Border changes after WWII

[uniqueusername]

I have a question about where to look for my Nonno and Nonna's birth certificates.

My Nonno was born in Fiume, Italy in 1927 - now Rijeka, Croatia
My Nonna was born in Villa Del Nevoso, Italy in 1929 - now Ilirska Bistrica, Slovenia

Should I be using Croatian and Slovenian genealogy services to locate their birth certificates?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[miapazzavita]

I actually JUST went through this. My grandfather was born in Zara, Italy (now Zadar Croatia) and they couldn't find his birth records in Italy and told me to contact the Registry office of the city in Croatia. After using google translate to navigate around and find the contact at Zadar, I had a Croatian friend call and ask about my grandfather's name. They said to send a letter (in Croatian) with the name and DOB of my Nonno and the reason I need the BC. Also had to send €5 and a copy of my photo ID (passport).

They said it only takes a few days for them to mail it out.

I was THRILLED.

Fiume may be different so I would either have someone who speaks Croatian to call or call and ask if they speak English.

Good luck!

[mozzie]

I have just been through this too, fortunately I did not need actual birth certificates, just records. As I do not speak Slovenian and only a limited amount of Italian, I hired a Croatian Geneologist to search Parish records in Kamnje and Skrilje, they are very good and gave a lot of leads which finally enabled the tracing of 4 generations.

David

[uniqueusername]

Thanks for the help!

I started to shift my focus to Croatia and I was lucky enough to find a Croatian genealogist who tracked down my Nonno's birth certificate at the maticni ured.

Also, through the help of someone on a discussion forum, I found the contact details of the Catholic archdiocese PR office in Rijeka. They were able to scan and email the church records of my family members which then gave me even more details about where my grandfather's side of the family lived in Italy.

[uniqueusername]

I thought I had better give an update in case anyone else is facing the same challenge.

After many hours on google translator I managed to find the email address of the registry office in Ilirska Bistrica. After only a few days I received a reply which was amazing.

Applicants need authority to apply for a birth certificate which my grandmother was able to do for me. All it took was a scanned copy of that and also a copy of our passports for good measure. Within one day I received a short email asking for my postal address and 10 days later I had the birth certificate!

It was all done using an online translator which was sufficient for me to communicate with the lovely Slovenian lady on the other end and there was absolutely no cost involved, not even postage.

So I guess the moral is don't give up.

My next challenge is requesting my bisnonno's birth certificate from Padova. Fingers crossed!