Azerbaijan Resources

Maor3

Although I am understandably pessimistic, I would like to know whether genealogical resources regarding Baku, Azerbaijan of the Russian empire - and to this day - exist. My great uncle was recognised as Hero of the Soviet Union, was buried in the Alley of Honorary Burial, and used to have a Baku school named after him. I would like to think this status has some significance, yet we do not know even the name of his wife.

IgorYa

Hello,

I've never dealt with Azerbaijan archives, but after briefly reading the corresponding topic on vgd (main Russian genealogy forum) it looks like the only way to get information is to contact state archive in Baku directly in Azerbaijani or Russian, ideally knowing a lot like dates, area of residence and family names and attaching documents proving your direct relation to the person. There is no person suggesting their services in Azerbaijan archive and only several requests for one with some complaints on scammers contacting them when they do request help. Also there a lot of complaints that often archive will simply not respond to queries.

Overall it doesn't seem to be easy, but considering the man in question is a hero of USSR, I would guess he has a military rank (is that Semion Samuilovich Levin?) and should have a lot of data in Russian military archives. Here though a similar problem arises, military archives will are very conservative and usually only respond to paper mail in Russian from citizens of Russia, plus before sending out any personal data they also would require proof or relation and a power of attorney given by relatives to the person visiting the archives. The data protection law covers 75 years back for lower ranks and 100 years for officers, but some history for heroes of USSR may be available in general resources. I'm not finding anything for family of Levin, but for one of the others buried on the same alley there was some generic family data.

Also while looking around I stumbled upon ourbaku.com which refers to indexes of some of the documents and general Baku history, so you may want to search there for your last name in Russian, e.g. https://ourbaku.com/index.php?search=%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BD&title=Special%3ASearch

Other "general" archives would normally have restrictions only 75 years back, so things before 1948 may be requested without proof of relation, however note that they tend to use the "end date" of the file when checking limits. If a file is dated 1934-1955, that may still fall under restricted access.

For example GARF, the general state archive http://opisi.garf.su/default.asp?base=garf&menu=3 has 3 files on Levin dealing with his personal pension, one undated, one from 1954 and one from 1971. Undated one may be possible to see, others likely not, but from my own experience GARF isn't very strict with timelines when they are close to 75 years, I was able to get a copy of my granddad's 1952 file via researcher without providing documents even though I do have them.

Maor3

Igor,

Thank you so much for your elaborate reply. The Hero of the Soviet Union I was referring to, my great uncle, is indeed Colonel Semyon Samuilovich Levin. I managed to gather some information regarding Semyon via the many Russian websites that commemorate him.

As you noted, I contacted the Azerbaijan archives several times in English and have yet to be answered. I remember vaguely contacting them finally in Russian to no avail. As for Russian military archives, my family are not Russian citizens - both of Semyon’s sisters immigrated to Israel during the 1920’s - so this would require hiring a local genealogist, which I may consider later on. I am in contact with two admins of the OurBaku website; one of them has been extremely helpful, but mostly regarding other family members who used to live in Baku.

Thanks again for looking into this.