Cemetery Databases

Find A Grave is a big hit for finding graves and viewing photos of graves worldwide. This page provides links to free cemetery databases for the former USSR and its immigrants worldwide and war cemeteries for the Russian Imperial and Soviet armies in Europe.

I highly recommend downloading a translator app for your browser such as Google Translate, if you aren’t familiar with Russian or Ukrainian. Most of these databases are in Russian and most of this information can be found on any subscription genealogy websites. Seeing these databases in English is as simple as copying and pasting the links into Google Translate.

Here are Russian words and their translations for those unfamiliar with Russian: Фамилия (surname); Имя (first name); Отчество (patronymic name such as Ivanovich/Ivanovna derived from the father’s first name); Дата рождения (date of birth); Дата смерти (date of death); Город (city);  and Кладбище (cemetery).

The former USSR is moving slower than the English-speaking world to get information online for cemeteries but the ability to see this information online is great progress. These databases will open the door for genealogy research to those willing to make the effort to get comfortable with foreign language databases.

Updated January 20, 2023

War graves

1. War graves in Norway– Soviet soldiers’ graves can be searched in English and Russian for WWII.

2. World War I graves– Photos of cemeteries and gravestones for World War I soldiers.

3. Zeithain Memorial Grove– Names of Soviet prisoners who died at Zeithain POW camp can be searched in this database.

4. Lithuanian Association of Military History Researchers “Memorial”– database of WWII burials in Lithuania.

Multi-country databases

Pomnim– The majority of this database covers large Moscow cemeteries but the database also covers Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, Kiev and Minsk, in addition to other cities of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

General databases for Russia

1. Skorbim– This website appears to have hopes of being the Russian version of US-based Findagrave.com. (Guide in English on using this website for non-Russian speaking users).

2. Russian Necropolis– Grave photos from cemeteries in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Tver Region and Ryazan and one from Zaporozhye, Ukraine.

3. Site Memory

4. Ritual Portal

5. Frumkin– More than 1.4 million burials are included in the database.

6. We Remember You

Russia by city

Moscow

Moscow graves– Photographed graves of famous Moscow residents who died from 1986-2019.

Saint Petersburg

Jewish Cemeteries of Saint Petersburg– A database with photos of more than 100,000 Jewish graves at four cemeteries in the city.

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod

Perm

Perm– This database lists people of note from Perm with their full name, birth year, death date and notable work.

Yekaterinburg,  Sverdlovsk Oblast

Ritual-Archive– More than 700,000 are included in this database for Yekaterinburg

Kazan, Tatarstan

Kazan– Database covers 13 cemeteries.

Ritual Online database for Kazan

Taganrog, Rostov Region

Old Cemetery of Taganrog in Rostov Region. A good database for the cemetery but not all burials listed have photos.

Here’s the website’s VKontakte page with many photos of gravestones.

Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan

Ufa– This database has some graves photographed but has more grave information listed than photos.

Barnaul, Altai Krai

Barnaul, Altai Krai– This database lists the full name, death date and location of burials.

Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Region

1.Magnitogorsk– This database is updated daily for this city. Access is blocked for US citizens

2.EuroService for Magnitogorsk-This database requires registration.

3.Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk– The database has more information on more than 10,000 burials.

Syktyvkar

Syktyvkar, capital of the Republic of Komi

Tambov

Burial Base Tambov

Karpinsk

Karpinsk in Sverdlovsk Region

Kamensk-Uralsky

Kamensk-Uralsky– The database is updated daily.

Sevastopol, Ukraine

Virtual Necropolis of Sevastopol- Database covers World War II-related burials and burials from the 1930s-2010s.

Kurgan Region

Kurgan Region– More than 100,000 graves in the database.

Former USSR burials by profession

1.  Pedagogical necropolis– information and grave location of people from the former USSR who worked as teachers. 

2. Space Memorial– information on those who worked in space technology for the former USSR. The site has photos and locations of graves.

