Civil Records
by Natalie Cottrill and Joseph B. Shumway
Births, marriages and deaths were recorded in church and civil records (government records) of Hungary.
Hungary's civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began in 1895. These were created by the government and included all birth, marriage, and death events, regardless of the individual's religious affiliation. Yes, the church records of births, marriages and deaths were still recorded after 1895, but civil records are generally much more detailed. The civil records of births and marriages can include the birth places and ages of each of the parents.
Each town register office (anyakönyvi hivatal) in Hungary is responsible for keeping the civil records of the town. Duplicate records are stored in the county archives. The city of Budapest stores civil records duplicates in its municipal archive.
Privacy laws in Hungary prohibit the county archives or the town register office from providing access to birth registers for births newer than 90 years, marriage registers newer than 60 years, and death registers newer than 30 years. If you need a contemporary civil record that is still restricted by privacy laws, then you will have to request them from a Republic of Hungary consulate.
So that you can have some idea as to what types of information is included in a Civil Registration extract János Bogárdi (Radix) kindly published some scanned images of these extracts up on his website. (The heavy black lines in the images are there to protect the person in the record).
- Extract from the birth register (off site - Radix)
- Extract from the marriage register (off site - Radix)
- Extract from the death register (off site - Radix)
