Image from StonePics website



The Central Auckland Research Centre has a brand new collection of 60 CD-Roms from StonePics who have been photographing cemeteries and headstones of The Czech Republic since 2003. This collection, Cemeteries of the Czech Republic contains over 81,000 names on a searchable database, many also important to German genealogy research.

Three CD-Roms contain records from Prague’s Vysehrad National Cemetery which was established in the 15th century next to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. Many famous Czechs have been laid to rest there including Antonin Dvorak, Bedrich Smetana, Jan Neruda and Karel and Jozef Čapek.

A further 57 CD-Roms record headstones from Prague’s Olsanske Cemetery. This large complex of cemeteries includes Jewish and Orthodox cemeteries and graves of soldiers killed in both WWI and WWII. Olsanske Cemetery covers fifty hectares and according to some estimates, two million people have been buried there.

This is an amazing welcome addition to our family history collection.


LR

FindMyPast UK has published the prisoner of war records for both the First and Second World Wars!

Details in brief:

Prisoners of War 1914-1918
The records of 7,703 British Army Officers who were prisoners of war between 1914 and 1918

Most records will tell you the first and last names, rank, service, section, of your ancestors, and the date they went missing and date they were returned.

• Prisoners of War 1939-1945 – British Navy & Air Force Officers: 19,229 records
• Prisoners of War 1939-1945 – Officers of Empire serving in British Army: 39,808 records
• Prisoners of War 1939-1945 – British Army held in German territories: 107,000 records

Most records will advise you the name, rank, regiment, army number, camp number, Prisoner of War number of your ancestor - and the camp type, camp location and extra notes, where applicable.

For more info, see their blog - or try searching for yourself online!

You can use FindMyPast UK FREE throughout all 55 libraries in the Auckland region.

Happy hunting

Seonaid