After entering the place name “Latvia,” there will be a screen that says “Places in Latvia.” Once you click on “Places in Latvia,” there will be a list of places presented. In this case, select “Daugavpils” and hit “Enter.” Look for the subject heading “Jewish records.” If you don’t find it, you will need to click on the entry “Places within Daugavpils.” At that point, you should see the subject heading “Jewish records.” Note that not all places are cataloged consistently, and you may not need to go down the extra level to find the subject heading.

When you click on “Jewish records,” you will find an entry that says

Latvia, Daugavpils, Daugavpils, Jewish records, 1868-1908.

When you click on the entry, you will be taken to the catalog entry for all the Jewish vital records for Daugavpils:

There will be a long list of volumes following the catalog entry. This is a partial list:

The sample record is LVVA/5024/2/272 from 1891. The easiest way to find the record is to do a browser search for the year “1891” and look for Births within the hits.

The entry will appear in the format below:

Daugavpils, Daugavpils, Latvia - DAUGAVPILS JEWISH Births, LVVA-005024-0002-000272, 1891.

Note that FamilySearch uses hyphens instead of slashes between the numbers and also uses leading zeroes, but the numbers will match the Latvia database record. Once you find the volume you need, check for the camera icon to the right of the entry, and click on it (if there is no camera icon, it means that the volume is not yet digitized and uploaded). This will take you to the thumbnails for the entire volume. The first thumbnail will match the format described in the Latvian State Historical Archives overview, showing the archival numbers, place, year, and type of record (Dz for births).

Now enter “144” into the image number:

Click on the highlighted image, and you will find the birth record.

Zoom in on the page. The heading above the two columns on the left is “No.” in Cyrillic, which looks like its English counterpart, indicating the sequence number. The two columns below indicate the sex and the numerical sequence of the birth. In Jewish records, the females are numbered in the first (left) column and the second column is for males (note that this is reversed for non-Jewish records). The left page of the vital register is in Russian, and the right side is in Hebrew/Yiddish. The first record on the is for Female #235, and both the Russian and Hebrew side confirm the birth of a daughter named Khaya Sora Minsk.

This method can be used to locate any of the vital records in the Latvia Database. However, be aware that there may be discrepancies between the holdings on Raduraksti and on FamilySearch (and in one instance, a researcher discovered a volume on FamilySearch that was missing from the Archives’ website). If you can’t find the Jewish records for a location on FamilySearch, they will likely be on Raduraksti. However you may want to check the “Church records” subject heading just in case of a cataloging error.

1897 Census

If you have the archival number, locating digitized copies of 1897 All Russian Census records from the Latvia Database is easier to do on FamilySearch than on Raduraksti. The downside is that not all census records have yet been filmed by FamilySearch, so it is worthwhile to keep checking the website as new records are added. As mentioned in the section on Raduraksti, the Latvia database records are not consistent in the way they record the archival number. The database entries that show the full archival numbers do not show digitized image numbers, rather, they list the handwritten page number on the document itself. However, not all of the database records include full archival references. In some cases only the volume number is indicated, which requires that the user be able to read Russian handwriting and browse for the correct household. In other cases only the high-level fond/fund (archival category) is listed, and this is of little use without the volume details.

On Raduraksti, the archival volume information is buried at the end of the census district description, only showing the lieta number, whereas FamilySearch lists the full LVVA number at the end of the description. The method for finding the census records is similar to the process detailed above for vital records, except that 1897 census (and revision list) records will be under the subject heading “Census.”

Here is a sample record from the Latvia Database collection "All-Russia 1897 Census – Latvia":

Now browse for page 397. The page numbers are handwritten in the upper right corner of each page. It is a trial and error process, but going to image 397 brings you to page 390, and you can manually page to the image, which is found at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3QB-PWNJ (you must be signed in to view the entry).

The census record shows that the Veinberg (“Weinberg” in the database record transliteration) household not only consisted of the husband and wife found in the database, but also their two children, a son Samuil (6) and a daughter Meri (3), and two servants.

You will need to be familiar with the Russian language to read and understand census records, or ask somebody with Russian language skills to assist. FamilySearch has a “How To” guide called “Reading the 1897 Census,” which will be helpful for those who can read handwritten Cyrillic, but don’t necessarily know the language. It also explains the layout of the census records and has links to other “How To” guides regarding Russian genealogical documents and terminology, which will be helpful to Russian speakers unfamiliar with this type of document.

Interwar Resources

The interwar collections on FamilySearch include internal passport application books, internal passport files turned into the Riga police, 1935 personal cards, house registers, and military recruit lists, among many others. The Latvia Research Division has two projects to index internal passport issuance books and internal passports turned into the Riga police, which comprise the Latvia Internal Passports Database, 1919-1940. The database records include links to the records on FamilySearch.

The remainder of the FamilySearch records have not been completely inventoried. The number of records is overwhelming, especially the 1935 personal cards that were filled out as part of the 1935 census. Ciltskoki is actively pursuing several indexing projects for these records, including links to the corresponding files on FamilySearch. This is a work in progress, and the site is continually updated as records are indexed. There is a wealth of information on FamilySearch categorized as ”Latvia, Rīga, Rīga, census : National Statistical Bureau, 1935,” that includes a wide variety of materials, not necessarily from Riga, including conscript lists, vital records which seem to have been requested by people during this time period (e.g., sending for their birth or marriage records), 1935 personal cards. As records are surveyed and indexed, this section of the webpage will be updated with the latest findings.

Return to Archival Resources