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Click here > Polish Cities, Shtetls and Villages Click here > 1929 Business Directory of Ustrzyki Dolne (Note: You may find additional information and sources in my Thirty-eight. five million people live in Poland, an area slightly smaller than the state of New Mexico. The population density is about 328 people per square mile, as compared to only 15 people in New Mexico. During the late 18th century, Poland was overtaken and was partitioned among the nations of Russia, Prussia and Austria. It regained its independence in 1918, but 21 years later, WWII was initiated by Germany and Russia dividing the country between them. The Germans took over the western part and the Soviets controlling the eastern. Poland became a free democratic and independent nation in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell. Education is a priority in Poland and Warsaw holds the distinction of opening the world's first public library in 1747. About 91,000 scientists reside in Poland which has a literacy rate of 99.8%. More than six million Polish citizens lost their lives in WWII, the highest percentage of any of the countries involved in the war. Half of this number were Jews. Auschwitz, the former Nazi concentration camp, is now a museum and memorial visited by over half a million people each year. Poland was home to the largest Jewish population in Europe and served as the centre for Jewish culture. A diverse population of Jews from all over Europe sought refuge in Poland, contributing to a wide variety of religious and cultural groups. Before WW II, more than 3.3 million Jews lived in Poland, the second largest Jewish community in the world. The Jewish presence in Poland goes back a very long time. Even before the Union with Lithuania in 1386, there was promulgated a Statue of Jewish Liberties at Kalisz in 1264. Poland, Polonia, Polska has two Hebrew names, which read like a Midrash wherefrom the name drives: 1. Po lan jah = "Here is God living (lodging)" or: Before World War II, Poland had a vibrant Jewish community of 3.5 million - 10% of the country's population -- but most were killed in the Holocaust. It was the second largest Jewish community in the world. Only 10% survived! Many of those who returned following the war, fled again after pogroms and the official anti-Jewish measures of 1968. Today, it is estimated that there are between 5,000 to 20,000 Jews living in Poland. From the following web page links, specifically linked to
Polish Jewish genealogical informational sites, you can unleash your passion for discovering your past. The uprising of Ukrainian Kazaks, and the peasantry, in the 17th century, meant trouble for the over 300 Jewish communities. Thousand of Jews were murdered and communities destroyed in Poland, Volhynia, Moldavia and adjacent areas. The 17th century, by the way was called "Golden Age" in Poland. During this time, many foreigners found a new homeland in Poland including some Scots (in Polish Szkot) and Dutch known as Holendry. You can find some villages in Poland named Olendy and many people with the name Olendzki. It is the heritage of Dutch settling in Poland. In the Kingdom of Poland (aka Congress Poland or Russian Poland) Jews were listed in separate registers from 1826. Beginning around 1808 vital records for Jews were included in Roman Catholic Civil Registers. Jews were not included in church parish registers. Poland ceased to exist as the political entity at the end of the 18th century, and reestablished again in 1918. Lands of The Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth has been divided (in three sequences) by the three Empires: Austria, Prussia and Russia. Usually when Poland is used before 1919, it refers to Russian Poland. Actually, Poland did not exist from 1795 until 1918. The problem with finding records in Poland is that the country has had many turmoils and not a lot of documents have survived. Those records that did survive, generally cover the years 1808 to 1865, and have been microfilmed by the Mormons. A set of LDS microfilms, covering Poland, is at the Douglas Goldman Genealogy Center (formerly DOROT) at the Diaspora Museum in Tel-Aviv. It was noted in a discussion between Doug Cohen and Gayle Schlissel in 2002 in a posting that "Polish documents are kept at the local town hall for 100 years, then transferred to the regional archives site." Gayle states: "not always. In the Tarnobrzeg USC you will find birth records for 1889 up until 1935 ... and I found a death register held in private hands for 1903-1928, now on my ShtetLinks web site. SO maybe they can be found elsewhere do not give up hope try everything you may get lucky." During the 1930s, keep in mind in your research, that all of western Ukraine was either located in Poland and/or Czechoslovakia. After Poland-Lithuania no longer existed as an independent state, its inhabitants (Lithuanians, Poles, Jews, gypsies, etc.) automatically became subjects of whatever ruler whose government controlled the area where they lived. No naturalization was necessary.
In 1939, at the start of WW II, there were 3,300,000 Jews existing in Poland, (roughly 10% of the population) but after the war, most survivors refused to return to or remain in Poland for various reasons, but mostly because of anti-Semitic outrages. Jews made up about one-third of the population of cities in central Poland. They made up about 50%, and in some cases even 70% of the population of smaller towns, especially in Eastern Poland. Today there are about 8,000 out of a total population of over 38,600,000. Poland was the first country to oppose Hitler's demands and the first to stand against his aggression. Poland never had a Quisling. No Polish regiment fought on behalf of Germany. Betrayed by the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, Poles fought alongside the anti-Nazi forces from the first day until the last. And inside Poland, armed resistance to the German occupation was widespread. While under occupation, Polish nationalists and anti-Semitic right didn't collaborate with the Nazis, as the right wing did elsewhere in Europe, but actively participated in the anti-Hitler underground. Polish anti-Semites fought against Hitler, and some of them even rescued Jews, though this was punishable by death. Here we have a singularly Polish paradox; on occupied Polish soil a person could be an anti-Semite, a hero of the resistance and a savior of Jews. Ironic? An inventory of the surviving Jewish Vital Records of Poland records has been created at JewishGen There are two main sources for the available records, the microfilm archives of the Family History Center of the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormons) and the non-microfilmed records of the Poland State Archives (PSA). The LDS records include 2,200 microfilms containing over 3 million Jewish vital records of more than 400 Polish cities and towns. These are almost all indexed, and the microfilms can be ordered from Salt Lake City for viewing at your local Family History Center. In addition, there are about 5 million records in the Polish State Archives. These records are being indexed as the money to pay for the indexing is raised.
Created from
microfilm from the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah"
In order to locate the name of your ancestral town, you first need to go to the "Routes to Routes" website On the JRI web site at Altogether, the JRI-Poland reports that they have indexed more than 1.8 million records. The goal is to create a searchable on-line database of the indices of all 19th century Jewish records from current and former territories of Poland. When all of these indices are on-line, researchers will then be able to quickly find the records for their families and - using an on-line order form -- send for copies of records from branches of the Polish State Archives. Further information about the project Another interesting site is Ada Holtzman' s site To obtain genealogical information about your family, you need to contact, at the minimum, three locations. 1. Check the Mormon Family History Library (FHL) to see if they have microfilmed the vital (birth and death) and marriage records. 2. If the FHL has nothing, then you need to contact the archives in Ordering Records from Polish State Archives - All Archives and branches where Jewish vital records have been indexed and are included in the "Shopping Basket" order processing system. Records available through the Shopping basket System are only those indexed as part of the JRI-Poland/PSA Project. Records indexed from LDS Microfilms or other sources are NOT included in the Shopping Basket System. For questions about the Order Processing System: orderqueries@jri-poland.org PSA Archive Branches Using the System
Each record ordered will cost the researcher $10. However, there is a minimum charge per branch of $15.00. Therefore, if you order one record from Lodz and one from Pultusk, the total charge will be $30.00 Links of value: Ordering Records from the Polish State Archives Order FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions PSA Branches on the Order System Step-by-Step Guide to Order System Express Service Pilot Project Additional links and information may be found at my Galicia web page.
