Tracing your Ancestors in Vienna - Some Guidelines

A service of the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna

The pursuit of familiy history demands a step by step approach, beginning with familiy tradition and documents and passing on to main and then to supplementary record sources. The most succesful way to use records is to consult the main sources first, working backwards in time from the most recent information to establish a framework which can be filled in from supplementary sources.

The Municipial and Provincial Archives of Vienna only keep records of Viennese inhabitants and not of inhabitants of the other Austrian provinces! If your ancestors stated "Austria" as their nation of origin, they did not necessarily come from within the boundaries of modern Austria. They came from the Habsburg empire, a multi-national, multi-ethnic conglomerate. The records of the former crownlands and parts of the Austrian empire are now in the archives of the modern states.

• How to find birth or marriage certificates
• How to find death records
• How to find probate records
• How to find an address
• How to find military records
• Visiting the archives
• Enquiry service

To avoid misunderstandings, it is necessary to write dates in the European style of day, month and year. Spell out the name of the month and write the year in full. For example, write 10 december 1889 or 10-12-1889, but not 12-10-89.

How to find birth or marriage certificates

In Austria there is no central register where you can find persons by name. Civil registration of birth, marriages and deaths was introduced in Austria in 1938. Before this year the registers were kept by the religious communities (parishes), which are still keeping these documents and data in their own archives. Generally you have to know your ancestors religious affiliation and - if your ancestors were of the catholic faith - the parish they came from.

For the period from 1858 to 1901, there is an integral register of male births.

Applications should be sent to:

• for records later than 1938: Municipal Department 35 - Immigration, Citizenship and Registry Offices (MA 35), Dresdnerstraße 91, 1200 Vienna
• for Catholic church records: Matrikenstelle der Erzdiözese Wien, Wollzeile 2, 1010 Vienna
• for Lutheran (A.B.) and Reformed (H.B.) church records: Evangelischer Oberkirchenrat, Severin-Schreibergasse 3, 1180 Vienna
• for Jewish records: Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, Seitenstettengasse 4, 1010 Vienna

How to find death records

We have an almost complete register of deaths in Vienna from 1648 up to (and including) the year 1938; these are in a chronological order and only partly indexed. A promising search demands an approximate knowledge of the year of death.

How to find probate records

We have probate records for the period between 1783 and, approximately, 1960. To find a probate record, you would need several specifications: name, year of death, last address (only after 1850).

How to find an address

• Wiener Adressverzeichnis "Lehmann" (since 1859): only proprietors and tenants, but not subtenants listed. To consult in the city library (Wienbibliothek im Rathaus MA 9) (German)
• Meldearchiv in the Vienna city archives: Historische Meldeunterlagen 1904-1975 (German).
• after 1975: Registry Office (German) at every Municipal district department.

How to find military records

• Military records until 1918: war archive (Kriegsarchiv) (German)
• Records after the year 1918: archive of the republic (Archiv der Republik) (German)