Yes, there are State Archives in Hungary that have a wealth of
information for researchers including Jewish parish registers. There
are also records in the Jewish archives at the Dohany shul in
Budapest and in county archives that are independent of the State
archive. Hungary did not begin civil registration until October 1895.

The National Archives catalog of parish records is at http://
www.natarch.hu/fondx/aker.html On the pull-down menu under Minden
felekezet click on Izraelita for a list of Jewish parish records held
by the Archives. Then click on Kereses (search).

The Hungarian Embassy website has information about obtaining birth
and death certificates at http://www.huembwas.org/New%20Consular/
Consular/Certificates.htm For events in Budapest, it is helpful to
provide the district number. Without this information it can take a
year or longer to find records.

Anyone searching for Hungarian Jewish records should, of course,
begin research by using JewishGen's All-Hungary database. The AHD
currently includes more than 550,000 records. One of the Hungarian
SIG's largest current projects involves the transcription of vital
records >from the Hungarian State Archives and other sources.

Vivian Kahn, Oakland, CA
Hungarian SIG Coordinator