More than 70 years have passed since the outbreak of World War II, but people are still looking for their relatives who have not returned from its fields, missing. With the advent of search engines, information databases, on specialized sites on the Internet, you can find information about a person who disappeared during the Great Patriotic War.
Instructions
Step 1
Before you start your search, collect all the information available about who you are looking for. Name, patronymic and surname alone will not be enough. You need to know the place of birth of the participant in the war, the date of the call and the military commissariat from which he was called up, as well as the military rank, the number of the field mail. The information about the parents, who were also indicated in the documents of the military personnel, and their pre-war address of residence, will not interfere. The more complete the information you have collected, the more likely it is to find a person who disappeared during the Great Patriotic War.
Step 2
The consolidated database on the website of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation "Memorial" contains information about all soldiers who died or went missing. The search is carried out by request. In addition to the surname, first name and patronymic, you can enter more clarifying data, narrowing the search area - year of birth and title. The search result will be a list of full namesakes of the wanted warrior, by which you can view scanned copies of "Reports of Irrecoverable Loss" - that was the name of these magazines, where missing and killed soldiers were registered. According to the scan, you can see the year and place of birth, addresses and surnames of relatives, from what time he was listed as dead or missing, the place of his death.
Step 3
This site will provide you with additional information that you can use to access the archives. If information about the place of conscription has become known, write to the "Book of Memory" in the military registration and enlistment office of the settlement or region from which the person was drafted. Apply with a statement to the military commissar with a request to check the records of the dead and missing personnel of the Red Army and Navy for information about your relative. Indicate the degree of relationship and all the information you have about it. In response, you should be sent an official certificate with all the information found.
Step 4
If you receive a negative answer to your request, please contact the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. It is located in the city of Podolsk, Moscow Region. Write a letter asking for all the information available. If the answer is no, continue your search in other archives. If the answer indicates the place and date of burial, check with the military registration and enlistment office at the place of conscription where this settlement is located.
Step 5
You will have to contact international organizations and the FSB archives for further information if the response to the request states that your relative “died in captivity”. Having received the answer "Died of wounds" without specifying the place of burial, write to the archive of military medical documents of the Military Medical Museum of the RF Ministry of Defense (191180, St. Petersburg, Lazaretny lane, 2).
