Welcome to the Zichydorf Village Association
Zichydorf was a village in the Banat about 70 km northeast of Belgrade, Serbia, originally settled in the middle ages as Bioseg and later by German immigrants in 1787. Zichydorf has had many names: Bioseg, Morminz, Zichydorf, Zichyfalva, Mariolana, and today Plandiste.
This is the web site of the Zichydorf Village Association. We are dedicated to the history and family histories of our ethnic German ancestors who originated from this town and its surrounding towns lying in modern Serbia. To learn more about our town and our organization, please see About ZVA in the main menu.
Newsletter 25-1 April 2020
Another Milestone for ZVA
We are beginning our 25th year. Who would have believed it in 1996?
ZVA Elections
Due to the pandemic, we did not hold our usual April in-person meeting. Through email with the most consistent attendees Glenn Schwartz was returned as President and Miles Dormuth as Secretary-Treasurer, both by acclamation.
Membership Renewal
ZVA keeps the memory of Zichydorf and its people alive on its web site through your generosity. It also provides information on many associated villages. Please help us keep the site alive by paying our annual membership fee of a paltry $10.
Membership is based on the calendar year. Please check your dues status on the web site. Log in and go to “Your Profile” in the user menu and scroll down to "Dues paid to the end of: ____" If you have not yet paid for 2020, please remit your dues using one of the options described on the Membership page. I will downgrade unrenewed members on the web site in April of each year to give you plenty of grace. From September on, I will credit new members for the following year. If you are not connected to the Internet, send your dues to the address at the bottom of this letter and I will update you. Thanks for contributing to our common cause.
Banat Mailing Lists
Some of you may have belonged to one of the two Banat mailing lists - Banat and Donauschwaben Villages Helping Hands (DVHH). DVHH also has an extensive website full of historical and cultural information. Both of these lists are full of helpful and knowledgeable researchers who can help with your genealogy. A few months ago, Rootsweb, the host for these and many other lists, advised that it was getting out of this business. Both lists moved to a new platform called groups.io. Just enter "groups.io" in your search bar and click on "Find or Create a Group." You will find these and many other genealogical groups.
Zichydorf on Wikipedia
Jan T in Germany has initiated a page on Wikipedia for Plandiste/Zichydorf at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plandište. He tried to summarize the 1924 Milleker work and other sources. He suggests that it could use more content from the 1787-1944 German period and welcomes new contributors. He also notes that “Milleker references a lot of sources which are today totally unclear. If anybody could point out where to find them...”
Wiesenheid/Tisa Noua
We have acquired additional church records for the village of Wiesenheid/Tisa Noua in the Banat: BMD 1777-1835; baptisms 1829-1906; marriages 1836-1912; deaths1836-1908 (4.95 GB). For ordering details for these and other Banat church records go to https://zichydorfonline.org/genealogy/3-genealogy/288-church-records-digital-images
Morawitza
The church records that we had from microfilm for Morawitza in Banat were missing the even numbered pages in the death records from 1810 to 1850. This made it difficult to sort out who is who when people shared the same first and last names - a very common occurrence. Fortunately, a research contact in Romania has acquired the missing records and shared them with us. As a bonus, for the most part they are better quality images. They are available through the same URL as above.
Genocide of the Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia 1944 - 1948
An online discussion of the book "Genocide of the Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia 1944 - 1948" revealed that it was available online for prices ranging from $175USD to $650USD. One of the mailing list members found a free PDF online at GENOCIDE of the Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia 1944-1948 (2007) - Free Download PDF Ebook. This is the American version of the book that tells the story described by its title. There is also a European, English language version that is more comprehensive. Both versions are in the SGS library. You can find descriptions here
and here.
User Profiles
When you register on the ZVA site you can list your research interests – family names, villages, etc. When you log in, you can search through the User Profiles of other registrants to find people with similar interests. You can click on the associated email address to make contact, but, for privacy reasons, no other personal information is available unless the parties agree to provide it through their email exchange. I encourage everyone to review and expand their own profiles (click on Your Profile) and to search for potential contacts with User Profiles.
Deutsch Zerne
If your roots lead through Deutsch Zerne you might be interested in this link to a history along with some maps.
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~deutschzerne/genealogy/Files/tabar.html
Cemeteries in Banat
Jan T in Germany has collected more than 2,000 pictures from cemeteries in Banat. He would like help to index them for posting on a publicly available site. A few have already been posted on https://www.findagrave.com/, but indexers would be free to publish wherever they want. If you would like to help with this project, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Here is a list of cemeteries, the number of pictures in each, and what is completed so far.
|
Hungary |
No of Pictures |
Completion |
|
Vértesboglar |
265 |
95 % |
|
|
|
|
|
Romania |
|
|
|
Bulgăruș / Bogarosch |
25 |
5 % |
|
Comloșu Mic / Ostern |
215 |
30 % |
|
Gottlob |
5 |
10 % |
|
Grabaț |
518 |
80 % |
|
Iecea Mică / Kleinjetscha |
11 |
10 % |
|
Jimbolia / Hatzfeld |
15 |
10 % |
|
Lenauheim / Csadat |
6 |
10 % |
|
Liebling |
29 |
10 % |
|
Morawița |
43 |
10 % |
|
Oțelu Roșu |
23 |
10 % |
|
Teremia Mică / Albrechtsflor |
15 |
10 % |
|
Tomnatic / Triebswetter |
16 |
10 % |
|
Zăvoi |
2 |
0 % |
|
|
|
|
|
Serbia |
|
|
|
Bački Brestovac |
39 |
30 % |
|
Čestereg / Tschestereg |
51 |
90 % |
|
Ečka / Etschka |
490 |
90 % |
|
Klek |
65 |
100 % |
|
Knićanin / Rudolfsgnad |
10 |
0 % |
|
Lazarevo / Lazarfeld |
269 |
90 % |
|
Lukićevo / Sigmundfeld |
103 |
80 % |
|
Nakovo / Selesch |
4 |
100 % |
|
Plandište / Zichydorf / Mariolana |
233 |
90 % |
|
Ravni Topolovac / Kathreinfeld |
4 |
0 % |
|
Srpska Crnja / Zerne |
371 |
60 % |
Zichydorf Village Association Newsletter
edited by: Glenn Schwartz
2114 E Laurier Cres., Regina, SK, S4V 0P6
Internet: http://zichydorfonline.org
http://www.facebook.com/ZichydorfVillageAssociation
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Research and Travel in Banat
It is vitally important to have local expertise and a local interpretter when operating in Serbia and/or Romania. ZVA has had excellent experience with two individuals in Banat: Staša Cvetković and Sorin Fortiu.
Staša Cvetković
Staša is our go-to guy in Serbia. He has excellent contacts in archives and village offices throughout the Serbian Banat. He has an extensive personal database of the lcoations of various records. He is also an excellent tour planner, proposing detailed itineraries full of local interest. Staša can transport groups of up to seven people in his Mercedes Vito and is willing to travel in Romania. His web site is at http://www.synergia.rs/
Sorin Fortiu
Sorin is the premier and most professional researcher in the archives of Timisoara and Arad. He is also an expert historian. Sorin does not drive, but will conduct tours if you can arrange transportation. His web site is at http://www.genealogy.ro/
Find more detailed information on our site at Zichydorf Records Research (you must be logged in to view this link)