Polish Genealogy Links

Warsaw Market, by Kitztym on Pixabay

Archives and Databases

  • Archiwum Glowne Akt Dawnych (AGAD), The Central Archives of Historical Records, Warsaw
  • Baza Systemu Indeksacji Archiwalnej (BaSIA), “The BaSIA project or ‘Database of the Archival Indexing System’ was created for a wide range of genealogists and researchers of the history of Greater Poland of the 18th-20th centuries (although it also contains older information).”
  • Geneteka, “a database hosted by Polish Genealogical Society website. It is the biggest database concerning Polish genealogy, which contains over 30 milion indexes from many regions of Poland.”
  • How to use Geneteka, by FamilySearch.org
  • Category: Poland Online Research, Wiki by FamilySearch.org
  • HalGal, “This website provides general information on Halychyna/Eastern Galicia, a region that is often misunderstood or ignored in North America. This site should be the starting point for anyone researching their ancestral roots in Western Ukraine / Eastern Galicia.  Many of the pages will be useful for Polish researchers of Western Galicia, as well. “
  • Metryki
  • Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Vital Records in Metryki.Genealodzy.pl, by From Shepherds and Shoemakers blog
  • PolandGenWeb, “Part of the WorldGenWeb Project, the website provides visitors with research tutorials, maps (historic and present day), town locators and town lists, translation aids, archives addresses, and much more.”
  • Polish State Archives, translated as “a website whose purpose is to make available on the Internet descriptions of archival materials from state archives and other institutions. We present most of them together with scans. Thanks to this, it is possible to use the collected collections without leaving home. Access is completely open – no login required and is free.”
  • Poznan Project, “Our goal is to transcribe the 19th century marriage records from the historic Greater Poland (then Prussian Province of Poznan) into a searchable online database.”
  • JRI Poland Organization, “the largest fully searchable database of indexes to Jewish vital records accessible online.”
  • Lublin Digital Archive Search Utility, from The Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe
  • JewishGen All Poland Database, “enables researchers to find indices to vital and related records from the independent JRI-Poland database as well as entries from other databases.  The combined databases have more than 7.7 million entries for individuals living in areas now or formerly in Poland.  The database is a work in progress, and new entries are being added regularly.”
  • Poland, Roman Catholic Church Books, 1587—1976, by FamilySearch.org
  • Polish Telephone Yellow Pages (PanoramaFirm), says Lubelskie GenWeb: “Either enter a name in the search facility, or the catergory feature further down the page. Note the English option button in the top right corner of the first page does not help, so input the name of the place you are interested in in the box marked ‘miasta’ and then click ‘szukaj’. The next screen that comes up will have an English flag button on it that actually works!”
  • The Programme for the Registration of Records from Parish and Public (civil) Registers PRADZIAD, of the State Archives of Poland
  • Index of Polish Marriages Until 1899, OnGenealogy.com (volunteer-created)
  • Genealogy Indexer: Historical City Directories, see Polish Genealogy Databases Online, by Kimberly Powell for an explanation of what a great resource this is.

Wikis and Help Pages

Vital Records, Aids and Explanations

The War Years

Borderlands

Sometimes the borders changed in the past, and what is now Poland was once Germany or what was once Poland (Galicia) might be in the current Ukraine. Here are a few links which may contain records of your relatives.

Maps

History of Poland 1635 – 2016

Graves and Funeral Customs

Facebook Groups

Genealogy Groups and Societies

Polish-Canadian Heritage

Webinars and Youtube Videos

  • Daniel Bucko presentation for The Polish Genealogy Society of New York (2012):
Daniel Bucko presentation for the Polish Genealogy Society. Sept 2012.

Blogs and How-to’s

Polish Culture

Lublin

Thanks to the Lubelskie GenWeb (on Rootsweb):

  • Lublin Official Home Page, “Not the most informative city site, but some nice pictures and they have a camera giving a picture of the main gate to the old town, updated every 30 seconds (click on the ‘Goat’ image at the top of the page, and then the ‘goat’ at the top right corner of the next page to come up).”
  • The Lublin Catholic Archdiocese, “in Polish.”
  • The Lutheran Church in Lublin, “Very helpful site for genealogists.”
  • Greek-Catholic Church in Poland, “Not much in English, but hopefully that will change.”
  • Hrubieszow, “from the JewishGen project.”
  • 1929 Polish Business Directory, “Fascinating lists of businesses and who owned them . Remember that this is interwar Poland, so includes parts of former Poland now in countries on the eastern side and does not include former German regions in western Poland.”

Białystok

  • Yahrzeit Cards, maintained by The Bialystoker Center in New York City from about 1880 through about 1994, and “some of these cards will show four generations of names and addresses.”
  • Białystok Government Archive
  • Bialystok Ghetto Underground Archive, EHRI
  • Bialystok Ghetto Underground Archive, explanation by the Jewish Historical Institute blog