Interview with a Slovak Genealogist
For many of us, genealogy is fascinating. It allows us to get in touch with our own personal histories and to pass it along to others. For some, visiting the land where their ancestors lived becomes part of the genealogy experience. Walking the land where ancestors lived and visiting cemeteries may bring one closer to family than a piece of paper ever could. And if there is still living family to meet and visit, the experience can be extremely exciting and emotional.
Of course, when looking for information about family in a far-away country, it is often necessary to have professional help.
Michal Razus is a Slovak genealogist from Prešov specializing in the area of eastern Slovakia and the Rusyn part of Slovakia. He studied Slovak history and literature at University of Prešov and has been doing archive research and family searches for 7 years. He became interested in helping people of Slovak origin connect with their roots after his first successful case in 2002.
I had the chance to ask him a few questions about his work and the different types of activities he does to help people find the information they need.
Q: How did you become interested in helping people of Slovak ancestry connect with their roots?
I was very motivated after my first case to which I got by coincidence. I guided a couple from California and we were able to find their second cousins near to Bardejov. From this meeting a wonderful friendship developed. Both sides of the family were very excited and moved. Even though the family was divided for some 60 years, they came in touch again and now they visit each other every two to three years. This experience encouraged me a lot and showed me that this work has purpose.
Q: Have you ever had the experience where you cannot find any information on a person or family, or is there always something that you can find?
If the input information is correct and there are sufficient resources, then the chance of finding someone is very high. It can be more difficult to find the descendants of family where there were only females who had changed their surnames after getting married. Paradoxically, sometimes it is more demanding to get more recent information because it is protected by the law protecting personal data and I cannot study the databases directly, I can only ask for the information.
Q: Are you ever surprised by information you find?
I am always surprised by the unbelievable stories that I uncover. Each of them is very strong and filled with hope, and overcome sometimes incredible obstacles along the way. Although every single man or woman that left had a double portion of courage, not all of them also had so much luck. Therefore, these stories are very often marked by tragedies that happened before, or at the departure, or after coming to their new home. Luckily in spite of hard times, many people didn’t give up and survived the suffering. Therefore, descendants of the immigrants that come today to Slovakia know that their relatives didn’t win their luck in a lottery, so to speak, but their family had to work hard to reach their successes.
Q: Do people sometimes have unrealistic expectations about finding their roots?
Actually, not really. People usually don’t know what to expect and I don’t know either. Each case is individual and first it is necessary to gather as much information as possible. Then I can say whether their expectation is realistic or not.
From time to time my clients say that their family was the part nobility – according to family heritage or a surname. This can be true, but in the past the property was inherited by the oldest son and any subsequent children had to do something else. That is why my clients do not find their cousins living in castles, but usually smiling and friendly people.
Q: Do you enjoy what you do?
Absolutely! This work is very interesting and rewarding for me, especially when I can see the result of my work and the people, not only organizing a family tree via the Internet but also coming to Slovakia and meeting relatives or seeing the country. It is not only work for me but also a hobby. It is a passion for me to uncover the individual stories in the background of the “big world history”.
Check out Michael’s website for more information about the kinds of services he offers. And thanks, Michael, for explaining a little about what you do.
2 Comments on “Interview with a Slovak Genealogist”
Ahoj again. An interesting article. My experience with my family roots has answered those questions that were always there ....about family in ???? were we from the austrio-hungarian empire/the czech republic/czechslovakia/or slovakia. Well all of the above as it turns out. History has a way of doing things like that... fortunately for my family we were always in some kind of limited contact because of a few factors. An uncle returning to Czechslovakia in 1968 and then the " silence" of sorts ... An enterprising distant cousin made contact somehow and there's the rest of the story....I have always been interested in "where I came from” as my Slovak roots were always present from "that" side of the family ... As I tell my family in Slovakia "we are all mutts" in America, It's a great melting pot for all nationalities... and so it's getting to be with the whole worls as it gets "smaller and smaller" with all the travel possibilities.... Personally I still see a wonderful "Slovak" strain in the people I meet and am happy to a point ...because I can see the purity???? I am not defending race or anything ..It's more like an anthropological way of looking at things and how "civilizations" have moved through and around the continents... Anyhew a great article. There are so many ways of finding family these days ..Anyone with some time and a computer and imagination and luck of course can find in some way where their relatives are and possibly contact them... I am at this point helping a distant cousin of mine with our family tree...A long story short.. her grandmother...my father's distant cousin contacted ..so and so ......and the rest is in the works.... So seek what you need ... I am on that same journey.. collecting ...pictures, stories, walking where my relatives walked ....visitng relatives and seeing "the family likeness" and hopefully being as full of their life as I am with mine...We are all having a great time and isn't that what family is all about? Safe journey to all and never stop wondering......
November 10th, 2009 at 03:04 AM
I loved reading this article! Michal Razus hit the nail on the head when talking about what its like to reconnect with your roots! Growing up I always heard of stories about my family coming from Slovakia, so when I got the chance in college to study abroad in 2007 I chose Praha because it was the closest place possible to Slovakia. :) I took a weekend to try to find my roots and only had time to visit one of the two villages I had grown up hearing about and found many relatives of mine, including my moms uncle and cousins! It was such a wonderful experience and I now talk to my family over there all the time! Your website it amazing! I would love to teach English over in Slovakia someday like you did!
March 4th, 2010 at 11:39 PM