EWZ Records

 Gwen Oryall presented on the EWZ (Einwandererzentralstelle) Records.  We all learned from the presentation.  The following are a few notes that will hopefully help you do some research on your own.  The most detailed source of information is on the FamilySearch website.

       The EWZ records were kept from 1939-1945.  Many factors led to their creation, among which were the Nazi’s wanting ethnic Germans to return to Germany to support the war effort and the Soviets wanting to get rid of the Germans.  Countries included were Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland (southern and eastern part), Romania, USSR (western Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine) and Yugoslavia.

 

        Many of the records have personal information, photographs and other information.  For the people proven to be ethnic Germans, new birth and marriage certificates were issued with information on them as well.  However, deceased children are not listed.  We all know what happened to those with Jewish ancestry.

 

      The largest collection is at the FamilySearch Library in downtown SLC on Microfilm, and only available downtown. (If you are near a family history center you can possibly request a film loan.)  More information can be found by going to Research Wiki, Catalog, EWZ Records, but basically: Race Cards (EWZ 56), Immigration and Health cards (EWZ 57), Family tree charts (EWZ 58)      

               Immigrant card Index (filed alphabetically by surname, every immigrant age 15

                   and older)

               Health Cards (filed alphabetically for every immigrant over age 6)

              

       However, there are other options

 

1.      Odessa3.org has a lot of records for use, but very few are Volga Records.  To find the EWZ records go to Collections and then War Documents.

2.      BlackSeagr.org has extensive records but just for the Black Sea.

3.      Galizien German Descendants (www.galiziengermandescendants.org)

4.      IAGL, online indexing records (https://index.germansfromlithuania.org/)

5.      Invenio: The Bundesarchiv system to find the EWZ number of an applicant

6.      NARA (possible fees) 

 

Also, if you are interested, there are some interesting videos on YouTube about the Germans in Russia.  Search Germans Deported from Russia WW2.

 

Happy hunting, if you have questions, we can TRY to answer them.

 

Viki Strong, President

Intermountain Chapter, AHSGR