English
http://gallery.ru/watch?a=bcaV-d9xW
Semionoff Vitaly (Cемёнов Виталий), professional Russian genealogist was born in 1978 in Moscow.
Genealogy and Family History Research In Russia and Ex-USSR countries
Your ancestors were from Russia or ex-USSR countries?
Do you look for genealogy specialist in Russia?You have found him! It’s me!
I can do a wide variety of options:
- Archive Research
- Document Translations from modern (old) Russian, Ukranian, Belorussian, Old Slavic (Handwritten text)
- Genealogical Tailor-Made Tours
- Live Relative Search
- Military Genealogy
- Village Photography and Video
National, incl.Jewish Genealogy
Wide Geography
Russia, Ukraine, Moldova,Kazakhstan, Armenia (and Rebublic of Montaneous Karabakh), Azerbajdzhan, Kirgizstan, Tadjikistan for all their territory are available for work.
I can work in Belarus in Baltic Lands but this is more complicated because of visa and bureaucratic formalities. For a great pity for political situation I currently do not work in Georgia, but the search in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is possible.
How to pay?
Russia is just starting with e-money, PayPal still doesn’t work in Russia, you can not withdraw money here and MoneyBookers are too conservative. We rather play safe because this is still new thing for Russia.
I have the bank account that works really well for clients from USA and Asia, but do not work for Europe because Russian banks do not have IBAN (Idetification Banc Account Number).
For people from EU good and reasonable tax money transfer system is still number #1 problem. (France is the worst case). Only Western Union works here.
For all other countries “Сontaсt” http://www.contact-sys.com/eng/transfer/info.html
or “MoneyGram” http://www.moneygram.com/ works excelent.
Who I am?
Before my Army service as a draftee GI I have backpacked more then 30 countries. In 2003 have graduated Moscow State Lomonosov University Department of History, Sub-Department of Ethnology in 2002
Have accomplished the internship in the Moscow Office of The United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR 2002) and the Internship in Dushanbe office of The International Organization for Migration (IOM-MOM Tajikistan 2002)
Since 1999 till 2002 I was working for Russia’s most popular TV show “Zhdi Menya” (Wait for Me) poisk.vid.ru , which reunites families and people that were broken apart and searched for missing people. For 3 years of my work I have found more than 200 people. For our work “Wait For Me” was nominated by “TEFFI” – the highest Russian TV award.
I am the researcher who had made researches in Russia for Faces of America on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/faces-of-america-making-america-credits/
The author of more than 40 articles in top Russian newspapers, magazines and web-sites.
I work as a genealogist since 2007. Have registered in Moscow Tax Service as an independent businessman.
You can contact me by
e-mail dombaisaglara@yandex.ru
dombaisaglara@gmail.com
Skype name dombaisaglara
My cell phone +7-916-6324084
MAIN THINGS FOR UNDERSTANDING BEFORE YOU WILL DECIDE TO MAKE GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH IN CIS COUNTRIES.
Russia
65-70% of all Russian archuves are quite ok, but there are places that absolutely “block” every researchers work. Usually it is not connected with ill tempered archive workers, but because of the terrible conditions at some of these archives. It’s almost impossible to do any research in Saratov – since the local reading hall has just 6 places, people wait from 6 am just to get a spot and, even if you are in, a lot of documents are claimed to be in “bad condition” and there is no way to work with them.
The Saratov archive usually responds to queries after 3-4 months, but the quality of the answers leave a lot to be desired, (Belarus, where the wait time is longer, generally has more precise responses to requests). The situation is similar in Smolensk where the reading room is closed, because it is under the threat of collapse.
Looking for GULAG prisoners
In accordance with the last law about “Safety of Private information” (The law number 152) in order to see an NKVD file one has to be the VICTIM HIMSELF (!!), or his representative “on legal grounds”- who is this representative “on legal grounds”-is absolutely unclear. Can it be a relative? Maybe. Can it be the researcher with the Power of attorney ? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It´s very uncertain.
