Newsletter 23-1 April 2018

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 2018, 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. We are continually adding new content to the Members Only parts of the site. If you are not connected to the Internet, send your dues to the address below and I will update you. Thanks for contributing to our common cause.

Ernsthausen Familienbuch

The Ernsthausen Familienbuch has been received and added to our collection at the SGS library. It has the usual features plus a village history in English.

New Family History Library Tool

The FHL has created a new free tool called Community Groups. Researchers can

• ·         ask questions
• ·         upload documents and get help with translation
• ·         participate in discussions
• ·         learn about upcoming webinars, and
• ·         discover new resources

There are many groups, including ones for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, Germany, and Russia. Get more information and sign up at the link below. There was some discussion on the site where I found this information about how the FHL might share your information, so you might want to check that out before you agree to the terms and conditions.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/FamilySearch_Genealogy_Research_Groups

Danube Swabian Heritage

Several museums in Europe have joined forces to tell the story of German migration along the Danube River. They created a traveling exhibit, a book, and, now, a web site that includes a PDF version of the book. The book was published in 2012 and contains explanatory text, vintage maps, historical artwork, and pictures of artifacts. It is well worth a look. The web site has general histories of the Danube Swabian regions, historical and modern pictures, and histories of some of the villages, towns, and cities, as well as the PDF book. The web site is at http://www.danube-places.eu/index.php?lang=en

Family History Library Records

You have probably heard by now that FHL records are no longer available on microfilm, but are online only. Not all records have yet been converted to digital images, but they should be in the near future.

Offsenitza

It has come to my attention that the link from our site to the Offsenitza Familenbuch was no longer working, but that it could be found at a new URL. I have updated our page. If you had the Offsentiza FB bookmarked, change your bookmark to http://banatbooks.com/Offsenitza.htm

Bethausen

Some of you may know that the village of Bethausen, about 60 km east of Temesvar, was settled by young Zichydorfers in 1883. With land and opportunity scarce in their home village, they looked for new land elsewhere. I have just obtained church records for marriages of these settlers from 1884 to 1899 and deaths from 1883 to 1900 recorded in the nearby village of Faget. I will post these images on a members only page on our web site in the near future.

I obtained these images from a new contact I have developed in Romania. His hobby is collecting old church records in Romania and he has accumulated a substantial collection. He will be keeping an eye out for additional records involving Zichydorfers in the future as he works through his collection. I hope to add many more of these discoveries in the future.

Birg Villa

On our 2014 Banat tour we were able to tour the Birg Villa in Georgshausen. This stately old mansion was the home of the Birg family that owned the adjacent brick factory. Unfortunately it had been abandoned and had fallen into a sad state of disrepair. Recently, a group of investors has set out to restore it as a guest house for tourists. I received several pictures of the restoration from Stasa Cvetkovic. I will be showing them at our meeting on April 18.

Yugoslavia Documentary

 A 1.5 hour documentary about the effects on the German population when the Tito Partisans took over the country is available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/wXVtd3t5QTI

 ZVA Regina Branch Meeting

Regina Branch will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18, at Access Communications, 2250 Park St. (north door by the ball diamonds). Please press the buzzer to notify an employee to open the door. Elections are on the agenda. Glenn will also be showing pictures of the restoration of the Birg Villa in Georgshausen. Please mark your calendar and bring along a Zichydorf friend.

 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)

Welcome to the Zichydorf Village Association