"A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames From the Kingdom of Poland" - authored by Alexander Beider offers a compilation of more than 32,000 Jewish surnames with origins Buy from Amazon.com "A Guide to Jewish Lodz. Warsaw:" authored by Jerzy Malenczyk and published by the Jewish Information and Travel bureau 1994. Describes the history of the Jews of Lodz and offers brief biographical sketches of famous Jews from the community. Also offers four different self-guided walking tours with maps and illustrations. "A Jewish Boyhood in Poland' - authored by Norman Salitz describes his life in Kolbuszowa "American Jewish Yearbook, 5667, 1906-07" - A list of 254 pogroms is included with the name of the town and the Guberniya where the pogrom took place, date of pogrom, general and Jewish population for the town, damage incurred by the Jews of the town, general remarks on the pogrom. The American Jewish Yearbook is published by the Jewish Publication Society. This is a good source for genealogical information. A copy of this Yearbook is located at Asher Library in Chicago, Illinois. "A Brief History of Poland" in the last 200 years http://www.man.poznan.pl/~bielecki/polhistory.htm "And I Still See Their Faces" - a book, like a family album of Jewish life in pre-war published by the Shalom Foundation. "A Peek Into The Polish Past" - author Judith Samson and printed in the December, 2000 issue of SHEMOT and published by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Great Britain. "A Tale of Two Survivors" - authored by Norman Salitz "A Translation Guide to 19th Century Polish Language Civil Registration Documents" - authored by Judith Franzin. There is a sample document translation from this book on the JRI-Poland site. "A Vanished World" - authored by Roman Vishniak offers a wonderful collection of old photographs. "The Black Book of Polish Jewry: An Account of the Martyrdom of Polish Jewry Under the Nazi Occupation," edited by Jacob Apenszlak "The Chronicles of the Lodz Ghetto 1941 to 1944" "Death in the Forest; The Story of the Katyn Forest Massacre" - authored by J. K. Zawodny in 1962 - the story of the Katyn Forest killings by the Soviets - not the Nazis as originally thought. "Do Not Go Gentle" - A Memoir of Jewish Resistance in Poland, 1941-1945 by Charles Gelman and published in 1989 by Archon Book. ISBN 0-208-02230-9 " Evreiskaya Entsiklopedia" - "Encyklopedia.PL" - printed in Polish, contains a lot of information, if you can read the language "Finding Your Roots In Galicia" indicates that some 85% of rural Polish Jews were engaged in the liquor trade, according to author Suzan Wynne's book. And confirmed "In Economic Origins of Anti-Semitism" by Hillel Levine, Yale University Press. But in 1910, Jews were forbidden to sell alcoholic beverages, so 15,000 suddenly lost their source of income and probably triggered the subsequent emigrations to the United Kingdom and the US. "From a Ruined Garden" - Translations of 6 Yizkor book chapters from this book: The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry "Gen Dobry" -
An e-zine of PolishRoots™. The Polish Genealogy Source this site is in English. For issue 2, change the last part of the URL (address) to "_no2.htm" and so on. "Genealogy and Poland" - an on-line guide authored by Lukasz Bielecki "Geographic Dictionary of the Polish Kingdom and other Slavic Countries" ("Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego Innych Krajow Slowianskich") edited by Bronislaw Chlebowski in Warsaw in 1892. A historical source on shtetls in Galicia. "Ghetto Fighters' House" The story in photos and biographies of about 1,000 fighters and Jewish heroes during WWII including biographies and photos. Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum (Beit Lochamei Hagetaot) available on line. Click on the "Partisans Database" button on the left side of the page to access the data. "Hidden Treasures in Polish Vital Records" authored by Lauren B. Eisenberg Davis offers hints on various tidbits of information that can be found in the vital records of the Kingdom of Poland. "Hippocrene Insider's Guide to Poland's Jewish Heritage" - authored by Joram Kagan and published in New York by Hippocrene Books, Inc. in 1992. "House of the World" - a film that presents a portrait of Jewish Poland before and after WWII. The author and director is Esther Podemski. Contact the Discovery Channel for further information "I am Drenched in the Dew Of My Childhood, A Memoir" - authored by Henry Lawrence Gitelman and published in Montreal, Canada in October 1997. Mr. Gitelman was born in Slawatycze and one of his sources for his book was the "Folks-Sztyme", a Polish-Yiddish publication from Warsaw. "Image Before My Eyes" - a photographic history of Jewish life in Poland from 1864 to 1939, authored by Lucjan Dobroszycki and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. Published by Schocken Books in 1977 "In Their Words - A Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish, German, Latin and Documents" - authored by William Hoffman and Jonathan Shea, is an excellent resource. Ordering information at "Jewish Bialystok" - authored by Tomasz Wisniewski
"Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern
Europe" - authored by Ruth Ellen Gruber this is an article published in
National Geographic
"Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II" - history, names and burial places of the Jewish soldiers in the Polish armies, including those who fought in France. Authored by Benjamin Mertchak - a 5 volume set. Published by the association of Jewish War Veterans of the Polish Armies in Israel, 158 Dizengoff, 63461 Tel Aviv - Phone 03 522 5078. For more information check out www.zchor.org/meirtchak/meirtchak.hrm While researching the Jewish presence in the "First Polish Armored Biezuner, Szoel b. May 6, 1921 Zuromnia p.Sierpc "Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories" - authored by Miriam Weiner. Published by the Miriam Weiner Roots to Roots Foundation, Inc. Buy from Amazon.com The book lists the records on a town by town basis in the various branches of the Polish State Archives and town Civil Records Offices (Urzad Stanu Cywilnego). For information on available records of various types, on a town-by-town basis, check the Polish State Archives "SEZAM" database "Jewish Trade in Krakow at the end of the XVI Century and in the XVII, 1593 to 1683" Selected records from Krakow customs registers and published in Krakow in 1995. "Jews-Officers and Enlisted Men in the Polish Army, Prisoners of War in German captivity 1939-1945" - authored by Eng. Benjamin Meirtchak and published in Israel by the Association of Jewish War veterans of Polish Armies In Israel. More details at "Konin - A Quest" - authored by Theo Richmond, published by Jonathan Cape Ltd in England in 1996. Later published by Vintage, Random House, in paperback in 1996 and also in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. ISBN 0-09-940981-X. The book contains fairly detailed local history including history of the town from its founding. "The Lords' Jews, Magnate-Jewish Relations in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the 18th Century" - authored by M. J. Rosman. It an informative work of research on the "Arrendator" or lessee system. "Modern History Sourcebook: Jan Slomka: The Life of a Polish Peasant, c. 1900" Photos of Jewish Life In Eastern Europe - the collection can be viewed at http://www.avotaynu.com/postcards Another source that offers a list of business owners (mostly Jewish) from circa 60 shtetls - cities in Eastern Poland (1919 - 1939 ) from years 1923, 1925, 1928 and 1933. In this collection there are also views pre-1939 (on old postcards, photographs, or negatives) of many places especially from Eastern Poland including some with synagogue postcards. Contact: Tomek Wisniewski 15-001 Bialystok, Poland Email tomekwisniewski@telbank.pl "Pinkas ha-Kehillot" of Poland" - Volume 6 describes the regions of Posen, Pomerania (Pommern) and Danzig (Gdansk). It was published in Jerusalem in 1999 by Abraham Wein of the Yad Vashem Institution and describes thoroughly the main 66 communities of both north western provinces of Poland and a short summary about the 25 smaller communities. "Poland" - authored by James A Michener and published in 1983 by Fawcett Books in New York ISBN 0-449-20587-8 "Polyn: Jewish life in the old country" - authored by Alter Kacyzne - many Warsaw photos along with photos of scenes in Makev; Lublin; Rayshe; Vashe; Vilna and more.. "Preserved Evidence: Ghetto Lodz" - Volume 1 authored by Eilenberg-Eibeshitz of Haifa in 1998 indicates in 368 pages, evidences, events, notes and those surviving and dying in the Ghetto of Lodz. "Slownik Geograficzny" - originally published in 1880 and reprinted in Warsaw in the 20th century. It is a dictionary of Greater Poland (includes modern Poland, Ukraine, Galicia, etc.) covers every farm or group of houses that had a name "The Jewish Tavern-Keeper and His Tavern in Nineteenth Century Polish Literature", authored by Magdalena Opalski and published by The Zalman Shazar Center for the Furtherance of the Study of Jewish History in Jerusalem in 1986. See also the Encyclopedia Judaica. Those in the alcohol trade were known as Propinacjz (small production, transport, inns often all together). Usually when vital records use the term "leaseholder" (arendar) this involves inn keeping in the alcohol trade. It is a common (and often not necessarily flattering image) of the rural Jew in Polish literature and art. "The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835" "The Political History of Poland" - authored by E. H. Lewinski-Corwin and published in 1917. A preface in available at http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~koby/political/poland.html "Studies in Polish Jewry - Volume 8: Jews in Independent Poland 1918-1939" authored by Antony Polonsky and published in Washington, DC by The Littman library of Jewish Civilization in 1994. "Translation Guide to Nineteenth Century Polish Language Civil Registration Documents" (Birth, Marriage & Death Records) - a book by the Jewish Genealogical Society "The Vatican and the Jews" - authored by Arieh Doobov and published by the