A lightly inhabited teritory at the Northwest part of Croatia, žumberak is interesting for family history & genealogy research in many aspects, primarily because of it's rich and diverse cultural heritage. The region is conveniently situated between Zagreb Metropolitan Area and the Croatian-Slovene border, and is known for it's unparalleled natural beauties.

Predominantly of a Greek Catholic faith (which should not be confused with Greek Orthodox Church), local residents keep some of their long lasting traditions while closely associating and cooperating with their Roman Catholic neighboors. Although both Greek Catholics and Roman Catholics in Croatia consider themselves Croatians, they developed a unique distinction among themselves which are always friendly and warm in nature. Some Greek Catholics can also be found in the Slovenian side of the Croatian-Slovenian border, who consider themselves Slovenes.

Croatian Žumberak region consists of four Greek Catholic Parishes: Drage, Radatovići, Sošice and Stojdraga as well as five Roman Catholic Parishes: Vivodina, Kamanje, Žakanje, Žumberak and Oštrc. (For checking addresses and the contact info of those parishes, visit our Croatian Catholic Parishes Address Book.)

Most of vital records in this area are well preserved, but not microfilmed. So, in order to obtain data from those records, a genealogy researcher should either visit parishes themselves or hire a professional with the expertize in this area.

(Text courtesy of http://www.sambunjak.com)

All articles from Croatian genealogy web site

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By their noses shall they be recognized
Lidija Sambunjak
professional genealogist
People who want their family trees to be researched come from all around the world and it’s no wonder every one of them is different. But as special as family Sadar was, none were before them. (11 Oct 2011)