3. Notable Graves– information on those who impacted future generations from the former USSR. The site has photos and locations of graves.

4. Necropolis of the Russian Academic Diaspora-information and grave photos of Russian scientists who lived abroad.

Ukraine

First Christian Cemetery of Odessa– This cemetery was destroyed long ago so this is only an alphabetical listing of known burials.

Jewish burials

Toldot– This database has more than 100,000 documented graves in Russia and Ukraine. It can be searched in English.

Mitzvatemet– The database has information and photos on graves in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Lithuania.

Estonia

Haudi– A database for the entire country of Estonia. The link provided allows searching in English.

Belarus

Graves of Belarus– This website documents Christian and Jewish graves.

Latvia

Cemeteries of Latvia– More than 500 cemeteries have been digitized in this database.

France

Cimetière de Sainte Genevieve des Bois– An important cemetery for the White Russian emigré community south of Paris.

Canada

Cemetery Project of Canada Gen Web– This website is worth a look when many Russians and Ukrainians immigrated to Canada.

USA

Novo-Diveevo Russian Orthodox Cemetery– One of the largest Russian Orthodox cemeteries outside of Russia.

Saint Vladimir’s Russian Orthodox Cemetery– One of the largest Russian Orthodox cemeteries in the USA.

Holy Trinity Orthodox Monastery– An important Russian Orthodox cemetery for eastern New York State.

Saint Andrew Cemetery– One of the largest Ukrainian Orthodox cemeteries in the USA.

Worldwide databases

Find A Grave– This site has more than 250 Russian and more than 175 Ukrainian cemeteries listed in the database. Some cemeteries have a few listings of burials and others have many. It’s worth doing a search here, especially for Russian and Ukrainian graves in the USA.

Here is a guide for using Find A Grave more effectively for those researching relatives and ancestors from the former USSR.

67 thoughts on “Cemetery Databases”

  5. Megan Braverman

    I am looking for some information on my Great Great grandparents. I have found some information on my own, but it makes it so hard when you are searching another country and the resources are different as well as how you find them. I could use some help if anyone is willing. I am looking for things like dates of birth as well as parents names. Most of the family has been searching since about the mid-1900’s and wasn’t able to find anything. I have been lucky to have recently found what I have but have hit a road block again.

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  6. Megan Braverman

    Hi there, I have found my great grandmother (Dora) Rayanna Devorah subkov Circa 1874 Mar 1 1936 but still don’t have a birthdate for her. I know her father’s name is Yosef Subkov but that is all that I have been able to find on him. I can’t find her mother’s name or the dates of birth on any of them or the place any of them were born or lived or even passed away. I have found my grandfather Jacob (Yakov) Braverman Mar 27 1874-Nov 7 1956 (Dora’s Husband) and his father’s name is Chayim Eliezer Braverman but have not been able to find dates of birth on Jacob or his father, the mother’s name or where they lived, were born, or might have passed. Is this something that you can help with?

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  7. Megan Braverman

    Both Dora and her husband Jacob Braverman immigrated to the US with a son Samuel Simheh Braverman and Daughter Sara Vivian Braverman, Samuel was born in 1901 and Sara Vivian was 1905 and she was born in Odessa Russia but she is the only one I can find as far as where they were born.

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    1. Dora died a year after Social Security was established. Have you looked at finding their naturalization papers with US National Archives’ regional offices? They most likely got naturalized within 5 years of arrival. If you have exhausted US record searches, I would get paper copies of their Social Security Applications. https://secure.ssa.gov/apps9/eFOIA-FEWeb/internet/main.jsp. I don’t know if Dora would have one since she died a year after Social Security was established. Ancestry.com has some of the applications online but not all of them.

