I recently wrote to an Austrian genealogist with a specialty in the military archives, Johann Hammer, about attempting to locate the WW I military service record of my grandfather who was >from Szabadka Hungary (now Serbia.) I had heard all of the records were in the Austrian military Archives in Vienna. The genealogist wrote back.This is his response. Â
The Austrian War Archives hold personnel files only for soldiers who are born after 1865 in the territory of present-day Austria.
Files of soldiers born after 1865 outside the territory of present-day Austria remained in the successor states of the Monarchy. Unfortunately, most of those files were destroyed after WWI.

EErica Hahn

To H-SIG members:
I am requesting help and resources that might help me uncover details
of my great-uncle's military service during WWI. I have no idea where
in the Austro-Hungarian Empire he may have served, but I know he was
living in Fiume (Rijeka) at the time of his conscription and served in
the army >from 1914-1919. I have been told by other family members that
he died in 1922 of wounds originally sustained in the war. I was
wondering if Austro-Hungarian military records >from that time and
place are available to researchers and if there may be hospital
records that were kept >from that period.

Thank you.
Rivka Horowitz
Connecticut, US

PS Many thanks to Traude Triebel for getting me started with www.genteam.at

Dear all,

A couple of years ago I gave a talk about Hungarian Jews in the military at=
one of the IAJGS conferences (Salt Lake City).

In reality personal files of Hungarian citizens are at the Kriegsarchiv in =
Vienna. There is a Hungarian group there, a detachment of the Hungarian Mil=
itary History Institute and Museum who can help finding the files.
It is not possible to find records on everyone but if the person was wounde=
d and was in a military hospital/medical care unit or was killed then there=
may be burial documents by the field chaplain or rabbi, if the person was =
decorated, there may also be records. It is not guaranteed they would find =
the record but it is worth a try.
You would need your ancestors Hungarian and possibly German name (they way =
it may have been spelled at the time) and if possible, full maiden name of =
mother and place and date (at least year) of birth. These latter are import=
ant to pick the right one in case there are several people with the same na=
me.


Regards,

Karesz Vandor
genealogist/historian/private tour guide

Hungarian Roots
web: www.hungarianroots.com
e-mail: info@...
cell: +36-30-546-6950

Thank you all for this information. I have learned a lot in the past few d=
ays.

I'm am uncertain which country to begin my research for my
great-uncle's WWI military records. My great-uncle (Moses/Maurizio)
Balin was born in Zbaraz (now Ukraine) in 1875, later married in
Budapest in 1902, then moved and lived in Fiume >from where he was
conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army (Fiume then became part of
Italy and now it is Rijeka in Croatia). He died in Fiume in 1922 of
war-related injuries. I know his mother's name (Chaje Balin) and have
some pre-war addresses for him in Budapest and Fiume. Any advice
which present-day country I should be searching for his military
records? Hungary? Italy? Croatia?
Thank you all.


Rivka Horowitz
Connecticut, USA


On Thu, Jan 17, 2019 at 2:24 AM Hungarian Roots <info@...> w=
rote:

Dear all,

A couple of years ago I gave a talk about Hungarian Jews in the military =

at one of the IAJGS conferences (Salt Lake City).

In reality personal files of Hungarian citizens are at the Kriegsarchiv i=

n Vienna. There is a Hungarian group there, a detachment of the Hungarian M=
ilitary History Institute and Museum who can help finding the files.

It is not possible to find records on everyone but if the person was woun=

ded and was in a military hospital/medical care unit or was killed then the=
re may be burial documents by the field chaplain or rabbi, if the person wa=
s decorated, there may also be records. It is not guaranteed they would fin=
d the record but it is worth a try.

You would need your ancestors Hungarian and possibly German name (they wa=

y it may have been spelled at the time) and if possible, full maiden name o=
f mother and place and date (at least year) of birth. These latter are impo=
rtant to pick the right one in case there are several people with the same =
name.

Regards,

Karesz Vandor
genealogist/historian/private tour guide

Hungarian Roots
web: www.hungarianroots.com
e-mail: info@...
cell: +36-30-546-6950

"files... remained in the successor states" is the standard response of the
military archives in vienna. but my experience with at least one of my relatives is
that not all ww1 files >from (post trianon) hungary were destroyed. it's worth
checking with the relevant country's archives, if you can.


tom klein, toronto