The Russian genealogical community was shocked by the affair of Michail Suproun – the professor of Pomor University in Archangelsk who has been accused of “gathering private information” without people’s permission. Some genealogists understand that this affair is a sign that every GULAG history researcher can be arrested on the basis of the 152nd law.
Therefore it is not possible to visit the FSB – but you can send the snail mail there. So, if you want to find some information– it’s better to write first (and only in Russian) to the local FSB archive or to the MVD center (The Ministry of Internal Affairs) and if the answer is positive – you can get your copies by the post.
Addresses
Central Archive of FSB
101000, г.Москва, ул. Б.Лубянка, д.2
101000 Moscow Russia, ulica Bolshaia Lubianka, 2
The Archive of FSB
Главный информационный центр МВД РФ
117418, г. Москва, НОВОЧЕРЕМУШКИНСКАЯ УЛ., 67
117418 Moscow Russia, Novocheremushkinskaia street 67
The Informational Service of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia,
Ukraine
Ukraine is much more open and went much more farther in giving access to these types of documents – in the center of SBU (Service of Security of Ukraine) you can find out if your relatives case is in the archives of Ukraine, and, if it is, if you show your ancestral connection you will be able to get and read the case. It is still an open question as to whether is it possible to get access to these documents with a power of attorney, and if you are the hired researcher, sometimes the answer is yes – sometimes it is no.
SBU information centre
Kyiv, Ukraine
Irinenskaya Street, 4
+380-44- 255-82-24
http://www.ssu.gov.ua/sbu/control/uk/publish/article?art_id=88763&cat_id=88762
Belarus
I do not know the situation with looking for GULAG prisoners in Belarus – because I have never had such a query.
Kazakhstan is somewhat like Russia in this situation, except that the Kazakh Government does not have so much USSR nostalgia, and that’s why sometimes it’s simpler to make a deal there, than in Russia where a lot of people still feel an unexplainable nostalgia toward the GULAG times.
Whatever researches can be made in Russia, Ukraine or Kazakhstan – I will make it for you.
Ukraine
After Ukraine introduced visa free travel for EU citizens, a lot of people took advantage of the opportunity to look through Ukrainian archives firsthand, but this option is only available to a few individuals. For most researchers the barriers seem impregnable, because of stereotypes, language problems and the complicated system of local archival storage. It is doubly difficult for those who immigrated to the USA or Canada. Nevertheless Ukraine is still the best country to do research in of all the former USSR countries.
If you want to hire a specialist for genealogical research in Ukraine of course, it’s never a bad idea to look for a local specialist. Unfortunately most of my clients have had problems finding such specialists. Even though I am not on location in Ukraine I ordinarily visit the country every 2-3 months. In order to conduct this research for you most Ukrainian archives require a power of attorney from you to me, were you do allow me to collect the privite information about your ancestors (needed for Archives).
The power of attorney would then be notarized.
Belarus
Archival work in Belarus can be a real researchers nightmare. At the beginning of Lukashenko’s presidency, Belarus collected all of the countries archival documents and collected them into two large archives in Grodno and Minsk. Each time you enter the archive you are only allowed to begin researching at these locations after paying for two lectures about the rules of the archival works, without regard for how long you have worked in the archives before.
As in Ukraine it’s possible to work for another person, but only with the power of attorney made by a modern representative of the name that is being researched. For example it’s ok to work for Kowalskii and look for his relatives if the client also has the Kowalski last name, but if Pan Kowalwski prepares a power of attorney to research his maiden name the Belarusian archives will require documents proving his relationship to the name. Even with the requisite proof problems and unanticipated troubles are the norm.
The Belarusian archives allow for the possibility to send genealogical queries directly to them, but, at the same time, they admit that they do not have enough ma power to process the requests, that is why a 6-8 month wait for a response is the norm .
Upd July 17 2010
My interview about Russian Genealogy Research Challenges
Thank you to nice Randy Graham (devildingotv) who did it for me!