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  8. Megan Braverman

    I have tried this already, for some reason it has been impossible to find the records. I have already contacted NARA and I’m waiting for them to do a more complete search. I have ordered the death certificates and have received Jacob’s already. There is only a fathers name on there and no mothers name. I should have Dora’s tomorrow and hope that it has a little bit more information than Jacobs did. I haven’t even been able to find how they arrived or what boat they might have been on. I have literally tried just about anything to find out more information past what I have and have not been able to find anything past this point.

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    2. ROSALIE

      5/29/2017: OUR FAMILY HAD TWO SONS AND ONE DAUGHTER.THEY CAME FROM CHITA, USSR, THROUGH HAWAII AND CALIFORNIA. ONE BOY DIED IN WASHINGTON AND THE OTHER DIED IN OREGON. ONE BOY WAS BORN 1910 IN HAWAII, AND DIED IN WA; ONE BOY WAS BORN 1912 IN CALIFORNIA., AND DIED IN OREGON; WE DON’T KNOW IF, AND HOW WE CAN FIND ANY INFO ON DESCENDANTS, IF THERE WERE ANY AUNTS OR UNCLES, THAT ARE UNKNOWN TO US, PRESENTLY; I WOULD LOVE TO FIND A RUSSIAN CONNECTION, BECAUSE WE HAVE TWO MORE GENERATIONS IN OUR FAMILY;

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  12. annettekozak speer

    thank you Vera I will try that,my fathers name was onufrey,his sister and him came to Canada in1923,or around there,his sisters name was Dora Kozak,one brother stayed there,he had relatives also in the Ukraine.

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  14. annette kozak speer

    Vera my fathers name was onufrey,his sisters name was Dora,I believe it was 1923 when they came to Canada,after their mother died,leaving 1 brother behind,plus relatives,my father use to joke about our last name kozak,he said we were Cossacks.

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  15. Lucy Hasard

    Hi Vera,
    I am looking for specifically my grandfathers birth place (birth certificate) or relatives (Russian wife and Ukrainian parents) having trouble because I am Australian I don’t know the language.
    Anton Masluk immigrated from Germany as DP in 1949 to australia and left Ukraine 1938 taken for forced labour by the gemans
    Grandfather Anton Masluk (new name Hans Iwan Hasard) born 12/12/1912 Kovel, Ukraine
    Great Grandfather Leopold Masluk (AKA Leopold Hasard)
    Born: 24/02/1886 Kowil/kovel ukraine
    Great Grandmother Ahafia Masluk (maiden name Melnik)
    Born: 10/08/1887 Kowil / Kovel, Ukraine
    if you are able to help in any way that would be appreciated?

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  16. Rena Elena DeVaul (maiden name), married name Rena Lipps

    My mother’s family was taken to Harbin, China in 1917 by my grandfather when the Bolsheviks invaded Russia. I was told my grandfather was one of the Tsar’s Cossack soldiers and went back to Russia after taking them and getting killed. My mother moved to Tientsin (sp?) sometime in 1930’s because she met my father in late 1930’s there and they married there. He was in American Army Air Corps and brought her to Fort Lewis (Tacoma), Washington where they lived until they died. My mother’s name when he met her was Galina Vasilevna Rugalova and she passed in 1980. I know nothing of her family left behind and would love to be connected somehow (I’m 70 now). Any ideas/suggestions would be most appreciated.

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      1. Ursula Adams Chevtaikin)

        I don’t know how to do research for my father’s lost Russian Family. Information: Viktor Chevtaikin. He was born 11/25/1923 in Novasibirsk. He had 3 brothers who all served in Great Patriotic War in Russian Red Army. and he lost track of them. He was captured and sent to Eustonia Prison Camp, released and fled to Germany and ended up in Schleisheim Displaced Persons Camp. He met my mother Erna Koenig (German), married in 1947, I was born in Munich in 1948 and my brother in 1950. We all traveled to US 2/22/1952. Since he never mastered English, I only have names of his brothers: Ivan, Vasily and Kuzma who he had tried to contact through the Red Cross, to no avail. I cannot read Russian but a friend of mine said that those names had awards listed on a Russian War Memorial website. My parents have passed away but I am trying to find out if his brothers survived and had family so that we might be in contact with any descendants. Do you know how i can do that? Any help would be appreciated.

