Polish Genealogy
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Finding Online Records in Poland
Are you researching the regions which are part of today’s Poland including: the lost Eastern German Provinces of West Prussia (Westpreußen), Pomerania (Pommern), Silesia (Schlesien), Posen and parts of the former province of East Prussia (Ostpreußen) the Kingdom of Prussia (Königreich Preußen) Poland Galicia If you are, you may know that that access to records across this large Central European region can be difficult to find. The following article (Blog posting) provides an excellent road map of where to hunt. The content format and material on the following material in this post is mirrored from a posting on The Lost Shoebox. (I have mirrored the complete original posting so as not…
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Allenstein (Ostpreußen) Records
For those interested in, or researching the region(s) near, the former German/ Prussian city of Allenstein Ostpreußen – East Prussia (today the city is known as Olsztyn in Poland) numerous updates have taken place recently with respect to available pre-1945 records. These involve most notably: Churches near the former German city of Allenstein (Ostpreußen) – the Polish city of Olsztyn today. Polish State Archive of Olsztyn ( Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie )- the records archive. The man whose leadership is key to bringing these records online is project team leader Bernhard Ostrzinski. Bernhard and his team of dedicated “researchers” publish digital copies of records in the Olsztyn State Archive…
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East Prussia – Ostpreußen
A Brief History (Background) East Prussia (Ostpreußen), a former province of Prussia and the 2. und 3. Deutsches Reichs (2nd & 3rd German Empires), was located in extreme Northeast Germany (existed prior to 1945; it was dissolved in 1945). The region of East Prussia has low rolling hills that are heavily wooded, and it is dotted by many lakes (especially in Ermland, Polish: Masuria) and drained by several rivers including the Nemen (Nieman). Its Baltic coast is deeply indented by the Vistula Lagoon (Frisches Haff) and by the Gulf of Kursh (Kurisches Haff). Historically, East Prussia was at the center of the development of historical Prussia. Up to the 16th…
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Finding Genealogy Data in Central & Eastern Europe
Lately, I have received a significant number of inquiries regarding how to ‘best’ approach the conduct of German- Prussian- Polish- Shoah research. The questions I have received point to a number of common questions, without specifically re-stating the questions, I will detail their responses here: I understand that English-speakers want European Records written and searchable in English. However… I am obligated to point out that our European ancestors may have spoken and written in languages other than English; and so… their records will ‘most likely’ be in their native languages (or perhaps Latin, Hebrew). As for genealogy and/or data search functions, I personally do not totally trust or rely on…
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Shoah Research (Holocaust) Resources
For those conducting Shoah (Holocaust) research, you know how difficult good resources and information are to find. Recently I came across a number of ‘less well-known’ (to me) web sites that offer a wealth of source and context information. Hopefully, these links will be of some use in your research efforts. Nazi holocaust documents found: 6,300 files discovered behind wall of Budapest apartment Many educators appreciate the value of using primary source materials in the classroom. The documents selected for this section provide many possibilities for classroom discussion or student activities. The Virginia Holocaust Museum BYU Harold B. Lee Library Shoah (Holocaust) Selected Digitized Documents Related to the Holocaust and…
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NEHGS Searchable German Duplicate Records
Today, I received an email from one of our readers (Beth Golden). Beth’s note provided the following information: German Church Book Duplicates (Online at American Ancestors- New England Historic Genealogical Society) Germany, Baden, Church Book Duplicates, 1810-1869 Germany, Prussia, Brandenburg and Posen, Church Book Duplicates, 1794-1874 These collections of church records for the territories of Baden, Brandenburg and Posen, Germany, were obtained from church book duplicates that were annually provided to the German state for use by civil authorities. If a particular region had only one religious institution, the clergy often recorded the births, marriages, and deaths of all local individuals regardless of religious affiliation. Microfilm numbers noted in the…
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Shoah Research- Getting Started
Are you embarking on Shoah (Holocaust) research? Would you like a little coaching in this area of research? Although I can hardly claim to be a Shoah research expert, I am more than willing to share what I have learned. By way of providing some background, for the past nine months, or so, I have been helping folks attempt to unearth the stories behind their Jewish roots in Poland and Germany, trying to discover ‘lost’ family records, and more. It has been quite the adventure. Needless to say, the Shoah is an area of emotion, sadness, mystery, frustration, intrigue, and much more. I thought that perhaps others might benefit…
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Why are so many records missing?
