Ok, let me see...
I recently started investigating origin of my last name, history of my family, and building my family tree. It is very complicated thing to do because I have no living relatives who could help me with some details, and those who can, won't.
So, my greatgrandmother was Ludmila Seidl. She was born in Vareš. near Boranski Brod in 1911. I got that information from her ID. Her father's name was Gašpar (Gaspar) Seidl, and mother's Rosina Baumann. I got that info from my grandfather's baptism chart. And, there was a story that they came from Germany to Poland and than to Bosnia/Croatia. That is all I knew when I started.
What could I do? I started interviewing every single person in my family I could. I found one distant relative who knew something and had information on Baumann family. Internet helped a lot. So, now I have data all the way to the middle of XIX century. Last person I have information on is Franz Baumann, born in Mariahilf, Galicia (now Ukraine) in 1844. When his family came to Mariahilf is still unknown to me, and, again, there is a story that they came there from Egerland (Germany). There is one website which can be useful to me and anyone interested in Galicia ( http://www.galiziengermandescendants.org). There you can buy some *.pdf files with the information about places and families from that places for 5$ per piece. I didn't order it yet, but I will soon. I hope it will help.
What about Seidl part of the family? Well, almost nothing. I discovered that my greatgrandmother Ludmila wasn't married to my greatgrandfather (Hubert Schumacher), and that he left her some land as alimentation. That document was made in Banja Luka in 1936. Can someone help me with the advice, how and where to find and get that document? On the internet site led by Eugen Perau, which contains info on German colonies, I found a descendant of Schumacher family. He provided me with information on Schumacher family back to 1696. Internet was very useful again. I also discovered that my greatgrandmother had several siblings. Brothers Ignaz (who lived and died in Indjija), Josef (who may have been an SS officier) and sisters Maria and Katharina. All of them went back to Germany before WWII. Then I found a letter from 1973 which was written by Maria, and which contained information that Katharina died. I also found some old pictures of some people that no one knows, exept my dead greatgrandmother. Then, I found out new address of that Maria, using her old address, and 2 internet sites. Today I sent a letter to her living son. I hope he can help me. I also used white pages, and got a list of all people with the same last name in wanted region (Backa, Slavonia, Bosnia). I will try to contact them, but not all, of course. I will make a selection. I will certainly contact ones in Indjija.
I exploited internet's maximum (I think) considering my last name in this region, found a lot of interesting sites (news paper articles, data bases, history related sites etc), but not one relevant info on my family. Family search does not help at all.
Next stop are the archives and books on german colonisation and history of that colonies (so, Matica Srpska). But I need some help with that. I never used one, I never contacted one. And those that I need, are far from me.
So, what I need help with is contacting the archives and good advice is always welcome. Also, if someone knows anything about Seidl (variations: Saidl, Sajdl and Seidel) last name in Vojvodina, Bosnia and Croatia, please let me know.
Thank you all,
Aleksandar