Most of the emigrants ended up on the shores of Australia, Canada or USA. And if you are reading this post, they probably became your great-great-grandparents. Perhaps, you grew up fully emerged into your Ukrainian heritage or maybe you only heard of your Ukrainian roots.

Either way, if you are here, you are most likely interested to know more about your ancestors and would like to visit their land. At Active Ukraine we often help people finding their family roots in Ukraine and so compiled this useful guide for exploring your family heritage in Ukraine step-by-step. 

STEP 1 – DECIDE ON YOUR RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Before you start off with your family history research, make sure to collect all the relevant documents that might be useful. Here’s a list of  items that can come in handy:

• Birth, marriage and death certificates
• Cemetery records
• Wills
• Newspaper clip-outs
• Old letters and photographs
• Obituaries

Make sure all your documents are both in digital and paper format. Evernote program is free and is particularly easy to use for maintaining all your notes and files. 

For the most important items, make a double copy – never hurts! If you are confused with organizing all of those files, check out this good video from Family Search:

Afterwards, make sure you are clear on the goals of your family research. Are you planning to find the parents of your great-grandfather? Or are you thinking of locating the family home of your ancestors in Ukraine? Of course, you might not be able to find out all that you want – records disappear, old houses get demolished, but having basic expectations will help you set your research in one direction.

STEP 2 – DO YOUR PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

Some information about your family can be found online before going to Ukraine. You can start by exploring these useful links below:

The Federation of East European Family History Societies Ukraine Genealogy Forum Eastern European Genealogy Society Ukraine GenWeb Ukraine State Archives: Genealogy Research Family History Library Catalog Ancestry Australia: Ukraine Collection World War II soldiers records 

German Genealogy: Karpatho – Ukraine

Genealogy of Halychyna/Eastern Galicia ** Keep in mind that many Roman Catholic records are kept in Poland, formerly Western Galicia.

Ukraine: Jewish Family History Research Guide Jewish Genealogy in Ukraine Jewish History in Galicia and Bukovyna

STEP 3 – HIRE YOUR GUIDE AND CONTINUE YOUR RESEARCH

When you decide to continue your research and head over to Ukraine, you will need to decide whether you continue all the work by yourself, or you will hire a private guide. While it is definitely possible to complete the genealogy research and visit your ancestor’s land by yourself, hiring a private guide/driver does have its benefits:

• More in-depth research: a guide can conduct detailed research in the state and regional archives where information is mainly in Ukrainian/Russian, he can also visit your ancestor’s village and speak to the inhabitants or the remaining relatives

• Ease of logistics: you won’t need to worry about hotel bookings, transportation, and where to have your dinner – the guide will be able to pre-arrange everything and help your journey go smooth

• Local insights: if you are going to meet your relatives, a guide will help you figure out what presents to bring, how to behave and what to expect before your visit

STEP 4 – PREPARE FOR YOUR TRIP TO UKRAINE

Start arranging your travel and preparing the logistics.

• Select the timing: coming in spring and summer is better than in any other season. Ukrainian roads, especially in the countryside, can be rather challenging, and avoiding autumn rains/winter snowfall is a good idea

• Decide on ‘to-do’ list: make sure to give plenty of time to explore the village/s of your ancestors. At the same time, do spend a couple of days getting to know the country at large – visiting the capital Kyiv, discovering the charm of Lviv, or spending your time hiking in Carpathian Mountains.

• Prepare to meet the relatives: picking up a couple of Ukrainian words will surely be useful. Make sure to learn Ukrainian, if you are traveling to Western Ukraine, or Russian if you are going East. Even though you won’t master the language in a couple of days, people will always be happy to hear you speak their native tongue and will go out of their way to help you out.

• Get the presents: what to bring for your Ukrainian family is always at the top of the questions for any visitor. The rule of thumb is to bring inexpensive, but still valuable items that you would most likely give to your friends back home. Don’t sweat it! Clothes, personal items (makeup, nice wallet, glasses), small house items (jewelry box, nice pillow sets, etc.) and books are always well received. Food and drinks from your home country will be popular with children and elderly. Make sure your presents don’t look cheap: Ukraine is not a developing country and people can get offended if foreigners try to present something that they themselves would throw away. Put your heart in the present: if it is thoughtful, even though inexpensive, people will be happy to receive it! Money is a good idea to give, in particular, if your relatives live in a poor village. However, keep in mind that people will generally try to reject the cash, so it’s advisable to ‘hide’ it – put it in a lovely postcard or a small book instead

• Charge up yourself: traveling to the ancestor’s homeland can be a very emotional experience. Try to prepare yourself by learning more about the country and its people. Watch some movies that talk about Ukrainian history, such as The FireCrosser, The Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Three Stories of Galicia. Read books about Ukraine, and try to gather as much information as possible from online.

STEP 5 – GO AND HAVE FUN

When you finally get to Ukraine, after the long preparation process, be sure to have realistic expectations about what you will find and who you will meet. No matter how results-full your trip turns out, the experience itself and the long-awaited journey will surely become one of the travel highlights!

And lastly, take plenty of photos and videos. Once you are back home, you can use these handy online services (Animoto, Stupeflix) to create beautiful slideshows from your tour and share your stories for all those who could not join you.

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