Jerusalem/World Jewish Congress in 1998. ISBN 0793-2596 (Policy Forum, 15). Memory or reincarnated responsibility? "Warszawa Business Directory - 1870" "Words to Outlive Us" ; Eye Witness accounts from the Warsaw Ghetto". Of great interest in particular is a register of about 200 names of prisoners in Pawiak Prison together with their places of residence prewar throughout Poland. "Yiddishland" - contains hundreds of postcard reproductions and many show names of shops. The book is available on-line at major on-line book stores. "Yizkor Books for our Region" - authored by Warren Blatt. A complete bibliography of all Yizkor Books published for towns located in Kielce or Radom Guberniya. There are many more publications available relating to specific Polish subjects, Archive holdings and cities. A list of these publications can be found at Poland Genealogy The 1784 Polish Census is located at the Historical Archive in Vilnius, Lithuania according to Galina Baranova, Head Archivist. From a posting by Howard Margol on JewishGen 3/25/2002 List of towns whose 1790s census data in the at Warsaw's AGAD (Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych; Central Archives of Historical Records) include lists of Jewish names: In reviewing the Oswiecim (Oshpitzin) Yizkor book, there is a reference made of these censuses. The Oswiecim Jewish Center indicates that in the State Archive in Oswiecim, there are documents (forms with the information about the people) regarding the 1900 and 1910 Austro-Hungarian Census. I would suggest to the researcher of the following sites, to also check the other two Baltic Country sites, including Estonia and Lithuania, as well as Belarus and Russia as there may very well be some cross references as the country borders changed many times between wars. A valuable site to help find a person, maps, etc. - and type in the name of any country you wish to research. This service is free. Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country. 1890-1891 Index of New York Immigrants from Austria, Poland and Galicia. http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/1890ny.htm Abbreviations - Polish when searching towns in Poland: Powiat = district and is usually followed by the gmina (township)
Archives Before writing to the Polish Archives, Irene Newhouse newhoir@mail.auburn.edu suggest that one should be aware that the easy sources of vital records for individuals have already been microfilmed by the Mormons. There is only one class of vital records for individuals not microfilmed, according to Irene, and that's the duplicate church registers that were filed in lieu of civil records pre-1874 in those parts of Poland under Prussian/German rule. Some of these have survived when the originals, which have been filmed, have not. Also, Irene notes that Jewish vital records in Poland were often not in Polish. Note that to write to the Archives, you can write in English. To a registry office, local official, etc., write in Polish. Writing in the language of the person that you are writing to is always best ... it exhibits respect and courtesy. Make it as easy as possible if you want the quickest response. Six to eight months for a reply, is not uncommon. Addresses For Archives in Western Ukraine and South-Eastern Poland
A description of the holdings of the Polish State Archives in available on-line in their new searchable SEZAM database. To view the fond descriptions of interest to you, follow these steps:
(You are at the SEZAM database whose purpose is to gather information on the national archival holdings preserved by various institutions. It includes all elements of a traditional list of Fonds to be found at State Archives as well as additional data, which have been, up until now, included into a fond card or neglected in current finding and registration aids.) Additional information about SEZAM can be found at
4. Under 'Fond Name' enter the town name you are interested in Note that the results will be in Polish To have the Archives do the research for you, click on 'Intro' from the menu on the left side of the web page, then Click on the "How to Get Access to Archive Collections?' Note that inquiries commissioned by private persons (and pertaining to genealogical and property records) are subject to payment according to a standard price list binding in all state archives. To get the addresses of Polish archives, simply go to Google and type in Archiwum (town name) in the search box
Further information on how to order research can be found at
Poland Vital Records InfoFiles on JewishGen at Also, note that before you commission research at the Polish State Archives, be aware that there are more than 2,000 microfilms of Jewish vital records of Poland in the LDS collection -- mostly from 1825 to 1865/1875. These can be ordered and viewed at the LDS Family History Centers around the world. About half of these films, mostly from pre-1865, are available at the Douglas Goldman Genealogy Center at Beth Ha'tefutsorth, Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv. Should you contact the Polish State Archives, the following information should be of value. Len Markowitz priluki@voicenet.com offered the following in a posting at Gesher Galicia SIG: 'I guess that it is time to repeat the method that I have used successfully to send money to Poland. Admittedly, it has been about five years since I have last done this, but it was done on at least 4 occasions. To pay for information from the Polish State Archives, purchase a Postal Money Order at your local post office for about $1 - not an International Postal Money Order, which costs about $8.50 (five years ago). Address the Postal Money Order to the bank, including the bank account number, suggested previously by the Polish State Archives. Also make a copy of the Postal Money Order and send it with your next letter to the Polish State Archives' Another method of handling payment to the Polish archives is to check out a personal PayPal account
Letter Writing Guide to Archives
AGAD Archives - Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych (The Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw
- Ancient Acts archive of Poland) (see also below "Jewish Record Indexing) - this site will provide you with the ability to order records from their archives. This is a repository of 2,010 Jewish metrical books for the area of the former L'viv, Stanislawow, and Tarnopol Voyevodship (now L'viv, Ivano
Frankiv'sk, and Ternopil oblasts in Ukraine. These registers are mainly for the period from 1877 to 1899 when these areas were a part of the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia. Other Jewish metrical books for this area will be found in the L'viv branch of the Ukraine State Archives. While the number of records in each volume varies widely, the overall total is estimated to be close to two million. The web site is AGAD/PSA Archives page - scroll down a bit for a map where you can click to view a list of towns with records JRI-Poland database has added more indices from these records - over 20,000 - which include Tarnopol birth and marriage indices and Trembowla birth indices. Also included are Kozowa births from 1877 to 1892; Tarnopol births from 1866 to 1897, Marriages from 1878 to 1897 and Trembowla births from 1877 to 1891. Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych The Archives is the repository of 2,010 Jewish metrical books for the area of the former Lwów, Stanislawow and Tarnopol Voyevodship (now known as L'viv, Ivano Frankivsk and Ternopol Oblasts in Ukraine). These registers are mainly for the period from 1877-1899 when these areas were a part of the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia. Other Jewish metrical books for this area will be found in the L'viv branch of the Ukraine state Archives. The overall total of records is estimated to be close to two million and are generally written in Polish. There are separate books for births, marriages and deaths. Information about the JRI-Poland AGAD Archives Project can be viewed at There is an Excel spreadsheet that includes a good deal of information about the records of these 90 district and sub-district towns and a status report for each town is constantly being updated. Each year, the Warsaw Srodmiescie USC Archives transfers vital records registers to AGAD. These are registers that only include vital records that have now become more than 100 years old. This transfer occurs in compliance with Polish privacy laws that permit public access to vital records only after 100 years. Recently, AGAD had received many registers that contain records mainly for 1898 and 1899. These registers will be available for indexing about September 2001. Polish Archives CD - the CD will not only contain data on basic facts such as births, marriages and deaths, but also on remaining series of documents preserved in Polish State Archives and will include Jewish records - http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/books/km_i_sc.html The CD will be searchable by town name, religious group and other methods. There will be two language modes: Polish and English. Check this web site for further information at http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/index.eng.html CCW Collection is a collection of the 'schedule of payments to maintain the synagogue in many Jewish cities and these rosters exist in the Main Archive of Old Acts (AGAD) in Warsaw as well as in regional archives. The Polish Archives web site is in Polish, although there is a link shown to convert it to English, however, it does not work at the present time. At this site, though, you can discern Names and phone numbers for various personnel at the Head Office of the State Archives including email address Archives of Poland - a list and a map of Poland with all the regional state archive locations including address, telephone numbers, opening hours, etc. Central State Historical Archives L'viv - address is Director is Orest Laroslavoych Matsiuk; Deputy Director (Directress) is Diana Peltc who, it has been noted, forwards personal researcher requests to a "freelancer" who then increases the price, but the cost is still relatively reasonable Hours are Monday through Friday 9 to 3 pm.
