Many of us would like to find out more about our familes, our roots, where we came from, what happened to our families.

If your family originally came from Eastern Europe, how do you go about getting this information? During the upheavals of World War II many records were destroyed. But remarkably, many of them have been saved, But where are they? Fortunately, a number of organizations have been dealing with this problem.

JEWISH RELATIVES

The largest number of queries come from Jewish people whose families disappeared during the Holocaust. There are many organizations that have been dealing with this specific problem and compiling lists. The following are links to some of them.
JewishGen is the main source for Jewish genealogy research
Roots to Roots Foundation publishes books "Jewish Roots in Poland" and "Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova"

GENERAL GENEALOGY RESEARCH

About.com Genealogy Site for many great references and helpful articles.
RootsWeb Surname List for a service at which you can search for a name, or post your own name.
Paul Theroff's Royal Genealogy genealogy texts for many royal and princely families.
East Europe Genealogy Web clickable resources for ALL EAST EUROPE. Click on the desired country in the drop-down menu.
Message Boards, message boards to search for surnames or localities

CROATIA & SLOVENIA

Croatia
Sources for information.

CZECH & SLOVAKIAN

Forum
A place to post requests for information, check the Archives - somebody may have already posted an answer to your question.

Links
Links to many sources for information about Czech and Slovakian ancestors

HUNGARY

Hungarotips Genealogy Search
Hungarian Genealogy Web

POLAND

Polish Genealogy Society, many excellent references and links to other sources.
Bielecki's Genealogy pages, include useful maps, and great hints to finding records. He will provide assistance.
Polish Roots Immigration pages , recently updated (2005) pages include many new reference sources for searches of emigration from all Polish territories, including Galicia and Lithuania.
Cyndy's List many useful sources
Rafal Prinke's Genealogy pages, includes a dictionary for Latin names of occupations.
Where to go for information. Includes a gazeteer for cross-referencing old German and modern Polish place names.
Reference to maps, old and new.

ROMANIA

Romania (Rumania) HOMEPAGE, List of resources by Ms. Susan Niculescu
List of towns, various ways of looking for a location name.

More Hints For those who want to do their own research in Poland. You will find Birth, Marriage and Death records at the Urząd Stanu Cywilnego (Registrar's Office). However there is no organized Data Bank. The records are written in books, by date. If you don't know an approximate date it is very difficult to find anything.
Another sources of information are the Archiwa Panstwowe (State Archives) or the local Historical Museum (collections of newspapers - various collections of records)

Please return from time to time as new information is being added on a continuing basis