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Popisky – zkoumání ručního písma, technické zkoumání dokladů a písemností 

Labels – handwriting, examination of documents and writings

1. Attempt to counterfeit a historical fact
At the beginning of 2008 one of genealogists visited the archive in the town of Třeboň where he asked to see the Register of Births, Mariages and Deaths of the Roman Catholic parish office of the village of Bernartice, volume 1 from 1685–1709. The registers, at that time already were not available in their original form. That is why he was offered a photographic copy on a microfilm. The copy was made in the 1960s when all registers of the Roman Catholic parish in Bernartice were microfilmed. The genealogist was surprised that the microfilm contained a record that was different from the notes his friend had made many years before directly from the register.

In March 2008 the Register Office for Births, Mariages and Deaths of the Roman Catholic parish office of the village of Bernartice was made accessible on the Internet in the Digital archive of the State Regional Archive (SOA) in Třeboň. The genealogist compared the microfilm copy with the notes made from the register and found out that a text “son of lord Jan Andiel of Ronovec and in Mirovice“, which was not in the original record on the microphilm made in the 1960s, was added. He reported that fact to the director of the archive. Archivists examined the regiter in detail and found evidence that the surface structure of paper was damaged. That is why the director asked the Institute of Criminalistics, in June 2008, to carry out expert examination of the questioned record which would prove of disprove whether the record was forged.

2. The riginal recorded entry on the microfilm made in 1961 was:
"Anno 1703 z Břehu Podolskyho dne 24. Marty pochovan jest Vaclav Andiel kovař z Podolskyho věku svého maje 54 leta hran zvonění všema" (“On 24 March 1703 Václav Andiel, a blacksmith from Břeh Podolsky was buried, he died at the age of 54”)

Original record on the electrographic copy

3. Text in the digitalized record of the register on the Internet in 2008:
"Anno 1703 z Břehu Podolskyho dne 24. Marty pochovan jest Vaclav Andiel kovař z Podoly syn Vladyky Jana Andiela z Ronovce na Mirovicích / měl 52 leta hran zvonění všema" (“On 24 March 1703 Václav Andiel, a blacksmith from Podoly, son of lord Jan Andiel of Ronovec and in Mirovice was buried, he died at the age of 52”)

Current questioned record

4. Expert examination

The questioned record in the register was examined by experts from the branch of examination of means of payment and securities and also handwriting experts from the Section of Technical Examinations of the Institute of Criminalistisc.
Concerning the incalculable value of the archival document, the experts could apply only non-destructive methods of examination. They had the most up-to-date technical equipment of imaging, including devices operating in different ranges of electromagnetic radiation and light spectrum.  

Highlighted detail of destroyed paper fibres

Different reaction of used inks in the IR light spectra.

Detail of an uneven surface in the area of the questioned entry in oblique illumination

Highlighted details of character relics in visible questioned entry

Superprojection detail of the visible questioned text with the alleged original text on the electrographic copy

5. Handwriting experts examined so called handwriting topography. It means that individual features as graphic maturity, slope, size of handwriting, etc. are compared as well as individual character construction - it means that they assessed determination of strength and significance of handwriting against the handwriting standard. Having analysed and compared the text of the visible questioned entry and other reference entries, the experts found the following features:

• poorly produced writing – some characters miss the confidence and dynamics of the lines which mirrors in an unsmooth and trembling shape
• shape and direction of the base line – visible questioned entry shows a wavy baseline with a slightly rising movement  
• confused letters – use of letter "i" in compliance with the more recent grammar, however, the writer at the time when the entry was made would have written “y”.

Questioned text, Original text

Having studied the questioned text carefully, the experts found out that the counterfeiter made mistakes not only in the design of the letters but also in grammar. The examination clearly proved that the questioned text was written by a contemporary counterfeiter who obviously was not very familiar with the historical practice and just tried to simulate it. However, he/she was not very successful which can be seen in some characters that are contradictory to the historical handwriting practice.

6. Expert examination of the falsified entry in the register proved beyond any doubt

Expert opinion:

• on page 306 of the register the original text on the second line of the entry concerning the death of Václav Andiel was removed and modified,
• the year of 1703 in the heading was written in a group-affiliated ink as the modified text (it means in ink not group-affiliated to the ink used in the original text), so, the presumption is that the questioned text originated in a different time period than the original text,
• the original text cannot be made visible (visible are only its relicts) or readable
• the modified text was written in ink not group-affiliated to the remaining parts of the original entry,
• the questioned text (on the second line) on page 306 of the register was, without any doubt, written by another person than the remaining parts of the text on the abovementioned page written by the writer

7. Unknown perpetrator
Archivers in the archive in Třeboň became very worried when they had learned the examination outcomes because any intervention into archive material can have tremendous impact on interpretation of historical facts in future. A few historians had studied genealogy of the family of Andiel of Ronovec in the archive in Třeboň. So, also them could have been “harmed” as they might have been misled by the falsified facts and used them in their work.

The archive´s director lodged a criminal information against an unknown perpetrator who had supposedly amended the entry of death in the register of births, marriages and deaths of the parish office in the village of Bernartice by creating a fictive person of Jan Andiel of Ronovec and in Milovice. Having done so, he robustly changed the genealogy of the family of the Andiels of Ronovec who were relatives of the Přemyslid family. The crime the perpetrator committed was clasified as forgery and fraudulent alteration of an official document. But the case was suspended as not enough evidence was found to start prosecution of a particular person. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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