Director of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine - 110 Solomianska Street, 24, 252601 Kiev, Ukraine It is recommended that both addresses be also written in Ukrainian. A sample of how to address the Archive can be found at Polish Archives website State Archives - in Warsaw Archives - List of archives in former German or German occupied territories. The list includes: General request or uncertain cases can be directed to the Central State Archives in Prague: Phone (0042-2) 57 32 03 38 See also JRI-Poland Polish State Archives Project below ... Aliyah Passport of the 1930s - Surname List and Town List http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/jhi/aliyah-passport_town.htm The American Jewish Historical Society H Has some records of the Federation of Polish America Andres Forces - Jewish soldiers who were in Iraq during 1942-43. Information about and between members of this group and the Jews of Iraq
who befriended them Anti Semitism in Poland - Check these web sites: Arenda - Information about an Arenda Contract can be found at http://www.heritagefilms.com/POLAND.html Birth Records Information Contact the Registry Office (Urzad Stanu Cywilnego, USC) in Poland directly, rather than a Consulate. The USC will perform the search for records and will send it to the Polish Consulate nearest to your residence. You will be billed for their efforts, Upon payment by money order or certified check, the Consulate will then send any material that the Registry Office has. Request from the manager of the USC a complete extract of the entry, rather than a brief certificate. Breweries Tarnobrzeg had a brewery. I have a postcard of it. There is a very small book, in Polish at the FHL in Salt Lake about the Breweries in Poland, only part two. I do not remember the name of the book from a posting on JewishGen by Gayle Schlissel Riley key2pst@pacbell.net Business Directories 1923 Polish Directory On-line on the Library of Congress website 1929 Business Directory of Ustrzyki Dolne - Click Here
"Handlowa ksiega adresowa Polski i
Gdanska" -
a 1923 commercial directory for the entire
country, including Gdansk (Danzig), totaling about 700 pages.
Includes Timeline of Polish history; map of Polish railroads, Officials of
the republic of Poland, statistical data, etc.
"Spis
abonentow warszawskiej sieci telefonow"
- this is a 540 page white pages
directory of Warsaw and environs on the eve of WW II, along with a listing
of businesses and advertisements arranged by product or service. This
directory would be of interest to researchers who lost relatives, friends,
and/or property during the war. Cemeteries in Poland
Polish shtetl's burial ground. http://tinyurl.com/bzqj Cities in Poland (Shtetls) Consolidated Jewish Surname Index,
The site includes the Jewish Records Indexing - Poland; All-Lithuania Database; All-Belarus Database; All-Latvia Database and JewishGen Family Finder is available at Death Certificate - Click on the forward arrow to see additional slides Deliveries
Meest-Boston delivers US dollars, sea and air parcels, food parcels, equipment and electronics, letters and small packages to Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Poland and other countries. More services are available East European Genealogical Society http://www.GateWest.net/~eegsi/ Emigration to British Mandate Palestine in the 1930s The names of many of these Jews who were able to leave Poland for Palestine are available on an index of the passports issued at that time. The are taken from the holdings of the Jewish Historical Institute (JHI) in Warsaw. Eventually this index will be searchable as part of the JRI-Poland on-line database. Because Inter-war Poland included areas that are now part of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine, there are passports from towns such as: Ejszyszki (Lithuania) Europages Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds Extermination of the Jews of Galicia (Poland) http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/galicia/ Finding Relatives Living in Poland Today Write a simple letter request in English and address it to: Ministerstwo Spraw Wewnetrznych i Administracji Folks-Sztyme A weekly publication of the Social and Cultural Society of Jews in Poland. It is now "Dos Yiddishe Vort". The editor is Mr. Adam Rok or for the Yiddish web page Foundation for the Preservation of Polish Jewish Heritage Gen Dobry An e-zine developed for PolishRoots researchers and may have value to your Polish research at http://www.listbot.com/cgi-bin/subscriber to manage your list membership. All you then need do is enter the e-mail address where you want your copy of Gen Dobry sent. Reply to the automated confirmation e-mail. Be sure to read and reply to this confirmation e-mail. Genealogy and Poland - A Guide is an excellent site to start your Polish ancestral search Genealogy & Poland on the Internet and elsewhere http://www.man.poznan.pl/~bielecki/geninfo6.htm GenPol - a Polish Genealogy Discussion Group - you will need to register to use this site. It appears to be information that would be of value to a Jewish genealogist researching efforts. Ghetto Fighters' House - The story of about 1,000 fighters and Jewish heroes during WW II, including biographies and pictures. Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum (Beit Lochamei Hagetaot) is available on-line History of Poland in the last 200 years - this site, which includes a number of maps from 1772, 1795, 1815, 1920 and 2000 as well as a very clearly defined history is available at http://members.core.com/~mikerose/history.html http://members.core.com/~mikerose/waryears.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Poland http://www.fact-index.com/h/hi/history_of_the_jews_in_poland.html http://www.heritagefilms.com/POLAND.html http://www.infokalisz.internetdsl.pl/statut/history.htm Jewish 19th Century Vital Records from Poland. This site is "in process" to create a computer database of indices to the 19th century Jewish vital records of Poland. It is a joint effort between the Jewish Records Indexing-Poland (JRI-Poland) and the Polish State Archives (AGAD, the Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych - The Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw). Over half a million Jewish Vital Records of Poland and data from more than 115 towns are now searchable Jewish Cemeteries in Poland A message to the Israeli youth, The web site contains some beautiful photographs of typical Matzevot in Poland. Jewish Community in Poland - A web site is in Polish Social & Cultural Association of Jews in Poland The Union of Jewish Congregations in Poland Jewish Demographics - "In a statistical studies of Jewish demographics in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth during the 18th century, it shows that early teen marriages were the norm among one-quarter of the Jewish population, ostensibly the more affluent class, i.e. it was in those families best able to support grandchildren while they still had children to support that the mother's age at first birth tended to be lowest." "The traditional ages for Jewish marriages were 18-20 for boys, 16-18 for girls. The couple was billeted in their parental home, usually the bride's, at least until the husband was old enough to support his family on his own." From a posting on JewishGen by Norman H. Carp-Gordon on 2/14/01 Jewish History of Poland - From ancient times until WW II can be found at http://www.heritagefilms.com/POLAND.html The Early Settlements Jewish Historical Association Established about fifty years ago as Poland's Jewish community sought to re-establish its institutional life after the Holocaust. The Association owns a vast archival collection, rich with primary source materials on the lives and deaths of Jews and Jewish communities throughout Poland and in adjoining regions historically connected with Poland. These holdings, ranging from the 18th century to the present day, survived thorough a combination of luck, ingenuity, the heroic deeds of historians and archivists (i.e. the Warsaw ghetto historian Emanuel Ringelblum his 'Oneg Shabbes' conspiracy to preserve the history of the Holocaust experience), the compulsive record-keeping of Nazi operatives and deliberate post-war efforts of scholars and communal institutions. Now, times have changed and it is possible in theory to research Jewish history and Jewish family ties freely. Further information available from Yale J. Reisner, Director of Research & Archives, There are Youth Centers in Gdansk, Krakow, Lodz, Warsaw and Wroclaw and a summer camp and educational retreat in Srodborow that is sponsored by the Lauder Foundation. Jewish Museum in Warsaw - Contains many items from the Holocaust. One of the main instigators in developing this Holocaust memorial Museum was Dr. Emmanuel Ringelblum. He is noted for his thesis on the Jewish community of Warsaw during the Middle Ages. During the war, Ringelblum was in charge of soup kitchens for distressed Jews in Warsaw. In May 1940, this became a full-fledged underground organization. In November, 1940 he created an archive project known as "Oneg Shabbat," because meetings were held on the Sabbath. Members of the group began to record current events and those who escaped from concentration camps also recorded their experiences. The group recorded various aspects of life including mutual help, cultural and religious life, relationships between Poles and Jews, and between Germans and Jews. In August 1942, when massive deportations escalated, the first part of the archives was hidden in ten tin boxes in the cellar of a house. On the eve of Pesach in 1943, the second part of these documents were hidden in the same house in two aluminum milk cans. The third section was hidden days before the final destruction of the ghetto, somewhere near 34 Swietojerska St. The first two sections of the archives have been found and the third lost section is now believed to be buried in the ground of what is now the Chinese embassy in Warsaw. An attempt is being made to recover these important documents. This information was obtained from an article published in The American Jewish World (Minneapolis) on May 2, 2003 and authored by Rabbi Bernard Solomon Raskas. Jewish Music in Poland Between the World Wars, Muzika Yehudit B'Polin Bein Shtei Milchamot Haolam. It is listed under the Miscellaneous category in the Index Jewish Occupations/Professions in Poland http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/pl-occ.txt Jewish-Polish Heritage - Mike Rosenzweig, Ph. D. Check out his web site re Jewish-Polish Heritage; Early History of the Jews in Poland; Jewish History in Poland - from 1800 - 1939; Jewish History in Poland - from 1939-1945; Synagogues in Poland; Synagogues in Eastern Europe; Poland Revisited Tips; - http://members.core.com/~mikerose/index.html Jewish Records Indexing (JRI - Poland) A searchable database of indices to 19th century records from current and former territories of
