kharkiv Archives has just posted 30 cases listing registered residents during Nazi occupation of 1941.

In November, the archives posted 47 metric books and confessional paintings of  the Kharkiv Spiritual Consistory and the Pavlograd District of the Ekaterinoslav Spiritual Consistory, in addition to audits of the taxable population landowners of the Starobil district from 1858.

Also, Kharkiv archives posted alphabetical books of birth, marriage, divorce and death records for the 1920s and 1930s.

In regards to Soviet-era persecution records, the Central State Archive of Public Associations and Ukrainian Studies posted about 5,000 scans on persecution victims. Files are listed by the victims’ names in alphabetical order.

More than 75 persecution files were posted by the State Archive of the Volyn Region. The files are listed by the victims’ names but not in alphabetical order.

State Archive of the Kirovohrad Region added scanned records of citizens who were forced laborers of Germany during WWII.

In addition to scanning records, Ukrainian archives have been busy updating databases.

Now the Ukrainian martyrologist of the 20th century database has more than 105,000 victims of communist-era persecution from the 1920s-1950s.  Biographical information and the location of the persecution files are included on victims, with some having their photos posted online.

Another updated database is Filtering cases of repatriates of Kyiv Region. More than 117,000 Kyiv Region residents are documented as forced laborers (or Ostarbaiters) of Germany from 1941–1943.

FamilySearch International also has been busy updating the indexed records for these databases- Ukraine, Cherkasy Church Books, 1734-1930; Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia Church Books, 1774-1935; Ukraine, Poltava, Metrical Books, 1741-1937; Ukraine, Mykolaiv, Metrical Books, 1790-1917; Ukraine, Ternopil, Church Books, 1828-1921; Ukraine, Kiev Confession Lists, 1741-1918; Ukraine, Odesa Census Records 1897; Ukraine, Western Ukraine Catholic Church Book Duplicates, 1600-1937; Ukraine, Dnipro Church Books, 1780-1930; and Ukraine, Mykolaiv Church Books, 1770-1930.

Two new contracts have been signed to allow FamilySearch International to scan archive records. The new additions to the digitizing project are Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine and the State Archives of the Rivne Oblast. So far 16 archives have signed agreements with FamilySearch, as of late December 2022.

Not only is FamilySearch International helping to digitize archive records, Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center continues to help with the effort. The organization will be scanning records from three to six regional archives on the Nazi occupation of Ukraine and birth, marriage and death records from the early 20th century.

Work began in mid-December in Chernihiv Region archives. Already, some of those records can viewed here. More than 2.3 million records are posted on the Babyn Yar website from 10 Ukrainian archives.

With so much activity occurring during this unjust war, Ukrainian archive officials are working with international agencies and organizations to better secure their priceless records.

On Friday, Jan. 20, it was announced that 20 special certified fire-resistant cabinets arrived from Germany through cooperation from the Federal Archives of Germany, the State Archives of Bavaria, the Ukrainian Art Aid Center in Germany (Ukraine Art Aid Center) and the German-Ukrainian Society.

The cabinets will be distributed to the Central State Archives of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine, the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine, the Central State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine, the Central State Archives of Public Associations and Ukrainian Studies,  Central State Audiovisual and Electronic Archive, the Central State Scientific and Technical Archive, a state archive of the Secret Service of Ukraine, and the state archives of the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

Besides the organizations and agencies helping Ukrainian archives, activist Alex Krakovsky has been posting records onto Wikisource. His latest postings have been Jewish metrical records from Zhytomyr archives; Kyiv Region civil act records from the 1930s; Jewish records from the town Ruzhyn, Skvyra povit, Kyiv Region; Pereyaslav povit revision list collection from 1788-1887 and anti-Jewish riots of 1905 in Kyiv Region.

Just imagine what else is coming in 2023. Follow this blog with the top right button to catch the latest news and posts on important resources in Ukrainian and Russian genealogy.

The Cemetery Database also was just updated with more free resources.

Related posts:
Secrets of searching the Internet in Russian and Ukrainian like a native speaker 
An in-depth look into FamilySearch’s efforts to digitize Ukrainian archives
Ukrainian archives work hard to keep records safe and introduce a central portal
Invaluable scanned records from Russian and Ukrainian archives posted online