Belarus Civil Registration

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Belarus

Civil Registration

How to Find the Records

Online Collections

• 1837-1917 Belarus, Birth Records from Select Cities, 1837-1917 at Ancestry - index ($)
• 1857-1891, 1921 Belarus, Marriage Records from Minsk (1921) and Mogilev (1857-1891) at Ancestry. - index ($)
• 1889 Belarus, Minsk, List of Deaths, 1889 at Ancestry - index ($)

Offices to Contact

Civil registration offices exist at the local and regional levels. Copies of local registrations are sent to regional offices.

The Bureau of Civil Status Acts (ZAGS) creates and maintains civil registration. The bureau is subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and is separate from the national archive system.

Registration of births must be done within two months of birth and deaths within three days.

Registration offices are collocated with "marriage palaces" permitting the registration and performance of weddings to occur at the same place and time.

Historical Background

Time period: 1920-present

Coverage and Compliance

Low coverage for the first decade of registration (1920-about 1930), then 85% thereafter. The civil war (about 1921-1922) of the early Soviet period inhibited registration. For two years it was not enforced. The system was established first in urban and later in rural areas. Gaps persisted through 1926. Civil registration broke down in the occupied areas during World War II and some registers were burned.

Information Recorded in the Records

Births

• Date
• Names of principal and parents
• Occupation and religious preference of parents
• Place of residence for parents
• Name of informant

Marriages

• Date
• Names of principal and parents
• Occupation and religious preference of parents
• Place of residence of the groom and bride
• Names of witnesses

Deaths

• Date
• Place of residence of the deceased
• Names of principal and parents
• Age at death
• Cause of death
• Place of burial

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