        Thank you, Ursula Adams (Chevtaikin)

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      2. Sorry for the delayed response. There are records on your immediate family here- https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/archive/81685159/?p=1&s=Chevtaikin&doc_id=81685159
        You can search online WWII military records here on your uncles here- https://pamyat-naroda.ru/?static_hash=fad985a820e3049612b934431adee5c4. You will need to search in Russian. If you know the birthplace of your father, you could search the surname in that town/village on vk.com or ok.ru to look for living relatives. I hope this helps.

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      3. Ursula Adams Chevtaikin)

        Thank you for the information on your research. The Memorial War site and graveyard is all in Russian even though I clicked English version, but it did not translate, so very difficult in doing the reseach, but will keep trying.

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  17. Jennifer Webb

    Looking for any information on Josef and Franciszka Pojasek. This would be my great grandparents. My grandfather was born in 1927 and his mother (Franciszka) died when he was young. They lived in Chrostkow, Poland. My grandfather was taken into forced labor at 13 years old, along with his brother Jan. When the war was over my grandfather and his brother immigrated to Wales, where his brother died. In the 1940’s my grandparents immigrated to the USA. My grandmother told me that Franciszka was an orphan. Any information would be greatly appreciated as I’m stuck in my genealogy search.

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    3. Virginie

      Hello Jennifer, I’m searching informations about my family who lived in Poland before the war. My grand father named Michel Pojasek. He’s born at Halitch near east frontier of Ukraine. He arrived in France in 1936 and we lived all in France. His father was Josef and his mother Caroline Buczko. Maybe we have family together. I’m sorry , I don’t speak english very well. I hope news. Best wishes. Virginie

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  18. Carlie

    Vera,
    My aunt and I have spent may years searching our Russian line. Being a very unusual surname there is not much available on line.

    I do know my Great Grandfather, Theodore Stegenwaldner died in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1911. I have been told the family were Lutheran. I have a photo of the funeral procession, outside of the Cemetery (wonderful photo) but I do not know the name of the Cemetery. I do not know the names of Theodores parents or exactly where he was born.

    I am wondering what would be the best way to further our research (outside of whats available on google).

    Thanks so much for your time,
    Carlie

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  19. Kathy Gruell/Grywul/Hrevul

    I just finished sending an email to the archives in Kiev for my Grandfather’s entire family records. They took a few weeks to email back that there were 11 matches. The only difficult thing that I experienced was that while they were not asking for a whole lot of money, they said to send the payment to a service, which could not be verified on the internet – thus Canada would likely not send it. I had come across a name on one of the genealogy websites of someone with the last name the same of my Grandfather that was looking for people that I was, and on a whim, I looked him up on Facebook. After many discussions, it was absolutely clear that he was my family! He went and picked up the records in person since he lives in Kiev. Records you may be looking for could be at the archives you need to just find a way to get them. I found the records of my grandfather’s parents, their birthdays and marriage date, and the names and birthdays of all 8 children, we only knew of 3! Here is the link to the archive in Kiev Oblast. I had also taken up close photos of sections of grandpa’s baptismal document and sent that for verification, and sent a letter with as much information as I had. Best of luck, hope this helps someone. archive_cv@arch.gov.ua

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  20. Laur

    I’m looking for ancestry of Germans in Russia who stayed in Russia in stead of immigrating to North America.
    I’m hoping to find them😊thank you