Poland. Over 1,200,000 vital records from towns are now indexed and more are added every month To determine if your shtetl has been microfilmed, check the 'LDS Film List' on this site. It is color coded to indicate the status of the indexing. Then check the 'Database Center' which records have indexed. Bear in mind that this is a project in progress and perhaps only 15% percent of all records that exist have been indexed to date ((10/25/01), so don't get discouraged if your search fails. There are 2,010 Jewish Vital Record Registers for 90 towns in the AGAD Archives and includes 87 Administrative District towns in the Eastern part of the former Austrian province of Galicia. Sygnatura is a volume number and 'akt' is the document number inside a specific volume. If you are able to determine that a record exists for your shtetl, you can then order the microfilm listed on the JRI-Poland site. It costs about $3 and requires about 3 weeks to wait. When it is delivered to you, view it and print the record of your interest and then extract relevant information. In some cities, one can order these films via public reference library. Jewish Records Indexing is indexing all Jewish vital records available in their Bialystok Branch of the Polish State Archives In recent years, the LDS (Mormons) have made many updates to their catalogue. As a result, when Jewish records are included in Catholic Civil transcripts or other non-Jewish records, the catalogue typically so indicates. For areas covered by the former Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland), this almost always applies only to pre-1826 records. After 1825, in the Kingdom of Poland, separate civil registers begin for each religious community i.e. Roman Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Russian Orthodox, etc. JRI-Poland Polish State Archives Project - a database of current projects, by town name To post an inquiry: jri-pl@lyris.jewishgen.org Jewish Social-Welfare-Education-Health and Refugee Aid Organizations Records as well as Zionist and Labor Movements, including photographic documentation are stored at The Jewish Historical Association Jewish Vital Records From Poland - this site is 'in process' to create a computer database of indices to the 19th century Jewish Vital records of Poland For information on available records of various types, on a town-by-town basis, check the Polish State Archives "SEZAM" database Additional information about Jewish vital records of Poland can be found at Warren Blatt's "Polish Vital Records" InfoFile on JewishGen Jewish Survivors - collected some fifty years ago in card catalogue form, which are used daily in search of documentation of wartime experiences, are stored at The Jewish Historical Association ul. Tlomackie 3/5, 00-090 Warsaw, Poland Telephone/Fax (48-2) 625 0400; Email reisner@plearn.edu.pl Jewish Websites for Poland - a good place to start. JewishGen ShtetlSeeker - locate your town (shtetl) - http://www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker/loctown.htm JewishGen Yizkor Book Project Another promising site to research "The Polish Jews" This site offers The History of the Jews in Poland; Concentration and death camps; Family searching; Jewish names searching; Photos and more. Jews In Present Day Poland - including commentary about a number of towns and their synagogues including Chmielnik, Gora Kalwaria, Kazimierz Dolny, Kielce, Tlomackie, Tykocin, Lasko, Zamosc, Lancut, Rzeszow and several others. Jews in WW II - lots of information about Polish Jews during the 1939 period Jews who emigrated to British Mandate Palestine - several thousand Polish Jews managed to escape Poland just before WW II. The names of many of these Jews is now available on an index of the passports issued between 1929 and 1939 at this crucial time in Jewish history. The index are in the holdings of the Jewish Historical Institute (JHI) in Warsaw. Because inter-war Poland included areas that are now part of Ukraine, as well as Belarus and Lithuania, there are passports from many towns that were part of Galicia. The 'Aliyah Passports' collection in the Archives of the Jewish historical Institute of Poland (Warsaw) consists of 3,754 Polish passports issued primarily during the 1930s to Polish citizens going to what was then British Mandate Palestine. There are 1,250 towns listed as "place of birth". Emigrating Polish citizens, upon receiving identity documents in their new homeland, were supposed to turn in their Polish passports to the Polish Consulate at their destination. These invalidated passports were then sent by the local Polish Consulate back to the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw, where they were filed away in government archives. Some Polish Jewish emigrants to Palestine may have kept their passports, despite the regulations of the time, so if you do not find a particular name in this index, it does not mean that the individual did not emigrate. Passports include date of birth, place of birth, last place of residence, occupation and civil status (single, married, etc.). The name of the child or the number of children appear in some instances. The photographs sometime include a husband and wife, or a husband and/or wife with the children. JRI - Poland is a compilation of family names appearing one or more times in the vital records of a town. Transliterations of all variations in the spellings, as they were written by the town registrar in the civil records, are included in each surname list. The JRI - Poland List provides an aid to researchers who may not recall initially, nor search for all the names in their various family branches, but whose memories may be sparked by scanning the list. The JRI-Poland Database is constantly being upgraded. For the searchable database. Judenrat (Jewish Councils) - records of this organization from various ghettos are stored at The Jewish Historical Association ul. Tlomackie 3/5, 00-090 Warsaw, Poland Telephone/Fax (48-2) 625 0400; Email reisner@plearn.edu.pl Land Owners - Polish landed gentry (often absentee landlords) from Land Records - West Prussian Land Records covering the years 1772/73, including Polish partition lands can be found at
Landsmanshaftn In Israel - authored by Ada Holtzman Landsmen a magazine, Box 228, 3701 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC 20008 Latin Dictionary - words and phrases that are found in old documents Lauder Foundation - The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Genealogy Project at the Jewish Institute of Poland ul. Tlomackie 3/5, 00-090 Warsaw, Poland Telephone/Fax (48-2) 625 0400; Yale J. Reisner is the Director of Research. Email reisner@plearn.edu.pl Letter Writing Guide - The Polish Genealogical Society has a web site that has a Polish Letter Writing Guide List of Polish Surnames - I stumbled across this on the internet:
Magnate - "Apparently, the country had an intensely feudal character for hundreds of years, the effects of which have not completely worn off. Polish landed gentry (often absentee landlords) from the joint Poland/Lithuania Commonwealth, which ruled the area for hundreds of years (1550-1795ish), actually *owned* whole towns, cities, and manorial estates; had private armies; and often offered protective charters for Jews whom they contracted with to run distilleries, inns, collect taxes from the Belarusian peasants, provide services like shoemaking, etc., and basically act as middlemen between the Poles and the natives. The landed gentry were called "magnates" and were often princes and counts and other kinds of lesser nobility. After the Czar took over this region (1795-ish), many Jews performed the same services for the Russian nobility who had simply exchanged places with their Polish peers. Interestingly, there was an unusual urban-rural split in Belarus: towns and cities were populated almost entirely by the landed gentry and Jews (the only groups allowed to travel in the region), while the countryside was populated almost exclusively by the native Belarussians who spoke their own language (Belarusian, rather than Polish or Russian) and had a different religion (Greek Orthodox, rather than Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, or Jewish), and were mostly involved in agricultural activities." Central and Eastern European Magnates and Their Archives - compiled by Edward David Luft Maps 1939 Maps of Poland with Danzig Corridor Art Source International offers a selection of antique maps, prints and globes at Art Source International Lwów Street Map - 1938 Map of Galicia 1875 Map of Poland - 19,500 locations in Poland and includes street maps and coordinates. You can zero in on almost any Polish city and in addition there are over 9,100 European place names, unfortunately the information is in Polish, but it seems easily understood.
