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CentroConsult - Research in Slovakia and former Austria-Hungary

Frequently asked questions - answers



CentroConsult answers frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to Slovakia

Geography, phone area codes, ZIP codes and online databases

Question Answer
How to determine the present Slovak name of the location if I know the  former Hungarian name?
 CentroConsult is offering free of charge lookups in the list of past and present names of current Slovak settlements.
How to do phone calls to Slovakia?
 See our manual here
Are there online Slovak White Pages?
 Yes, they are here, see also the hints.
Where can I find the Slovak phone area codes?
 Click here to see a map and a table showing all Slovak phone area codes
Where can I find the Slovak ZIP codes?
 The Slovak Post is operating an online search tool which is placed just on the welcome webpage.
Are there some other online databases apart from the white pages in Slovakia?
 Now also in Slovakia there are more and more online databases.

Public databases

Trade registers
Land register

There is an online plot register including the plot maps with name Katastralny portal operated by Slovak Office of Cadaster. The services of this portal are free. More info and detailed hints are here.

Other public databases

Private databases

The spectacular unofficial "Cibulkovy seznamy"  listing the former members and associates of the Communist Secret Police (STB) is not working anymore  because of privacy pretection..

The virtual cemetery project of Mr. Pavol Knurovsky is a wonderful tool for search in Slovak cemeteries.

Church records and certificates

Question
 		Answer
Does anyone know the name/address of the Church in XY?
 In most cases the present name of church is irrelevant for the genealogy research. In 1953 the Government nationalized the parish records before 1895 and now they are stored in State Regional Archives. Thus the churches do not have the records before 1895! More details about the vital records in Slovakia you may find here.
Where should I apply for the birth/marriage/death certificate?
 For records before the year 1895 you have to apply in the State Regional Archives. For records after 1895 you have to apply at the local registrar's offices. For more info click here.

Life in present Slovakia

Question
 Answer
Does the average Slovak person speak English?
Not, but many young people with higher education are fluent in English and practically all have at least passive knowledge of English.
Has the average Slovak person access to the Internet?
In 2002 the answer was:
Only few households have access to internet in Slovakia. However many workplaces and schools have access to internet and thus about 20% of Slovak population has at least occasionally access to Internet (mostly students and people with higher education).
In 2005 the answer is:
About 40% of the households has PC but only 14% of all households has also internet access. The access to internet is now common in most workplaces, thus about 50% of Slovak adult (over 15) population has at least occasionally access to internet. There are however big regional differences in Internet penetration.

Miscellaneous

Question
 		Answer
How to find a professional researcher?
There are many professional researchers at the territory of former Hungary (Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania) having internet connection. Select please one from the list presented here.
What were the departure ports of emigrants from the territory of present Slovakia?
We present two answers provided by two members of Delphi forum

Answer of Theresa:

Because Hungary was losing so many citizens by emigration a law was made in 1903 regarding emigration. According to the Hungarian government at the time, people were only to use the Port of Fiume which was then part of Hungary as a point of egress. The Port of Fiume at one time was part of Italy, and now it is renamed Rijeka and is in Croatia. 

Although the Port of Fiume was only to be used to board ships so that the Hungarian government could monitor their departing citizens, people still traveled to other ports such as Hamburg, Bremen, also Cherbourg in France, Holland and England. Sometimes passenger ships manifest information does not collorate well with the port of departure in naturalization papers, simply because the person departed Hungary from an "illegal" port rather than the prescribed, "Port of Fiume." 

Answer of Bill Tarkulich:

Bremen and Hamburg were most popular, especially if they were from present day Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia and Poland amongst others. Trieste although probably third, was way down the list in volume of emigrants. The steamship companies (Norder Deutsch Lines and Hamburg America Line) sent agents to the countryside to sell tickets. 

There is a good table of emigration statistics provided by Radix for the Kingdom of Hungary, a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. The chart is showing stats from 1871 to 1913 bears this out. 
Why some Slovak feminine surnames have the suffix -ova and others not?
 In Slovak the feminine surnames are different from masculine. 
  • If the masculine surname is noun, then the feminine surname is created by suffix "-ova", example: Novak /Novak-ova.
  • If the masculine surname is adjective, then the feminine surname is created by replacing the suffix "-y" by suffix "-a", example: Hrabovsk-y /Hrabovsk-a

This help page is sponsored by CentroConsult
CentroConsult offers individualized genealogy research services in Slovakia and former Austria-Hungary



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