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  22. turtle4ubackyard

    RE: 5/29/2017: Yes, I have tried those resources, but with all the name changes over the years, the only descendants are from our own family. When Allen/Alex Nikoloff/Nicholoff/Nickoloff, died, in July, 18, 1918, one month before his 8th birthday, it was so tragic, that the neighbor boy, I believe his name was George Smertene, was only five years old also died. George had an older sister, but I don’t know if their family was related to us. The double funeral took place in either, Cosmopolis, or Aberdeen, Grays Harbor County, Washington. Alex had been born in Kapaa, Kuaui, “supposedly” before Efim/Ephim Nikoloff, and spouse, Acsenia/Oxcenia (Saturind), came to San Francisco, California, about 1911–1912, and worked their way up to Washington, by going through, and living on S. W. Hooker St. in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, between, 1912–1917/1918. Does anybody have the newspaper article about this from Washington??
    Thank you for any help, ROSALIE DEMARTINO

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  23. Maxine

    Vera are you atill participating in this? I am an Australian seeking long lost relatives of my Russian grandfather, but can’t work out how to access resources from the former USSR because I can’t read the language. I have some names (complete and incomplete, in Russian and English) and would appreciate any help in this matter.

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    1. Hello Maxine, How much information do you have on your relatives? You need to know a lot of specific information to search in the former USSR. There are plenty of language translator programs that can help you with the language barrier. I use them every day for the research. Vera

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      1. Maxine Walters

        Hi Vera. I have names and names of some of their children. But no other information. I was hoping to find out birth/death dates for my grandfather’s siblings.
        So my chances are slim then I guess?

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      2. You need as much details about the siblings as possible. If they immigrated to another country, you can try to see whether their death or immigration records have important information that could help you.

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  24. Tina Sopher

    I am trying to find any information for my grandmother Aleksandra Maria Remikauskaite. Her and my birthmother came from Germany in 1956. My grandmother who adopted me and is now deceased, always told me she was born in Lithuania. Records from Ancestry.com stays she was actually born in Leningrad Russia. I am unable to find one single thing with my grandmothers last name other than documents of her arriving here in New York. I just took a DNA test from Ancestry and found I’m 40% Baltic states. I would just like to be able to give some information to my birthmother because she is up in age. I’ve craved myself for so long to know where I’ve come from. I can’t imagine how she feels being an only child here. If anyone know’s of a good place for me to start. Please let me know. I’d appreciate any advice. Vera Miller. You are an ANGEL.

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    1. Hi, Tina! Thanks for the compliment. It sounds as if you need to get your grandmother’s Social Security application. You should apply for a photocopy of the original- https://secure.ssa.gov/apps9/eFOIA-FEWeb/internet/main.jsp. If her birthday was less than 120 years ago, you will need to provide proof of death. I highly recommend transferring your DNA file to Family Tree DNA (https://www.familytreedna.com/autosomal-transfer), MyHeritage (https://www.myheritage.com/dna/upload) and Gedmatch (https://www.gedmatch.com). If your grandmother and mother were displaced persons of the war, search this free database- https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/. If you don’t find any information, request a free record search here- https://arolsen-archives.org/en/search-explore/inquiries/submit-inquiry/. A response will take two years. Vera

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    1. I’ll be happy to help at no charge. Send me everything you know on her- birthdate/birth year, old address, her parents’ names and other known children- to me at mail.ru. My username is bepa.miller.

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      1. Hi Vera, Thank you so much!
        Olga Perlin died when my grand mother was just 4y.o. and my great grand father didn’t talk about her.
        All what I know:
        – She married Enrique Grimblat (1885-1979) from Kobryn District, Brest Region, Belarus. So probably she was from the same town.
        – They had 4 kids: Sofia Grimblat (1914-1999), Bernardo Grimblat (1916-2014), Isaac Grimblat (1918 – 2006) and my grand mother Maria Grimblat (1927 alive, married to Baichman)
        – She was born circa 1887 and died in 1931 in Buenos Aires, Argentina (buried in “cementerio israelita de ciudadela” next to Enrique Grimblat but they can’t see their name on their system)
        I have a photo of her.
        Anything you can tell me about her or her parents and (if she had) siblings I would really appreciate it.
        Thanks,
        Mara

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