http://www.pilot.pl/ http://www.eurofresh.se/poland-map/ http://www.europeetravel.com/maps/ Map of Poland 1920 to 1939 - in color - by Administrative Districts - Second Republic of Poland's Polesie Woj: (Polesie, the political/administrative woj., is the area colored tan, where Bres'c'n. Bugiem is labeled) Another informative site is Map of
Russian/Poland Guberniyas http://wapedia.mobi/en/Pale_of_Settlement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_of_Settlement http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/HTML/revision.htm These are the major Towns of Polesie Polesie = Polish Polisia = Ukrainian Polisia, the physical-geographical region, is a region lying between the Belarusian Upland to the north, the Volhynia-Kholm Upland and the Dnieper Upland to the south, the Buh River and Podlachia to the west, and the Dnieper Lowland to the east. Click on any one of the town names below to be taken to an informational page site Map Site: Polish Guberniya Map - 1921 to 1939 Polish-Lithuanian State at Europe 18th Century Map - http://www.geocities.com/albaruthenia/IA/history.html Polish Maps - this site offers the Hofer series of maps, scale 1:200,000, with German/Polish place name equivalents right down to the small villages and an index. At present, the series covers only the former northern Prussian and southwestern Silesian regions. Posen is promised in a few months and others are coming Polish Travel Maps - Regional Map of Poland Russian Empire Map - 1902 map of Russia's Polish Provinces - http://feefhs.org/maps/ruse/re-polan.html
Part of an old Polish Marriage Contract Materials in Polish State and Other Archives in Przemysl This site refers to "records of the Austrian empire in the counties of Gorlice (1901-1918); Jaslo (1853-1918); Sanok (1873-1918); from inter-war Poland: Gorlice (1918-1939); Jaslo (1918-1939); Sanok (1918-1939). Also from the Nazi occupied Sanok County (Der Kreis Hauptmann-Sanok) from the years 1939-1944 in the Polish State Archives in Przemysl. Archivist of the Przemysl Archdiocese; "Messages from a Lost World", from The Hoover Institute in the Hoover Digest. The article, with images, is about a collection of thank-you letters from Polish children to Herbert Hoover following World War I, offering a glimpse into a lost world of European Jewry. Some of the letters cited in the Hoover Digest article were posted a In addition to images of the letters themselves, the ShtetLinks site shows the mostly Yiddish signatures on the letters with translations provided by Mindy Crystel Gross. The signatures and translations are not shown in the Hoover Digest article, but it does provide a reference and a URL to the Bielsk Podlaski ShtetLinks site. From a posting by Andrew Blumberg on JewishGen on 3/3/04 Military
In 1937, there were 13,500 Jews in the Polish Army, and during WW II, some The 5 volumes of the book of Benjamin Meirtchak: "Jewish Military Eng. Benjamin Meirtchak who was born in Wloclawek, Poland is the Central Library of the Polish Army Military records can be a useful source of genealogical information. In the context of Galician Poland (1772-1918) many of our male ancestors undertook military service freely, while others were obliged to go on active duty for 2 or 3 years, followed by perhaps 8-10 years in reserve units. The army kept detailed records on its personnel at all levels and useful information can be gleaned from these. Records for the period up until 1869 were retained in Vienna at the Vienna Kriegsarchiv and has also been extensively filmed by the Mormon Church and can be traced through the Family History catalogue. If your ancestor served in the Polish Army (post 1917), you can send inquiries to this address: Major Zdzislaw G. Kowalksi, M.A. They do not have a name card-index of soldiers, however, they do have an incomplete name card-index of officers. In order to improve your chances for a successful search, you need to provide them with the following information (to the best of your ability). Reply time is approximately two months. Full Name It is also possible to write for copies of personal records from years up to 1869 to the Archive in Vienna. Kriegsarchiv Nottendorfergasse 2, A-1030 Wien Austria. Further information can be found at http://www.polishroots.com/austrian_recruit.asp www.virtuti.com Polish Army pre - WW II: Every young, healthy man was obliged to common military service; Registration was required at 18, and men were called up at 21. Total length of required service was for two years. The reserve obligation was after active service (6 to 8 weeks per year) for soldiers and non-commissioned officers to age 40 - for officers to age 50; assigning to geographical units was changing in time before the Second World War. The reserve service not always assigned to local geographical units. At the outbreak of WW II some 100,000 Jews served in the Polish army. Mr. Benjamin Meirtchak, president of the "Association of Jewish War Veterans of Polish Armies in Israel" has compiled several thousand names Jewish soldiers of the Polish army killed in action. The address is: Polish Jews in World War II - The graves of Jewish officers and enlisted men - soldiers of the Polish Army who lost their lives in the defense of Warsaw in 1939, as well as a mass grave for 300 victims of the Nazis are located in the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery Was there a relation between Polish partisans and the Russian military? That relation was generally one of extreme hostility. The Polish resistance during the war was largely in the form of the anti-Communist Home Army (AK), which hated the Russians as much as the Germans. Anti-Semitism was another general characteristic of the AK, and the Yizkor books are thick with the Jews who died at the hands of the AK. General Haller's Army (GHA) - The GHA was originally formed in 1917 as the Polish Army in France. It was also known as the "blue Army" for the color of its uniforms. Many of its soldiers were Americans of non-Jewish Polish ancestry. They fought on the Western Front. After the end of WW I, the GHA participated in the liberation of parts of Poland and the western Ukraine from the Red Army and Ukrainian forces. For that campaign, it recruited from among captured members of the Polish contingents of the Austro-Hungarian Army held in Allied prisoner-of-war camps. There is anecdotal evidence that many Galicians, including Jews, enlisted in the GHA. This information offered by Edward Goldstein, Editor, The Galitzianer Months
Naming customs in Poland and Ukraine http://www.rootsweb.com/~polwgw/naming.html
Nashe Slowo - This is a newspaper that accepts ads for those who are looking for anyone who had Ukrainian family in southeast Poland which was dispossessed by the Poles in 1946-7 and sent to either western Ukraine or Northeast Poland http://www.optimus.waw.pl/com/nslowo/ E-mail nslowo@free.ngo.pl Address: Redakcja, Nasze Slowo, ul, Nowogrodzka 15,00-511 Warszawa Telephone:621 37 55 Fax: 621 37 50 NOT (Naczelna Organizacja Techniczna) or The Main Technical Organization in Poland was established back in Warsaw in 1935. Old Polish City and Telephone Books - Muzeum Poczty i Telekomunikacji 50-954 WROC-A3AW ul. Krasinskiego 1 Polish White and Yellow Pages "I am informed by a very reliable Jewish source in Poland that the White Pages were removed from the web for reasons connected with privacy concerns. I am looking for an alternative access. From a posting by Jacob Rosen in Israel Partitions - no partitions of Poland occurred in the 1800s. The third and last was in 1797. Since the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, and the Congress of Vienna of 1815 and up until the end of WW I, large parts of Poland belonged to the Russian Empire. Even "Congress Poland" was a semi-autonomous territory annexed to the Russian Empire and its inhabitants were Russian citizens. Photo Services - This service will photograph any locality in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine at a pre-arranged charge. Poland Border Surnames - A list of surnames for researching genealogy in the former historical borders of Poland, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Moravia, Hungary, Russia, the Balkans and East Prussia. In addition, this site has many, many links including Dictionaries, Jewish Research, Maps and Towns, Passenger Lists, and more. Also look at http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/inti?POL/PolandBorderSurnames.html Poland Gen Web Offers many important links and includes a map of the province page for resources specific to that province. http://www.rootsweb.com/~polwgw/polandgen.html Poland Provinces http://www.krykiet.com/poland_map.htm
http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/countries/ Polish Genealogy Lots of interesting links http://www.polishroots.com/genpoland/geninfo3.htm Polish Jews http://www.polishjews.org/services.htm Polish Professional Genealogical Researchers http://genealogypro.com/directories/USA.html 2D-3D Company conducts historical researches concerning family ancestral roots. They will locate and investigate present and late relatives, ancestors, heirs and missing family members and store and verify genealogical documents. Poland, 92-751Lodz, Chalasinskiego 10. Telephone: +48 42 / 671 31 88, +48 / 693 66 99 33 - e-mail: genealogia@tropisz.neostrada.pl Historical and Genealogical Studio - a group of young scientist from
