Silesia (Schlesien) Land and Property

The land records, formerly recorded in the records of the lower courts of Silesia are now found in the Polish regional archives, partly also in German and Czech archives. An actual list of where what is deposited see the article by Stefan Guzy in Schlesische Geschichtsblätter 37 (2010) pp. 20-30.

The General Commission for Silesia at Breslau was overlooking among others the privileges, services and goods paid in kind. Their records are deposited in the State Archive of Breslau with 42.400 volumes for the years 1769 and 1816-1928. From these records can be gleaned the property situations of all villagers in the first half of the 19th century who were not free farmers, of people occupying houses (Häusler) of Gärtner (people who had small garden plots) and people who just simply rented a house or space. The records are organized by county and villages and are accessible through so called Findbücher (archival indexes).

The very first land records are to be found in so called Urbare. They also contain documentation about the serf population from the first half of the 16th century on. Older records are storded in the State Archive of Breslau, the Troppau Archive and other archives. More recent records might be stored with the lower courts or the actual village administrations.

For further information see Urbare Oberschlesische Urbare

Source: http://wiki_de.genealogy.net/Schlesien