A client recently asked me to look up an ancestor born in Belgrade, Serbia.

First, I looked up a little about the history. Like many countries in Europe, and most countries in Eastern Europe, Serbia was part of other countries, kingdoms or empires for most of its existence.

In addition, the language we know as Serbian has been written in both Cyrillic and Latin letters. Thankfully, there is a word list which gives essential genealogical terms written in both alphabets here.

Historical archives from the capitol city Belgrade fortunately have many record collections online here. The most genealogically relevant are the “Збирка црквених матичних књига“, translated as “Collection of church Evidence books.” Those with experience in the Russian empire might recognize the similarity to “metrical books” (метрические книги). Accessing these records requires registering an email, which is free. The website will switch across languages and letters (see the globe icon in the upper right hand corner). The records themselves are handwritten in Serbian, mostly in Cyrillic.

If you have ancestors from Serbia, reach out. I can help you with the next steps.