Wroclaw with a third degree of academic studies at University of Wroclaw. Offers co-operation in the wide range of archival, library and regional research. Specializes in the studies focused on the former German area:
Silesia, Pomerania, East Prussia and Greater Poland. Poland Provinces Links to 421 localities in Poland by Province is at http://www.bartold.com/genealogy/lds-heirch.html New Provinces
of Poland - compares visually the old and the new current provinces. Poland Research Index An impressive variety of Polish connected information Also try this site which has been designed to assist those researching Polish ancestors with information on specific villages I noted in a posting on JewishGen by Steve Gold that Gayle Riley has a contact to do research in Krakow and she may be able to put you in touch with that researcher e-mail: Gayle at key2pst@PACBELL.NET Polish Aliyah Passport Project Judy Baston JRBaston@aol.com is the project Coordinator of this Excel file of the Aliyah Passport list These passports - issued between 1929 and 1939 -- not only bear photos and signatures of the bearers (in most cases) but the various official stamps and seals trace the entire route taken by the emigrant and (on occasion) onward travels to other countries, providing precise dates for each leg of the journey. Passports include date of birth, place of birth, last place of residence, occupation and civil status (single, married, etc.). The name of the child or the number of children appear in some instances. The photographs sometime include a husband and wife, or a husband and /or wife with the children. For a list of towns and villages mentioned as places of birth in the Polish Passports file: The Polish Passport Project as published in the Jewish Post - requires a log-in and a search Polish American Historical Association Open to anyone with an interest in ethnic studies or the Polish experience in America. Members receive the quarterly newsletter, the biannual scholarly journal Polish American Studies and more. Polish Cities This
site leads to much information, but written in Polish http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/9656/ Polish Citizens Sent To Siberia There is 'The Siberian Group' made up of people who were taken to Siberia from Poland during WW II. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in Perth, Australia last year. For further information contact Barbara Johnson bbjohnso@chmail.ch.ecu.edu.au Polish Currency 'Zloty' Literally means gold (probably from golden or guiden) and is divided into smaller values of groszy (cents) One zloty is equal to 100 groszy. Naming currency dates to the 15th century. From the 15th century until the end of the 18th century, the Polish zloty was divided into groszy or 30 copper groszy. Poland lost its independence in 1795 and local currency became the currency of the occupiers: Russians, Prussians and Austrians. From 1845, the Zloty had this much purchasing power in Krakow: Sofa = 27 zloty. At that time, the Zloty was divided into 30 groszy. In 1918, after independence, the country introduced currency called 'marka'. The Zloty was re-introduced in 1924. One zloty equaled 100 groszy and Zloty equals grams of the market value of gold. In 1924, 1 US Dollar = 5.18. In 1925, 1 US Dollar = 6.90 zlotys What could a Zloty buy in 1845? A Zloty, at that time was divided into 30 groszy. An Ash wood table with a drawer would have cost 27 zlotys. Today it is divided into smaller values of groszy (cents) One Zloty is equal to 100 groszys. Polish Genealogical Society of the USA offers maps, history, databases and more at Polish Genealogical Society of America Polish General Genealogy Resource Offers many links of volunteer and paid searches of ancestor sites. Worth a look. Polish Greek Catholic Records Information concerning the proper spelling of many of the towns , along with information on the name of the "former district" and the "current district" and an indication of the record years available are on-line. They were microfilmed by the FHC (Family History Center) and the original records are at the Roman Catholic Diocesan Archive in Tarnow. The majority of these records are in Latin and represent the Lemko Region. Polish Jews From this website you may research your Jewish roots, find info about Jewish cemeteries and synagogues, find info about the Holocaust, find photos of towns and Jewish places in Poland, use translation services (Polish-English) and read the history of Polish Jews Polish Letter Writing Guides Several different
templates, both in English and in Polish, allowing you to write to Archives, etc. http://members.aol.com/genpoland/arch.htm http://members.aol.com/genpoland/eccla.htm http://members.aol.com/genpoland/par.htm This site also offers good information on searching and definitions of popular words in the Polish Language. Polish Military Information Association of Jewish War Veterans of Polish Armies in Israel, Attn: Mr. Benjamin Meirtchak, 158 Dizingov St., Tel Aviv, Israel Phone: 972 3 522 5078 Polish Money Transferring This company handles money transfers from dollars to Polish currency Len Markowitz priluki@voicenet.com offered the following in a posting at Gesher Galicia SIG: 'I guess that it is time to repeat the method that I have used successfully to send money to Poland. Admittedly, it has been about five years since I have last done this, but it was done on at least 4 occasions. To pay for information from the Polish State Archives, purchase a Postal Money Order at your local post office for about $1 - not an International Postal Money Order, which costs about $8.50 (five years ago). Address the Postal Money Order to the bank, including the bank account number, suggested previously by the Polish State Archives. Also make a copy of the Postal Money Order and send it with your next letter to the Polish State Archives' Polish Museum of America 984 North Milwaukee Ave. Chicago, IL 60622 Telephone: (773) 384 3352. Hours: Daily 11 am to 4 pm e-mail pma@prcua.org Polish Language Newspapers http://www.world-newspapers.com/poland.htmlbn Polish Occupations Translations http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/pl-occ.txt Polish Order of the Virtuti Militari Recipients List of Surnames from 1792 to 1992. http://www.feefhs.org/pl/vm/vm-c.html There is also a map of Russia partition and other maps are at this site. Also check out Polish Passports A collection of thousands of pre-war (late 1930s) Polish passports of intending Jewish emigrants to Palestine, whose plans were dashed by the outbreak of the war in 1939 are stored at The Jewish Historical Association ul. Tlomackie 3/5, 00-090 Warsaw, Poland Telephone/Fax (48-2) 625 0400; Polish Postal Codes Check out this site for the correct spelling of most
Polish cities by selecting the first letter of the town's name. Another site for postal information is
Polish Provinces
This is a list of links that will get you directly to the locality details pages for 421 Polish cities and towns One of the problems facing a researcher, is the frequent
name changes, not just of our families, but of the towns in which they lived. This URL: contains a list showing most of the hundreds of town name changes from German to Polish in 19th Century Posen Province. Be aware that Jewish families are also listed often in the Catholic and Evangelical registers. This information posted by Miriam Margolyes on
Polish State Archives: addresses for Archives in western Ukraine and southeastern Poland. Director: Daria Nalecz The Main and Regional Archives of the Polish State Archives System can respond to inquiries which are written in Polish. However, if you contact local registry offices (known as Urzad Stanu Cywilnego, USC), you can write in English, French or German. The Archives and USCs will always respond in Polish. When you contact the Polish State Archives, they always state what relevant records they believe they have. If you send them money, and they cannot produce any records, they will not refund. The Director is Dr. Daria Nalecz. The Archives charge $15.00 per hour research fee which does not apply when your order specific records by their Year and Akt (record) number. Using the Len Markowitz priluki@voicenet.com offered the following in a posting at Gesher Galicia SIG: 'I guess that it is time to repeat the method that I have used successfully to send money to Poland. Admittedly, it has been about five years since I have last done this, but it was done on at least 4 occasions. To pay for information from the Polish State Archives, purchase a Postal Money Order at your local post office for about $1 - not an International Postal Money Order, which costs about $8.50 (five years ago). Address the Postal Money Order to the bank, including the bank account number, suggested previously by the Polish State Archives. Also make a copy of the Postal Money Order and send it with your next letter to the Polish State Archives' Materials in the Polish State and Other Archives in Przemysl - this site refers to 'records of the Austrian Empire in the counties of Gorlice (1901-1918); Jaslo (1853-1918); Sanok (1873-1918); from inter-war Poland; Gorlice (1918-1939) Jaslo (1918-1939); Sanok (1918-1939). Also from the Nazi occupied Sanok County (Der Kreis Hauptmann-Sanok) from the years 1939-1944 in the Polish State Archives in Przemysl at Polish Synagogues - at one time there were over six thousand synagogues scattered throughout Poland. There are only two synagogues in all of Poland where religious services are regularly conducted, one in Warsaw and the other in Krakow. Information obtained from http://members.tripod.com/~mikerosenzweig/polsynagog.htm A presentation of some of the synagogues visited by David M. Dickerson in April 1995 The exhibition of Moshe Verbin' models of the destroyed wooden synagogues of Poland in the 17th and 18th Century, is now on a permanent display at "ORT" College in Givat Ram Jerusalem, Israel. The models and the documentation about each synagogue are in two display windows in the main corridor of the college, which is situated on the right side of the entrance to the Hebrew university. The address is: Ort College Polish Telephone Area Codes
