Hi there! I started doing genealogy over 40 years ago when everything was still pen, paper, and patience. It has been a joy to see how online records have made research so much easier and so much more accessible. Many thanks to all of those wonderful members who have taken time to photograph gravestones and enter data. I hope I will be able to give back too. I currently live in Vienna, Austria, and I specialize in Jewish research. Unfortunately, many of the old Jewish headstones don't exist anymore or are unreadable because they have not had much care since the decimation of Austria's once large Jewish community during the Holocaust. The graves may have a plot number and row number on paper, but the cemeteries themselves do not have clear numbering systems. Looking for a grave means traipsing at times through shoulder-high weeds and tearing away overgrown ivy branches. Sadly, finding the headstone is not always possible. The Jewish graves are for eternity according to Jewish custom, but Christian graves in Austria are only maintained as long as the fee is paid by living relatives. This means that if no one alive cares enough about the deceased to pay the yearly maintenance fee, the grave will be opened and re-used for someone else. However, the good news is that a lot of records are available free of charge online at genteam.at and at the many archives. Austrians have always been quite good at documenting people:)

Hi there! I started doing genealogy over 40 years ago when everything was still pen, paper, and patience. It has been a joy to see how online records have made research so much easier and so much more accessible. Many thanks to all of those wonderful members who have taken time to photograph gravestones and enter data. I hope I will be able to give back too. I currently live in Vienna, Austria, and I specialize in Jewish research. Unfortunately, many of the old Jewish headstones don't exist anymore or are unreadable because they have not had much care since the decimation of Austria's once large Jewish community during the Holocaust. The graves may have a plot number and row number on paper, but the cemeteries themselves do not have clear numbering systems. Looking for a grave means traipsing at times through shoulder-high weeds and tearing away overgrown ivy branches. Sadly, finding the headstone is not always possible. The Jewish graves are for eternity according to Jewish custom, but Christian graves in Austria are only maintained as long as the fee is paid by living relatives. This means that if no one alive cares enough about the deceased to pay the yearly maintenance fee, the grave will be opened and re-used for someone else. However, the good news is that a lot of records are available free of charge online at genteam.at and at the many archives. Austrians have always been quite good at documenting people:)