Client story
Client's Story
Where they started
In Andrey's family, the great-grandfather's story was told sparingly: Hungarian, fought, was captured, ended up in Siberia—and stayed there. He married a local woman, changed his way of life, and from his Hungarian past only this brief account remained. No documents, no photographs with signatures, not even the exact place of his origin.
Why the standard route did not work
When Andrey considered obtaining an EU passport, it became clear that there was nothing to prove his roots with. The great-grandfather—a prisoner of war who settled in a foreign country—did not bring any archives with him: prisoners arrived without documents and began new lives with a clean slate. Hungarian descent existed only in family memory.
What BRIDGES had to solve
However, this situation has a distinctive characteristic that few people know about. Prisoners of war were meticulously recorded: individual cards were created for each, recording name, year and place of birth, nationality, and military unit. These cards did not disappear—they are preserved in military archives. The fact that the great-grandfather was captured paradoxically preserved a documentary trace of his origin.
Why a standard answer would not do
Andrey approached BRIDGES, understanding that his case was not for ordinary family document research: it was necessary to access the prisoner of war records and connect them with the great-grandfather's birth certificate in the homeland.
We knew only one thing about the great-grandfather: Hungarian, prisoner of war, Siberia, stayed. Not a single document. I was certain—there was nothing to prove. Anna explained that prisoners of war were recorded individually and found his prisoner of war card in the archive, which contained both nationality and place of birth. Then, based on this location, we obtained his birth certificate in Hungary. The two documents matched—and the roots were recognized. I obtained a passport.
