Poland Finding Aids

Finding Aids

 * Poland finding aids have been created by a variety of state, church, society, and private organizations.
 * Their goal is to inform you what records exist and the repositories that hold them.
 * Each finding aid has a different focus--a particular religion or geographical area or archive or collection. Be sure to search all that apply to your ancestors.
 * Remember that churches often produced civil registration records. The church records might have been destroyed, but copies had been sent to the government and still exist. So we search for both church records and civil registration records.
 * The PRADZIAD Database A database that comprises information on parish and civil registration registers preserved in all branches of the Polish State Archives and some Roman Catholic diocesan and archdiocesan archives. Gives location of specific records and address of archives.
 * A finding aid usually:
 * Gives (or can search) a list of parishes and/or civil registration offices
 * Tells what years records are available broken down by births, marriages, and deaths
 * States where the original records are deposited


 * A find aid may:
 * Link to an index of the records
 * Link to digitized images of the records
 * Link to contact information for the repository

Links to Finding Aids

 * Szukaj w Archiwach Search page for church records and civil registration at the National Archives. Links directly to scans.
 * FamilySearch Catalog for Poland Microfilms (all will eventually be digitized, many are now) of the FamilySearch records.
 * Lutheran Records in Russian Poland Church records inventory with links to scans held at various repositories.
 * Baptist Church Records in Poland
 * Baptist Records in Russian Poland
 * Parafie.genealodzy.pl, Parish inventory, address list of current parishes.
 * AGOFF, an organization dedicated to finding missing records of Prussia.
 * Silesia Findbuch, Comprehensive list of Silesian church records by parish, their location, and links to online records
 * Family Research in West Prussia, Inventory of Church Records, listed by county (kreis), find the kreis for your town in Meyers 1871 Gazetteer.
 * Family Research in West Prussia, Inventory of Civil Registration Records, organized by county (kreis). Find the kreis in Meyer's 1871 Gazetteer.
 * PTG (Pomorskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne) Online indexes to birth, marriage and death records for the Pomeranian area.
 * Pommerscher Greif e. V., Association for Pomeranian Family and Local History.
 * Finding aid tool for church records
 * Finding aid tool for civil registration
 * Archiwum Państwowe w Przemyślu, for the Przemyśl region of Subcarpathia, searchable by name and localities, with links to scans.
 * Genealogia w Archiwach, Torun and Bydgoszcz State Archives, mostly in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian area.
 * BaSia, indexing for Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian
 * Lubgens, searchable database and finding aid for Lublin voivodeship.
 * AGAD (Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie), parish inventory for Warsaw, Lublin and Subcarpathian.
 * Geneteka

Online Searchable Databases

 * Geneteka
 * Index of Polish marriages until 1899, index, incomplete.
 * JewishGen Poland Database
 * Jewish Records Indexing-Poland

Ancestry.com

 * Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany (Poland), Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945, index and images, incomplete. ($)
 * Germany, Prussia, Brandenburg and Posen, Select Church Book Duplicates, 1794-1874, index, ($).
 * Brandenburg, Germany, Transcripts of Church Records, 1700-1874, index and images, ($).
 * Poland, Roman Catholic Church Books Index, 1742-1964, index, ($)

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * 1784-1964 - images and index.
 * 1587-1966 - images and index.
 * 1612-1900 - images and index.
 * 1794-1874 - index and images.
 * 1544-1945 - index and images

Regional Databases

 * Archiwum Państwowe w Przemyślu for the Przemyśl region of Subcarpathia, searchable by name and localities, with links to scans.
 * Search Rzeszów Vital Records
 * Lubgens, searchable database for Lublin voivodeship.
 * BaSia, indexing for Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian
 * Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu Census database 1870-1931
 * Poznań Marriage Indexing Project. Marriage records from the entire Duchy of Poznań (Posen).
 * PTG (Pomorskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne) Online indexes to birth, marriage and death records for the Pomeranian area.
 * Upper Silesian Genealogical Society 
 * The All Galicia Database

Online Browsable Images Databases

 * Szukaj w ArchiwachTutorial The Polish Archives
 * Archion: Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin($), records for former Prussian localities, browsable image
 * ’’’1700-2005’’’ - images, no index.
 * National Archives in Stettin Tutorial
 * Metryki Genealodzy Roman Catholic Records
 * Metryki GenBaza
 * Archiwum Państwowe w Przemyślu, for the Przemyśl region of Subcarpathia, searchable by name and localities, with links to scans.
 * AGAD (Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie), parish inventory for Warsaw, Lublin and Subcarpathian.
 * National archives in Krakow
 * Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie
 * Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu
 * Archiwum Państwowe w Szczecinie
 * Matricula Breslau is now Wrocław
 * ‘’’1226-1950’’’ - images, no index.
 * Pommerscher Greif e. V., Association for Pomeranian Family and Local History.
 * Go to Forschung > Famillienforschung > Standesamt online or Kirchenbuch online > Find your Kreis >Parish

Records at the FamilySearch Library
The Family History Library has church records on microfilm from many parishes throughout Poland, some to 1875, some to the 1880s, and some as late as the 1960s. Look in the catalog under the name of the town where the parish was, not necessarily the town where your ancestor lived: POLAND, (COUNTY), (TOWN) - CHURCH RECORDS New records are continually added to the library’s collection from several sources. Do not give up if records are not available yet. Check the FamilySearch Catalog every two or three years for the records you need.

Local Parishes
Most Catholic church records are still maintained by the parish, which will generally answer correspondence in Polish. You can write directly to the parish with a nonspecific address (Catholic parish, Town name with postal code, Poland), but using the specific parish address is better. If the records you need have been moved to a diocese or state archive, your request may be forwarded to that archive.

Parish Addresses

 * The Catholic Directory, Poland
 * Luteranie.pl: Polish Evangelical website with all current diocese addresses and individual parishes and email addresses. Many Lutheran parishes that existed before the 1918/1945 boundary changes no longer exist. Some of their records are in the diocese archives, and some were sent to Archion: Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin.

How to Write the Letter
Write your request in Polish whenever possible. Information about how to write to local parishes in Poland is given in Poland Letter Writing Guide.

Diocese Archives
Some parish registers are collected in diocesan archives. Generally the very old records (before 1800) are in diocesan archives. Some dioceses have parishes archive their records after 100 years. Protestants also maintain church archives, although their records are likely to be in a state archive. Church archives are often unable to handle genealogical requests, but they can tell you if specific records are available.

Catholic Dioceses
Catholic Diocese names are clickable to lists of parish records held by the archive.