After the emigration waves of the 1990s and 2000s, many families lost precise records of where their relatives in Uzbekistan are buried. Cemetery archives changed hands, sections were renamed, paperwork was lost. This pillar guide is a recovery roadmap — even when only a name and an approximate year survive.
Step 1: collect everything the family knows. Full name at the time of death (both surnames for women). Birth and death dates, even approximate. Last known city. Religion or ethnicity — this narrows the search dramatically because Muslim, Orthodox, Bukharian Jewish, Armenian, Polish and Korean cemeteries in Uzbekistan are mostly geographically separated. Spouse and children's names, profession.
Step 2: narrow down the cemetery. In Tashkent: Botkin (Cemetery #1) for deaths between 1872 and the 1960s; Domabad (Cemetery #2) for 1960s to present, 165 hectares and 450,000+ graves; Textile Jewish for Jewish families from the Soviet period (16,300 graves, 8 sectors). In Bukhara: the Old Jewish Cemetery for Bukharian families.
Step 3: request the cemetery archive. Each major Uzbek cemetery has an administration and a registration book. Requests typically take days to weeks and can be filed in Russian or Uzbek.
Step 4: when the cemetery archive is silent, ZAGS (civil registry) is the next stop. Uzbek ZAGS keeps death certificates which usually list the burial cemetery. Diaspora families can request copies via the consulate.
Step 5: online tools. Our `/poisk-mogil` form filters by region and searches the cemetery database. For Jewish ancestors the IAJGS Cemetery Project is useful; for WWII and political repression victims, the OBD «Memorial» database.
Step 6: physical confirmation. Always order a photo or video confirmation once a candidate plot is found. A good confirmation includes wide-shot, close-up of the inscription, GPS coordinates and a walking route from the entrance.
Step 7: when it fails. Some searches don't succeed — graves get relocated, cemetery sections get reconstructed, family memory misplaces the city. Our spokes on incomplete-data search and photo verification cover the harder cases.
Pricing tiers — Basic (online only), Standard (with on-site visit), Premium (photo+video). All three are published transparently at the search service page; no «extras on arrival».
If you're diaspora — US, Canada, Israel, Germany, Russia — we handle different time zones, accept payment from any country, and communicate in your preferred language. Start at `/poisk-mogil` or leave a request via `/kontakty#zayavka` for a fully accompanied search.