Zdravo Frank, but I can also eat and drink in Italian. Your news will save ordering the films. Looks like the long way is the only way. Other than writing letters of which there are numerous samples, what's the go re payment and how much say for a Parish or the archive office. I would expect that cash in the envelope is not the way. My father in 1942 went to the "zastavnicka skola" in Zagreb and than served with the NDH army and he went under the name Kolovica. As you probably gather the roots go into Italy, Udine which is even more interesting in trying to find some info as Italian I don't speak. But that's another challenge. One day at a time. Regards, Branko Colavizza branko.colavizza@bigpond.com http://www.geocities.com/bcolaau/ -----Original Message----- From: Frank Kurchina [mailto:frankur@worldnet.att.net] Sent: Saturday, 20 April 2002 5:36 AM To: Branko Colavizza Subject: Re: [CROATIA-L] Domitrovic > Hi Frank, > Again, thanks. I'll order the films you nominated and see what is unearthed, > beyond that I imagine it's every man for himself. > What about military records, I know my father served during WWII. > Regards, > Branko Colavizza Zdravo (although some prefer Italian Ciao) So your mother's b.c. stated : Z^upni ured-Lukovdol Prebivalis^te i nadlez^nost - Osojnik Kotar - Karlovac parish church office - Lukovdol residence and jurisdiction district- Karlovac So LDS filmed the church records for the other Osojnik located in the Dubrovnik (Ragusa) region. In 1945, all birth, marriage, and death records held by churches in Croatia were turned over to the civil authorities and were deposited with the 'opc'ina' (community city office). For small villages or places that did not have a city office - the opc'ina would then be in the next largest village or town. There are 416 municipalities (opc'ine sg. opc'ina) under the 20 z^upanija (county) in Croatia. Croatia has 6694 settlements, consisting of 205 cities and 6489 villages. Churches were allowed to keep only baptismal records and Status Animarun (i.e. Stanju Dusa (Status of Souls) - the so-called "Knjiga Dusa" - "A Book of Souls". This is a census-like document listing family memebers; i.e. a genealogical record of any one generation and lists the man and woman upon marriage and each child as born ; commented if emigrated or had died. Any birth and death records older than 1860 were turned over to the Croatian historical archives. My understanding is that all religious records had been collected in 12 regional State Archives, located at: Varaz^din, Zagreb, Bjelovar, Pazin, Rijeka, Karlovac, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Sisak, Slavonski Brod, and Osijek. * The Croatian National Archives (Hrvatski Drz^avni Arhiv) located in Zagreb is main depository of old church records for many parts of the country. * address : Hrvatski drz^avni arhiv Marulicev trg 21 10000 Zagreb Hrvatska email : hda@arhiv.hr address : Drz^avni arhiv Karlovac Lj. S^estica 5 47000 Karlovac Hrvatska As for military records from WW 2 era. Your father served during WW II. In what country and for which group ? The Germans and Italians invaded Yugoslavia in 1941. Some Croatians and Slovenes were pro-German and fought against the Communists. The Communist Yugoslavs killed their POWs after the war had ended in 1945. I fought against the German Army in France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia. 1950-1952 I fought against the Communist NKs and later the Chinese in Korea. v Frank Kurcina