Family tree and genealogy

Genealogy and tracing ancestors – how to start and where to look

A complete guide to genealogical research for beginners. Archives, databases and practical tips for searching in Czechia and Slovakia.

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Genealogy and tracing ancestors – how to start and where to look

Why take an interest in genealogy?

Every person is part of a story that began long before they were born. Genealogy helps you answer the questions: Where do I come from? Who were my ancestors? How did they live? Where did they come from?

Interest in genealogy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is growing markedly. Thanks to the digitisation of archives it is now possible to search for records 200–300 years old without having to visit a registry office in person.

How to start genealogical research

Start with what you know
Write down everything you know – names, dates, places. Start with the oldest person you knew. The exact date of birth, marriage and death.
Ask the older generation
Grandparents, family friends, neighbours. People's memory is an invaluable source – but it is limited in time. Record the conversations, or at least write them down.
Search through family archives
Old letters, photographs, documents, military service books, baptism certificates. Scan them and store them – paper degrades and photographs fade.
Use online databases
MyHeritage, Ancestry, Rodokmen.cz. Billions of genealogical records available online, many of them connected with Czech and Slovak archives.
Visit the archives
Registry books are essential for records more than 100 years old. In Czechia they are digitised on the actapublica.eu portal. In Slovakia on the rusyn.sk portal.

A digital memorial as a genealogical hub

Every digital memorial on Stopy v srdci can be connected with genealogical records. A link from the memorial leads straight to a search on MyHeritage – a family that visits the memorial through the QR code on the grave can carry on tracing ancestors immediately.

The digital memorial thus becomes a living genealogical hub – it joins the physical place of burial, the life story and the family tree into one whole, available to future generations.

Create a memorial for free
A digital memorial as a genealogical hub

Where to look for records in Czechia and Slovakia

actapublica.eu
Digitised Czech registry books. Records of baptisms, marriages and burials from around 1600 to the early 20th century. Available online free of charge.
MyHeritage.cz
Billions of genealogical records. AI features for matching photographs and building a family tree. Connected with Stopy v srdci.
Ancestry.com
The largest genealogical database in the world. Useful for finding records of emigrants from Czechoslovakia to the USA and Canada.
Slovak archives
The Slovak National Archives (archiv.sk) and the rusyn.sk portal for Slovak registry books. Records available online or on a personal visit.

Connect genealogy with a digital memorial

Create a memorial for the person who has died and connect it with MyHeritage – future generations will find everything in one place.

Create a memorial for freeDatabase of cemeteries