i dont suppose anyone would know how to trace family in slovenia from the uk?

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

my gran had to move over to the uk from slovenia during ww2. she is originally from a little village outside of lubiana.

she is getting old now and has outlived two of her sons, so not an easy life, and she has started to think about her family she left behind.

she is hoping to find her little brother who we believe is still in slovania.

she knows his name and that he had three sons, though i dont know if she knows his sons names.

afaik she has been in touch with them since coming here but has slowly lost contact.

the trouble is we dont have a clue where to start looking. we are phoning her tonight to find out as much detail as we can to look on the net with genes reunited, facebook etc. but is there any other way we could search/sites on the net?

[Piffle]

I've got relatives in Slovenia
Email me [email protected] if you like I might be able to find more by asking relatives?

[Piffle]

I've got relatives in Slovenia
Email me [email protected] if you like I might be able to find more by asking relatives?

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

thanks piffle ill get more details off my gran tonight and email you as soon we know more.

[WelliesAndPyjamas]

do you know the city/town/village name? without a doubt, there'll be forums, chatrooms, and websites related to Lubljana and surrounding area, where maybe you could post and ask if anyone knows anything about the SheSells family of SuchAndSuchAPlace. Post on as many sites as poss to widen your chances. Young people especially, in Slovenia, will understand and speak English. Start by searching for the place and see what kind of websites come up. If you'd like help understanding anything on them, post the links here and I'll give you the general gist (I understand the language of a neighbouring country which is very very similar to Slovenian, enough to give you an idea of whether to post on a site).

Also, a lot of towns in Slovenia have local tv and radio stations. You could consider putting out an ad? Same goes for local newspapers.

Maybe Piffle's relatives could suggest a directory services that could help.

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

yes he is from trbovjl. and i dont even know how to go about pronouncing that.

we dont much about him other than he had three sons. my gran knows more but she gets very upset talking about him and doesnt have good memory.

i have googled it but anything other than ifo sites are in slovenian and she cant speak the language anymore and i dont even know how to pronounce the place names so dont have much of a chance of reading slovenian.

have emailed piffle so hopefully she can find some organisations in slovenia that search for missing relatives.

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

and now i cant even spell it. that should say trbovlje.

his surname is pronounced Severe but i have no idea if that is how it is spelt.

[beanieb]

Contact the red cross. My Ex's family traced his grandmother's family in Poland. Took a while but it was the Red Cross who helped them.

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

thanks beanie. its my dad who is helping her so ill let him know.

[CourtneyLush]

Yes I've got the Red Cross tracing what happened to my dads mum during WW2 and she was Polish, contact them.

[beanieb]

Just to give you some hope really... My Ex's aunt wanted to trace her mother's family in Poland. She (Ex's granny) had come over to Wales after meeting his grandfather when she looked after him in a prisoner of war camp! They married and had 3 children. I think she thought Wales would be a land of plenty but unfortunately for her she was quite isolated by her language and nationality and they ended up divorcing. Still she didn't go back to Poland and barely kept in touch with her family as she was embarrased to tell them about the divorce. Before she died she went back but hardly recognised her village and didn't, as far as we know, meet her family.

Anyway - his aunt contacted the red cross and it took ages but they were able to trace some of the remaining family and we all went over to meet them. It was lovely and they were so welcoming. For 2 days they took us all round the area she was from, showed us where the prisoner of war camp had been, the house she had lived in, cooked us fantastic family meals and showed us photographs.

It is so worth doing

[WelliesAndPyjamas]

this is the Trbovlje town hall site, and their postal address is Mestni trg 4, 1420, Trbovlje. Still looking for an email address...
It might be worth writing to them, they'd point you in the right direction at least.

Red Cross sounds a great idea.

[WelliesAndPyjamas]

found it - [email protected]

[SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore]

thanks welllies i have found a few sites and a few people from trbovlje on facebook with his surname and its only a small town so its worth a try but they all seem to speak slovenian!

i have sent them messages anyway, hopefully they speak english too.

ill tyy emailing the town hall. and my dad is getting in touch with the red cross today.

i think my gran is upset because none of her grandkids know her side of the family or anything about slovenia. she was asking my sister if she thinks we should all learn slovenian so that we can visit her home town one day to show her great grandchildren where they descended from. i think she feels like her legacy is dying with her so to speak and she is starting to miss her family.

we would really like to help her with this after all she has been through these last few years.

[WelliesAndPyjamas]

I completely understand your Gran's feelings on this. And it is so nice that you are all making an effort to help her reconnect with her family and history.

Brilliant start with Facebook! I'll bet you anything some of them will speak English and that you'll make progress via that method.

Flights to Lubljana are quite cheap. A trip 'home' would be great, especially if you have been able to make contact with relatives.