Polish Telephone Area Codes Polish Universities before WWII 1. krakow (yagiellonian university) - uniwersytet jagiellonski Polish Web Sites of Interest to Jews - Plenty of links such as Dictionaries; Jewish Research; Libraries; Maps and Towns; Passenger Lists; Surname Search Online http://shavei.org//en/Newsletters.aspx?Name=English Post Offices of Former Austrian Territories - Includes Base post offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bohemia, Hungary, Levant, Lombardy, Mantua, Moravia, Silesia, Prague, Poland (Galicia), Venetia and Yugoslavia - all places are in alphabetical order, with provinces prefixed Property Information Records - "Without regard to the fact whether with building or not, all parcels in Poland are registered in so called ground books. The ground books are run by proper departments of the regional courts. It would certainly be better if you knew the register number of that parcel (LWH or KW) but even without it, although it takes a while, you may check the current state of the property - to whom is it currently registered etc." G. Gembala Krakow, Poland Rabbi Information Chief Rabbi of Poland in 2005 is Michael Schudrich. Rabbi of Krakow - the first since WW II is Avraham Flaks The chief Rabbi of Slonim was Rabbi Yehuda Leib Fein who served as the Vice Chief Rabbi of Poland until the occupation of Poland by both Germany and USSR in 1939. He was killed in the Slonim Ghetto with 1,200 men of this community on July 17, 1941, the first massacre of Jews and the beginning of the destruction of the Jewry in Eastern Europe. Registry Office in Poland The local registry offices in
Poland (Urzad Stanu Cywilnego) issue very brief certificates (parents names and date of birth of the child). You can obtain a photocopy of the entry in the parish register. Rodziny The magazine of Polish-American genealogy Russian Era Indexing of Poland Project LDS (Mormon Church) microfilms of the Jewish vital records Researchers should subscribe by sending the message: subscribe reipp to listserv@mail.jewishgen.org Search Engine Search Engines Tip: If there is a site that you are interested in, but it is written in Polish, I can suggest cutting out the site or a phrase from the page and paste it into the search engines. This gives a larger range of hits since the search engines look at the way a word is structured, not necessarily what it means. Here are two search engines that I have used successfully: (this is a program that you will love, once it is installed on your computer and can be used for many searches). Also there is http://www.netmasters.co.uk/european_serch_engines/poland.shtml
http://www.netmasters.co.uk/european_search_engines/
Search Engines for Poland Shoreshim - an organization dedicated to the preservation and propagation of information relating to the Jewish communities of Poland ... be it genealogical and historical data of the past, or be it current events of today and projects for the future. Shoreshim is a non-profit organization run by individuals who are devoted researchers in genealogy and Polish Jewish history. Slavophilia - a comprehensive guide to Internet resources on Russia and Central/Eastern Europe Stutthof Museum - information is available concerning the Stutthof camp. Write to: Muzeum Stutthof Surnames - Polish Order of the Virtuti Militari Recipients from 1792 to 1992 - a list of surnames. Surname Search Sources: Read and post to the Surnames boards http://familyhistory.com Polish Translations Letter Writing Guide - The polish Genealogical Society has a web site that has a Polish Letter Writing Guide The Mormon Family History Library Center at A universal on-line dictionaries for scores of languages, including Polis http://yourDictionary.com No recommendation is made or implied, but you can try to negotiate with Yuri Slisaruk, Kyiv, Ukraine at eetrays@ukrnet.net Yuri is a Ukrainian and can read and speak Polish, as well as Russian and Ukrainian. Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged. Also try these free sites: Another site to find research volunteers of Polish Names, translators, etc. http://www.maxpages.com/poland/Volunteers Polish Translation Site - http://karta.icm.edu.pl/indeks/ind-baz.html Poltran - a commercial service that offers to translate Polish words into English or English words into Polish Translating Services - Click Here Translation Service - a commercial site offering many language translating programs Translation Service - this is a pay per translation service called World Lingo http://www.worldlingo.com/microsoft/computer_translation.html Translation Tip: Contact a Polish Museum or a Polish Language Newspaper. They may be willing to help you translate documents. Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged. Polish Letters (s) English Sound
Polish Word Meanings
For a complete list of occupation translations "In Their Words: A Genealogist's Translation Guide to Polish German, Latin and Russian Documents". Volume I: Polish - authored by Jonathan D. Shea and William F. (Fred) Hoffman has been reviewed by Leonard F. Jakubczak, PhD can be found at State Archives of Poland List - a listing and links to all State Archives in Poland and other links is at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~polwgw/addresses.html Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland - Jerzy Kichler, President who is from Wroclaw in southwest Poland. He was chosen for a second term by 74 delegates representing eight organized Jewish communities around the country and several local communal branches. The Union is located in Warsaw. Vital and Marriage Records From Greek Catholic and Orthodox Parishes in Former Austrian Galicia, Former Malo Rus, Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus (former Byelorussia) available through The Mormon Family History Library (FHL)
Yizkor Books
ZSSR (Zwiazek Socjalistycznych Republik Radzieckich) a Polish abbreviation for the Soviet Union meaning "old good" USSR. Map Lemko area maps of former part of Poland. You have to drill down to get to the map site, but it is worth it. Map of Russian/Poland Guberniyas: http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/~feefhs/maps/ruse/re-polan.html Map of Poland in 1939 - Maps of Poland - Other Map Sources: Travel Information Additional information available at my 'Traveling Roots' page and books on traveling are available at my link to Amazon.com by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy All Hotels in Poland - Best choices for hotels throughout Poland http://www.poltravel.com/ Help to plan your trip to Poland Krakow - In an article in the 5/20/01 issue of the Los Angeles Times Travel section, three hotels were mentioned; the modest, but clean Hotel Rezydent Grodzka 9 Street (011 48 12 429 5410 - Fax: 011 48 12 429 5576) and close to Market Square; Hotel Copernicus on winding Kanonieza 16 Street (011 48 12 431 1044 - Fax: 011 48 12 431 1140) located in a 14th century brick building; and the Francuski Pijarska 13 (Phone: 011 48 12 422 5122 - Fax: 011 48 12 422 5270) in a demure 1912 building with a sweeping central staircase on the north side of the old Town. To be in the heart of Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter, Hotel Eden, Ciemna 15
Jewish Travel Guide - edited by Stephen W. Massil and published in association with the Jewish Chronicle, London. Alicja Marmol - I received this message, and although it is of no personal value, it might be for someone else. "Hi, My name is Alicja. I live in Poland. I would like to learn Yiddish very much but I don't know how. I am a fan of Klezmer music. I can speak English and Polish of course. Best regards from the most beautiful country in Europe - Poland. Alicja Marmol malicja@poczta.onet.pl Judaism and Jewish Recourses: Jewish Communities = Andrew Tannenbaum Plan a trip to Poland web site Polish Guides - Andrzej/Andrew, a genealogist from Rzeszow, pielaand@intertele.pl Polish National Tourist Office - The Jewish Traveler - Hadassah Magazine's Guide to the World's Jewish Communities and Sights, edited by Alan M. Tigay Personal Jeff Donsky's Przedborz, Poland 1988 trip including photos of the Jewish Cemetery Lauren B. Eisenberg authored "Nineteenth Century Occupations" is a statistical analysis of the distribution of the occupations of our ancestors, based upon the occupations of the fathers listed in the birth registrations of selected towns in the Kielce-Radom region for 1826 to 1835. Jack Goldfarb's "Kin's Lost Gravestone Unearthed in Polish Town". This is the author's story of the discovery of his grandfather's tombstone dug up from a courtyard during construction in Staszow, November, 1998 Rita Permut's Poland Trip 1998. Her trip information may be shared by contacting her at ritapermut@erols.com Marc Weinman - "A Journey to Radom" is a travelogue of a visit to an ancestral home town Yizkor Books
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