How to find an obituary online: methods and tools
Introduction
Learning of the death of a loved one, a former colleague or an acquaintance can occur unexpectedly. In these delicate moments, searching for an obituary often becomes a necessary step to obtain information about the funeral, offer condolences to the family or simply honour the memory of the deceased.
In Switzerland, searching for an obituary presents a particular challenge: funeral announcements are scattered between local newspapers, communal websites, cantonal platforms and private databases. This fragmentation makes searching for a deceased person in Switzerland sometimes laborious, especially when one does not know precisely the place or date of death.
This comprehensive guide accompanies you step by step to effectively find an obituary online. You will discover proven search methods, essential criteria to use (name, place, date), and available tools to simplify your steps. We will also present Wolky.ch, the reference platform that centralises obituaries across the entire Swiss territory.
To better understand the role and importance of funeral announcements, consult our article on the definition and purpose of obituaries in Switzerland.
📌 Summary (TL;DR)
To find an obituary in Switzerland, combine three essential criteria: the deceased's full name, the location (canton or town) and the approximate period of death. Use centralised platforms like Wolky.ch that cover the entire Swiss territory to save time. In case of unsuccessful search, progressively broaden your criteria and consult complementary sources such as local newspapers or civil status offices.
📚 Table of contents
Why search for an obituary online?
The reasons that motivate the search for an obituary are multiple and always legitimate. Understanding these motivations helps to better target your searches and choose the right tools.
Being informed of the death of an acquaintance: You have lost contact with a person and wish to know if they are still alive, or you have heard about a death without having official confirmation.
Finding the family's contact details: The obituary often mentions the deceased's relatives, which allows you to reconnect with the family to offer your condolences.
Knowing the details of the funeral: Date, time and place of the funeral ceremony are generally indicated in the obituary, allowing you to attend the funeral and pay a final tribute.
Building a family tree: Genealogical research often requires finding information about a deceased person, particularly dates and places of death, as well as family connections.
Paying tribute from a distance: When one cannot travel physically, consulting the online obituary and leaving a message of condolence allows participation in mourning virtually.
Whatever your situation, these steps are filled with emotion and deserve to be facilitated by suitable and accessible tools.
Basic methods to find an obituary
An effective obituary search relies on the use of precise criteria. The more information you have about the deceased, the higher your chances of quickly finding the obituary you are looking for.
The three main criteria to combine are: the deceased's surname, the location (canton, town or village), and the approximate period of death. Each of these elements plays a determining role in refining your results.
Let us now see how to effectively use each of these criteria to optimise your search.
Searching by surname
The surname constitutes the natural starting point of any search. To maximise your chances of success, always use the deceased's full name, including the first name if you know it.
Try different spellings: In Switzerland, certain surnames can have several spelling variants, particularly in border regions or for families of foreign origin. Do not hesitate to test with or without accents, with different hyphens, or by slightly modifying the spelling.
Think about compound names and particles: Names with particles (de, von, van) or compound names can be registered in different ways. Try variants with and without the particle, with or without a hyphen.
Beware of homonyms: Switzerland has many common surnames (Müller, Meier, Schmid, Martin, Dubois). A search by name alone can generate numerous results, hence the importance of combining this criterion with other information such as place or date.
If you obtain too many results, immediately refine your search by adding a geographical or temporal criterion.
Refining by location (canton, town, village)
Geographical location is an essential criterion to find an obituary in Switzerland. The Swiss federal system means that funeral announcements are often published at local or cantonal level, which makes geographical precision particularly important.
The Swiss cantonal structure: Switzerland has 26 cantons, each with its own traditions and habits regarding the publication of obituaries. Some families favour cantonal newspapers, others communal publications.
Targeting a specific canton: If you know the canton where the deceased resided, start there. This information considerably reduces the search field. Wolky.ch allows you to consult obituaries by canton, thus facilitating your geographical searches.
Refining down to the town or village: For even more precise results, specify the exact commune. Searches by town are particularly effective in rural areas where communities are more limited.
Wolky's advantage: Unlike fragmented local sources, Wolky covers the entire Swiss territory, saving you from multiplying searches on different cantonal or communal websites.
Specifying the period of death
The date of death, even approximate, constitutes a powerful criterion to refine your search and quickly find an obituary.
