Genealogy research in Vaud (2nd half 20th century)

[Ingmar Nissen]

I'm helping a friend in her research for her Swiss father who she never have met. Her mother went to Lausanne in autumn 1963 to study. There she met and fell in love with a man living in Lausanne. In summer 1964 my friends mother returned to Sweden, pregnant, and for reasons unknown, she never returned to Lausanne. My friend was born in November 1964 and has as said never met her father. She knows his name and birthyear and month and has his picture from 1963. Sadly did my friends mother pass away in 2015 so she can't get any more information from her. I've tried to search for this man through Ancestry and MyHeritage but none have been related to the man we are searching for. Does anyone in this community have any tips how I can proceed in my research for this man? Any suggestion is welcome.
So far I have information about this man regarding adress between 1960 and 1992. I know his profession and have information about marriage and one child. The last information I have is where he lived in 1992. From then on I have no information.
Best regards, Ingmar Nissen, Sweden

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original title: Genealogy research

[Wolf]

Welcome to the forum, Ingmar.

Swiss privacy protection legislation will be a severe problem for your research. Let me summarize first: your friend was born in Sweden in 1964, her father was Swiss, but her parents were not married. She knows her fathers name, and that he got married later and had (at least) one child.

The most important question: was your friend's birth reported to Swiss authorities and her father registered as her father? If yes, his place of citizenship would be helpful - depending in his surname, this might be a minor problem. In this case you could contact the civil registration office responsible for his place of citizenship, ask whether your friend is registered (well - she would have to do this herself) and what sort of proof they require to issue any information. This will only work if her father is no longer alive. If she was not registered, I don't see a chance to get any information form a state institution.

Vaud is not my area of research - so hopefully other forum members have additional ideas. What you could try is to search newspapers: https://www.e-newspaperarchives.ch/ / https://www.letempsarchives.ch/ / https://www.scriptorium.ch/page/home. If her father has died, you might find a death notice with further information, or marriage information, a note about his professional activities, …

[Peter.D]

Hello Ingmar,

In addition to Wolf's answer: The father would only be listed in the Swiss civil register (as father) if he had formally recognized the child. But then the child would also have received his surname and citizenship, which is obviously not the case. However, the question remains as to whether the father may have been legally obliged to pay maintenance to the child. A civil court in the canton of Vaud would have been responsible for such ruling. Did he regularly pay maintenance for the child? It was also possible to arrange child maintenance under private law without a court judgment, e.g. through a notary.
There was no obligation for the mother to name the father to any authority, at least not on the Swiss side.

Next, contact the residents' registration office in Lausanne (see here, and request form here). Provide the name of the father and the last known address with date. The office can then tell you whether the father moved away from Lausanne after 1992 or died there. The restrictions on the civil registry mentioned by Wolf do not apply to this office.

Peter