Ukrainian Family History Resources 

For my book, I did extensive research using archives and databases in Ukraine, the U.S., and other parts of Europe. Below are links to some of the most important resources I consulted. This is by no means a comprehensive list of Ukrainian family history resources, but offers a start, especially in areas pertinent to my book (e.g., eastern Galicia/western Ukraine, OUN-UPA, Stalin-era deportations.)

Records for individuals

• Arolsen Archives, World's most comprehensive archive on victims and survivors of the Nazi regime. Includes employment records, transit records, concentration camp records etc. Extensive, in-person database search available at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM - D.C.) and Wiener Library (London)

• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum collections, Collection of 270,000+ documents regarding Holocaust victims and others affected by World War II in Europe 

• FamilySearch's Ukraine Online Genealogy Records, Wiki of links to Ukraine online databases and indexes to vital records and other items 

• Ukrainian Martyrology of the 20th century, Ukrainian government collection of individuals repressed from 1920s to 1950s in a set of oblasts of Ukraine 

• National Database of the Repressed, Ukrainian government collection of individuals repressed under Soviet regime 

• Digital Archive of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement, Collection of more than 30,000 digital documents related to the Ukrainian "liberation movement", including OUN, UPA, Ukrainian dissidents, and repressions 

• Ancestry.com, Expansive database with U.S. vital records, U.S. immigration/naturalization records, residence information via the U.S. Census etc. (international version for Ukraine weak)

• Yad Vashem Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names, Aims to recover, record, and reconstruct the life stories of each victim of the Shoah

 Oral history collections

• Territory of Terror's #HEПOЧYTI initiative, Video and audio recordings of oral histories of Ukrainians conducted by museum in Lviv

• Yahad-in Unum, Oral histories about the killing of Jews in Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine) as part of the "Holocaust by bullets" 

• After Silence, Lviv-based organization conducting oral histories and document digitization to preserve Ukraine's history

• Visual History Archive (Shoah Foundation), Repository of 55,000 video interviews with survivors of the Holocaust. Indexed by geographical locations, time periods, and experience groups. Full viewing available at subscribing institutions (USHMM)

City and other records 

• Polish Censuses, Digital version of Polish Censuses conducted in 1919, 1921, and 1931 which contain demographics for all settlements in Poland 

• Polish Business Directory of 1929, Digital version of directory with records about businesses and their addresses in pre-WWII Poland

• History of Cities and Towns of the Ukrainian USSR, Encyclopedia published in the 1960s that provides historical background about 40,000 cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine 

• Nazi-collaborator Monuments in Ukraine, List maintained by The Forward of monuments to Nazi collaborators and other perpetrators of the Holocaust 

Archives to query

• Alien File (U.S. A-File), compilation of records related to an alien who has not yet passed through through the U.S. immigration and inspection process, from 1944 onwards

• Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrainyi (SBU - Security Services) Archives, successor to KGB that holds personal files on those investigated by the SBU in Ukraine from 1918 - 1991 (website contains form to email to arhivsbu@ssu.gov.ua)  

• Ministry of Internal Affairs Archive, repository of cases of deportation and some anti-Soviet activity (OUN-UPA)

• Central State Historical Archives (Lviv), repository of cadastral maps and Prosvita records

• Central Archives of Historical Records (Warsaw), repository of vital records for pre-WWII Staryava

Last Updated May 2023