Define a realistic date range: If you do not know the exact date, estimate a probable period. Obituaries are generally published within 2 to 7 days following the death, although this delay can vary depending on circumstances.
Broaden the search if necessary: If you are not certain of the period, start with a wide range (for example, an entire month), then gradually refine. It is better to cast a wide net at the beginning than to miss the announcement you are looking for.
Take publication delays into account: In certain cases, particularly for deaths occurring abroad or in particular circumstances, publication of the obituary may be delayed by several weeks.
Usefulness of archives for old searches: To find obituaries dating back several months or years, online archives become indispensable. Wolky maintains a consultable national archive that facilitates historical and genealogical research.
By judiciously combining these three criteria (name, place, date), you considerably optimise your chances of finding the obituary you are looking for.
Online tools to search for an obituary in Switzerland
Switzerland has several types of tools to search for obituaries online, each with its advantages and limitations. Understanding these different options allows you to choose the method most suited to your situation.
The main categories of available tools include centralised platforms like Wolky, local and regional newspaper websites, communal and cantonal portals, as well as genealogical platforms for historical research.
Let us examine each of these options in detail to help you make the best choice according to your specific needs.
Wolky.ch: the centralised reference platform
Wolky.ch establishes itself as the leading platform in Switzerland for online obituaries, offering a centralised solution that considerably simplifies searches across the entire territory.
Complete national coverage: Unlike fragmented sources, Wolky centralises obituaries from all Swiss cantons, saving you from multiplying searches on different local websites.
Powerful search engine: The platform offers multiple filters allowing you to search by name, location (canton and town), and period. This flexibility guarantees precise and rapid results.
Intuitive and accessible interface: Designed to be simple to use, even for people unfamiliar with digital tools, Wolky offers a fluid and respectful user experience.
Free access: Consulting obituaries on Wolky is entirely free, with no mandatory registration for basic searches.
Consultable archives: Obituaries remain accessible over time, facilitating genealogical and historical research. Wolky also offers this service free of charge, unlike many other platforms that request financial participation when accessing archives.
Tribute features: Wolky allows you to leave online condolences, leave a thought and share memories, thus creating a digital space for remembrance.
How to use the Wolky search engine:
Go to the main search page
Enter the deceased's surname in the search field
Use the filters to specify the canton or town if you know this information
Adjust the search period according to your needs
Browse the results and click on the corresponding obituary to consult the complete details
To discover all the platform's features, consult the article Welcome to Wolky.ch. You can also explore the obituaries of notable personalities published on the platform.
Local and regional newspapers online
Swiss newspapers maintain a well-established tradition of publishing obituaries, and many have developed online versions of their funeral sections.
Main newspapers publishing obituaries: 24 Heures (Vaud), Tribune de Genève (Geneva), Le Nouvelliste (Valais), Le Temps (national), Tages-Anzeiger (Zurich), Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Zurich), and many other regional titles.
Advantages: These newspapers benefit from a long tradition and detailed local coverage. They remain a reference for families who wish to publish in traditional print media.
Important limitations:
Need to know the exact region of publication
Access sometimes paid or limited to subscribers
Absence of centralisation: one must consult several websites for a national search
Search functions sometimes limited or non-existent
Old archives often inaccessible online
These sources remain complementary but less practical for a broad obituary search. For an in-depth comparison between traditional and digital formats, consult our article on online obituaries vs. traditional formats.
Communal and cantonal websites
Some Swiss communes and cantons publish deaths occurring on their territory via their official websites, generally in a section dedicated to civil status or public announcements.
Advantages: This information is official, reliable and free. It comes directly from civil status registers, guaranteeing its accuracy.
Significant limitations:
Extreme fragmentation: each commune manages its own website with its own rules
Absence of centralised search function
Variable updating depending on the commune's resources
Often minimal information (name, date) without details about the funeral
Many communes publish nothing online
Recommendation: Use these sources in addition to a centralised platform like Wolky, particularly to verify official information or when you know precisely the commune concerned.
Genealogical platforms
Platforms specialising in genealogy such as FamilySearch, Geneanet, MyHeritage or cantonal archives online offer valuable resources for historical searches for deceased persons.
Main usefulness: These tools are particularly suited to finding information about old deaths, sometimes going back several centuries, as part of genealogical or historical research.
Limitations for recent deaths: These platforms are generally not designed for recent obituaries. Their databases often take several years to integrate recent data, and they do not contain practical details about funerals.