Why is it so hard to find genealogy information in the areas of Prussia, Poland, and Germany? Where did all the information go? Was the information moved to some safe place? I hear this type of question and discussion often. The answers to those questions are actually quite simple and brief; although achieving an appreciation and understanding of their response is often somewhat more elusive. Question: Where did all the information go? Answer: Much was destroyed or lost, never to be recovered. Question: Was the information moved to some safe place? Answer: The truth is there were few, if any safe places. Early ‘on the eve of destruction‘, many ‘crucial’ records/documents…
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Olsztyn/ Allenstein State Archives
The Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie (State Archive in Olsztyn) are providing free access to genealogical records from many of the towns and villages of that area (formerly East Prussia). These records are largely in German (as well as Polish) and are freely available as scanned images on the archive’s website. If your Polish is a little shaky, you may wish to access this page using Chrome (using Google Translate) or similar. The following link will take you to the archives: Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie Additionally, many of these same records (approximately 362,650) are available in a digitally searchable format courtesy of Bernhard Ostrzinski. You may access his excellent work on the…
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70 years on…
As everyone most certainly knows, this year is 2015. 7 May 2015 marks the official surrender date of German forces, some 70 years ago.For those who focus on 1945 as the end of WW2 in Europe, it was. Sadly, 1945 was not just an ending; it was also the beginning of the total destruction and removal of a ~600 year old way of life, a culture, and the homeland for millions of Eastern Germans. In the years following 1945, some 12 to 14 million people were forcibly removed from their homes and expelled from the recently surrendered German Eastern provinces. To place these events into a reasonably balanced historical context,…
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Researching “Lost” Eastern German Provinces
Many people get confused when conducting searches for their Eastern German forebears; this is especially true if those forebears purport to have been from Prussia (Preussen), Pomerania (Pommern), Silesia (Schlesien). Note: I have written a detailed article on helping you determine whether or not your family was Prussian and if so, what type. It might not surprise you that I encounter a lot of people having trouble doing, or trying to do, ‘their’ Prussian research. Given I have fairly extensive research experience in those regions of Europe, I thought I’d put together a quick tutorial, or key, for identifying and finding clues to those Eastern German ancestors ‘of ours’ who…
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ICRC World War 1 Prisoner of War Database
The International Committee of the Red Cross recently published a Free, online database of WW1 prisoners of war. The ICRC WW1 PoW Database contains some 5 million records and offers exceptional insights into the conditions and circumstances of the time, period and situation. Based on my testing of the ‘tool’, I think a few words of caution are in order: Be certain to read the instructions on How-to use the tool. (It might work in ‘unexpected’ ways; it did for me.) There is a nice tutorial (and it is easy to use). Often the print is faint; look closely at the records. Much of the text is in script; as…
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Polish Genealogical Societies
The following post provides a reasonably completelisting of Polish (meaning in Poland) Genealogical Societies and Groups. As I get and add new sites, this list will be ‘automagically’ updated. Note: Due to the forcible expulisons of Poles in both 1939 and post-1945, you may wish to examine areas in today’s Belarus & Ukraine for information. Unfortunately, ManyRoads does not have much information on those regions. Should you know of additional organizations we ought to included in our compendium, please contact me with the particulars and I will add them.
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German Illness/ Death Terms and Translations
The following is a compiled listing of illnesses and causes of death gleaned from three primary sources. They are posted here in the hopes that they may aid family historians and genealogists in interpreting the conditions in which their ancestors lived and died. My role has merely been to find/ source the material make three small updates and then reformat the list into a pdf document which contains both type-written and German Sütterlin script. Hopefully this will help you better recognize the script in source documents. German-Diseases 46.6 KB The credit for the translation work should go to Ann Rempel, Dora Epp, V. Lyle von Riesen, and Adalbert Goertz. This work…
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Polish Genealogy Sources
Recently, I decided it was time to begin researching my Aunt Annette’s family. For the record, my Aunt Annette was my grandfather’s second wife. Although she is of no genetic relationship to me, 30 years after her death I remain emotionally linked to her. Anyway, her family line was from Poland. She married my grandfather in the 1940s and I met her first in the early 1960s. So although I knew she was a nice woman who could hardly cook, none of that went very far in aiding my genealogy efforts on her behalf(which continue today). To begin my research, I had an awareness that her family was from Poland;…
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WW1 German Casualty Lists – 1.WK Armee-Verordnungsblatt Verlustliste
Since I originally wrote this article, a number of new source material sites have come online. Be advised the only records listed here are those for German War Dead or Wounded. In the event that you are unaware of key statistics involving German troops in WW1 here is a rough sketch: Killed in Action: 1.7 to 2 million Wounded: 4.2 million 65% of all mobilized men were casualties (killed or wounded) A word of caution, Austrian or other German Central Power Aligned Troops are listed elsewhere, as are those of the Allied Powers. As of 8 Feb. 2015, you may find WW1 German Casualty Lists online at (but be aware…
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