Romania Vital Records

179,894 Records

Vital Records · Moldavia · Wallachia · Romania

Background

This database contains Jewish vital records from various regions of Romania. The majority of records come from the historical regions of Moldavia and Wallachia, including the largest communities of Iaşi and Bucharest, as well as many smaller towns.

The Romanian civil registration system began in the 1860s, before which records were kept by religious authorities. For much of Romania, pre-civil-registration records have not survived (with the exception of Transylvania, formerly part of the Hungarian Empire). Vital records are stored in Romania’s regional archives, one per county. They are generally not available online, and the LDS Church has not scanned the majority of present-day Romanian records.

Romanian vital records are civil records and held together for all religions. Each record is generally a full handwritten page (marriages may span several pages). Birth records contain date and place of birth, names of parents, ages, residence, and witnesses. Marriage records contain similar information for bride and groom. Death records generally do not include names of parents (except for the death of a child) and most do not identify a cause of death. All records will likely include original signatures.

Note: This collection does not include records from certain regions of present and former Romania, which are covered in separate databases: Bucovina, Maramureş, Bessarabia (Moldova), and parts of western Romania formerly part of Hungary.

Fields Recorded

The fields captured vary by record type. In general:

Births — Date and place of birth, parents’ names, ages and residence, witnesses

Marriages — Date and place, bride and groom information, parents’ names, ages, residence, witnesses

Deaths — Date and place of death, name of deceased; parents’ names generally only for deaths of children

All record types — Original signatures of parties and witnesses where present

A complete inventory of records by town and year is available via Google Sheets.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are due to the numerous volunteers who have worked very hard to transcribe and index Romanian records throughout the years — at this point too many to list individually. Special recognition is currently due to Volunteer Coordinator and Iaşi Town Leader Dana Lugassy, Bucharest Town Leader Rahel Eynan, and validator Didina Burok.

Thanks to Marcel Glaskie for his contribution of transcribed vital records from Bacau and Raducaneni.

Many thanks as well for the historical support of Roseanne Leeson, Barbara Hershey, Bob Wascou z’l, Bruce Reisch, Jeni Armandez, Avraham Groll, Warren Blatt, and Michael Tobias.

If you are able to transliterate, translate, or transcribe Romanian, or wish to help with this project in any way, please fill out the volunteer form.

Searching This Database

This database is searchable via the JewishGen Romania Database. To search the entirety of JewishGen’s Romania Collection and see all available databases, visit the Romania Collection page.

Databases like this one are made possible entirely through volunteer effort and generous donors. Your contribution helps fund transcription, translation, and preservation of Romanian Jewish records.

Support the Romania Research Division

Last updated December 2025.
For questions, contact Michael Moritz, Director of Romanian Research.