When to use them: Favour these tools if you are searching for ancestors or information about people who died several decades ago. For recent deaths, a platform like Wolky will be much more effective.
Practical advice to optimise your search
Beyond choosing the right tools, some proven techniques will allow you to optimise your obituary search and obtain results more quickly.
These advanced tips apply regardless of the platform used, but are particularly effective on tools offering sophisticated search functions like Wolky.
Combining several search criteria
The key to an effective search lies in the strategic combination of several criteria to progressively refine results.
Importance of cross-referencing data: Using name, place and date simultaneously allows you to avoid homonyms and precisely target the obituary you are looking for. This approach is particularly crucial for common surnames.
Concrete example of progressive search:
Step 1: Search by name alone → 150 results
Step 2: Adding the canton (Vaud) → 25 results
Step 3: Specifying the town (Lausanne) → 8 results
Step 4: Adding a period (March 2024) → 2 results
This funnel method saves you valuable time and guarantees that you do not miss the announcement you are looking for whilst avoiding getting lost in irrelevant results.
Progressively broadening or restricting
Flexibility in your search approach is essential. Depending on the results obtained, you will need to adapt your strategy.
Broadening technique: If your initial search yields no results, progressively broaden your criteria:
Move from the commune to the entire canton
Extend the search period (from one week to one month)
Try name variants
Remove the first name if you had included it
Restriction technique: If you obtain too many results, refine by adding additional criteria:
Specify the exact commune rather than the canton
Reduce the date range
Add the first name if you know it
Use additional filters if available
Managing unsuccessful searches: Do not be discouraged if your first attempts fail. Take the time to vary your approaches, and do not hesitate to consult several complementary sources.
Checking spelling and variants
The linguistic and cultural particularities of Switzerland make spelling verification particularly important to find an obituary.
Swiss particularities to consider:
Names with particles: Noble particles (von, de, van) can be integrated differently depending on registers. Try "von Müller", "Müller" or "Von Müller".
Compound names: Hyphens may be present or absent. Test "Dubois-Martin", "Dubois Martin" and "Martin-Dubois".
Variants according to linguistic regions: Certain names have different spellings in French, German and Italian. For example: Müller/Mueller/Muller, Schmid/Schmidt, Meier/Meyer/Mayer.
Used first names vs. official first names: In Switzerland, it is common to use a second first name in daily life. A person officially "Jean-Pierre Martin" may be known as "Pierre Martin".
Technical tip: Systematically try with and without accents (é/e, è/e, ê/e), as some search systems do not uniformly handle accented characters.
Regularly consulting new publications
Obituaries are not all published immediately. A patient and regular approach improves your chances of success.
Progressive publication: Families may take a few days to write and publish the funeral announcement. In certain cases, particularly for deaths occurring abroad or in complex circumstances, this delay can extend to several weeks.
Follow-up advice: If your initial search is unsuccessful, do not stop there. Return to consult the platform a few days later, then a week after. New publications appear daily.
Alert functionality: Some platforms offer the option to create automatic alerts that notify you when a new obituary matching your criteria is published. This function saves you from having to manually perform repeated searches.
Period of vigilance: Remain attentive for approximately two weeks following the presumed date of death, the period during which the majority of obituaries are published.
What to do if you cannot find the obituary you are looking for?
Despite all your efforts, it sometimes happens that the obituary you are looking for remains unfindable online. This situation, although frustrating, does not necessarily mean that the information does not exist.
Contact the commune of the place of death: The communal civil status office holds official registers of all deaths occurring on its territory. A telephone call or email can provide you with basic information (date of death, family contact details if they agree to be communicated).
Enquire with local funeral homes: Funeral companies that organised the funeral often have information about ceremonies. You can consult the funeral homes directory to identify establishments in the region concerned.
Contact the cantonal civil status office: For older or more complex searches, the cantonal civil status office can direct you to the right sources of information.
Ask the entourage or relatives: If you have mutual contacts with the deceased, they can pass on the information or put you in contact with the family.
Understanding non-publication choices: Some families deliberately choose not to publish a public obituary, preferring to inform their entourage privately. This choice, although less frequent, must be respected.
Create an obituary if you are family of the deceased: If you are yourself a relative and note that no obituary has been published, you can take the initiative to create an obituary on Wolky, thus allowing the entourage to be informed and pay tribute.
