The archives exist. The records survived — even those that seemed destined to disappear. Researching ancestors in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states and Belarus is a distinct discipline with its own rules and its own possibilities.
When the Weiss family from Chicago decided to research their genealogy, they had little to go on: a surname changed at immigration, the name of a shtetl somewhere 'in Russia' and a vague memory from grandmother about the family living 'well' before the revolution. Two years of research later, it emerged that the family came from Grodno (now in Belarus), that the local synagogue's metrical books preserved the birth record of a great-grandfather from 1887, and that the 1858 revision lists contained the names of his father and grandfather. The Weisses found six generations.
This is not an exception. It became possible because Soviet power, for all its destructive relationship with the past, kept documents carefully. The state archives of the USSR collected, systematised and microfilmed colossal masses of historical records — not out of respect for history, but out of administrative discipline. Today these archives are partially open, partially digitised and accessible to researchers.
Metrical books are the primary source for nineteenth and early twentieth century genealogy. In the Russian Empire, metrical books were maintained by parish churches of three denominations: Orthodox, Catholic and Jewish (synagogue record books). They recorded births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. The quality of record-keeping varied, but in most cases the records have survived.
Where to find metrical books:
Revision lists (revizskie skazki) were censuses of the Russian Empire's population conducted from 1718 to 1858 (ten revisions). They are invaluable for finding ancestors before metrical books: they recorded all serfs, townspeople and merchants with their ages, family composition and often — provenance. Revision lists are held in RGIA and regional archives.
Household books (pokhozyaystvennye knigi) from the Soviet period (1930s–1980s) recorded the composition of each household. They are held in local archives and village councils. Often the only source for the period after metrical books ceased but before civil registration (ZAGS records) was systematised.
Poland. Polish genealogy is a discipline richly furnished with sources. An important feature: the territory of modern Poland at various times formed part of the Russian Empire, Prussia and Austria-Hungary. Documents about the same families may therefore be held in Polish, German or Austrian archives — depending on which power administered that particular region in the relevant period. Szukaj w Archiwach is the Polish state portal where several million metrical records have been digitised. Geneteka is a volunteer database indexing Polish metrical books.
The Baltic states. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have their own national archives with very good record preservation — partly because Soviet occupation, for all its destructive effects, did not destroy administrative archives. Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs (Latvian State Historical Archive) and Rahvusarhiiv (Estonian National Archive) have digitised significant collections of metrical books and are accessible online.
Ukraine. The situation is complicated by the fact that significant collections were held in areas affected by military operations or occupation. Part of the documentation was transferred to the USSR and is held in Russian archives including RGIA. FamilySearch (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints project) microfilmed an enormous quantity of Ukrainian metrical books before 1991, and these are available free of charge.
Russia. Access to Russian archives for foreign researchers has become increasingly difficult — especially after 2022. Many regional archives are closed to remote requests. Nevertheless, part of the documentation was digitised before restrictions were introduced and remains accessible via FamilySearch, Ancestry and regional portals.
For Eastern European ancestry, DNA testing works differently than in Western Europe. The participant databases of commercial DNA services (23andMe, Ancestry) are considerably less well-represented for Eastern Europe than for Western Europe or the United States. This means: finding a specific relative by DNA is more difficult. But establishing ethnic origins with reasonable accuracy is entirely realistic. FTDNA (Family Tree DNA) has a relatively good base of Eastern European participants, particularly for Jewish and Polish genealogy.
Genealogy in Russia and Eastern Europe is a complex but genuinely achievable undertaking. The documents exist. The archives function — though access to some is restricted. Digitisation continues, and each year more material becomes available online. A combination of archival sources, DNA testing and specialised volunteer databases makes it possible today to reconstruct family histories to a depth of six to eight generations — something unimaginable even twenty years ago.