Switzerland Civil Registration

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Switzerland

Civil Registration

How to Find the Records

Online Collections

• 1532-1910: Switzerland, Marriages at FamilySearch; index only; Also at MyHeritage ($); Ancestry ($)
• 1613-1875: Switzerland Burials at FamilySearch; index only; Also at MyHeritage ($), Ancestry ($)
• 1792-1876: Switzerland, Bern, Civil Registration at FamilySearch; index & images
• Genève (GE): Civil records are available online through 1880 at the Genève Archive.

Offices to Contact

Requests for information concerning ancestral families must be made by writing to the appropriate civil registry office.
Access is generally restricted to direct-line relatives. Be prepared to provide proof of relationship (documentation connecting you to the ancestor), as well as proof of identity (a copy of passport or government-issued ID).

• To find the civil registration office for any current or former municipality (back to 1962), the address can be accessed from the Swiss federal government website by clicking here.

The top box, Wohnort/Ereignisort (residence or event location) is for the municipality where the event took place.

The second box, Heimatort (place of citizenship) is for the municipality where the person holds citizenship.

As you type in the name of your municipality in either box, a list of options will appear.

Click on the town of interest, and the office will appear under Suchresultat (search results), along with the address and email.

• To find current information about municipalities that may have been annexed or merged, see the Wikipedia article List of former municipalities.

Contact information for civil registration offices can also be found on the individual parish pages in the FamilySearch Wiki.

Historical Background

Civil registration (Zivilstand / état civil / stato civile) is the government record of births, marriages, and deaths. These civil registers are kept by the local civil registration office (Zivilstandsamt / service de l'état civil / ufficio dello stato civile) of each political community. Beginning on January 1, 1876, the civil registration office kept two separate sets of books: A-registers (records of births, marriages, and deaths occurring in the community regardless of citizenship) and B-registers (births, marriages, and deaths of citizens of the community that occurred outside the community). In 1928, the B-registers were discontinued and officially replaced by family registers (Familienregister / registres des familles / registro delle famiglie) kept by the civil registrar, though in most places these were already being kept.

A duplicate copy of both A-registers and B-registers was also required to be kept and was submitted to the cantonal supervisory authority. In 1910, legislation no longer required the creation of the duplicate copy of the B-registers.

Since 1876, many civil registration offices have merged into larger civil registration districts. Records from the original offices were moved to the new districts. In some areas, records over 100 years old have been moved to city or cantonal archives.

Coverage and Compliance

Nationwide civil registration began on January 1, 1876. Several cantons began keeping records earlier; pre-1876 records may look different depending on the canton:

• • Basel-Landschaft (BL): 1827
  • Fribourg (FR): 1849
  • Genève (GE): 1798
  • Glarus (GL): 1849
  • Neuchâtel (NE): 1825
  • Sankt Gallen (SG): 1867
  • Schaffhausen (SH): 1849
  • Solothurn (SO): 1836
  • Ticino (TI): 1855
  • Vaud (VD): 1821
  • Valais (VS): 1853

As of 2017, the following records are accessible by the public:

• Births before 1 January 1900
• Marriages before 1 January 1930
• Deaths before 1 January 1960

Information Recorded in the Records

Birth Registers (Geburtsregister / Registres des naissances / Registri delle nascite)

• Date of registration of the birth
• Name, residence, and occupation of the informant (usually the father or the midwife)
• Names, residences, and occupations of the witnesses
• Name of the mother and father
• Date and specific place of birth of child
• Full name of the child

Marriage Registers (Eheregister / Registres des mariages / Registri del matrimonio)

• Date and place of marriage
• Names, place of citizenship, ages, residences, and occupations of bride and groom
• Names, place of citizenship, residence, and occupation of parents
• Names of witnesses and person who performed the ceremony
• Sometimes birth dates of the bride and groom

Death registers (Todesregister / Registres des décès / Registri della morte)

• Date of registration
• Name and residence of informant
• Name of deceased
• Place of citizenship
• Date and place of death
• Age
• Occupation
• Names of parents
• Name of surviving spouse
• Sometimes cause of death
• Sometimes place of birth
• Sometimes names of children

Family Registers (Familienregister / registres des familles / registri delle famiglie)

• Separate page for each male married citizen and includes information about:

- Spouse(s)

- Children

- The couple’s parents’ names

- Citizenship of the spouse(s)

- Birth and marriage information about the children

- Occupation

- Emigration

Family books (Familienbücher, Familienrodel) and citizens' books (Bürgerbücher, Bürgerrodel) were established earliest in canton Zürich and kept by some communities as early as the 1700s. By the 1820s, they were widespread in German protestant areas. They were kept by the local priest to keep track of all citizens (Bürger) of the parish regardless of residence. Some parish offices created non-citizen resident (Beisass, Niedersass) family books as well.
Beginning in 1876, these records were required to be kept by all municipalities in Switzerland.

Writing for Civil Registration Records

• Consult the Language Map of Switzerland, and then write your request in the appropriate language:
  • Germany Letter Writing Guide
  • Italy Letter Writing Guide
  • French Letter Writing Guide