Poland Finding Aids

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Poland

Finding Aids

Online Church Record Inventories and Finding Aids

Poland finding aids have been created by a variety of state, church, society, and private organizations. Their goal is to inform 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.
• 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
• Poland, Roman Catholic Church Books Index, 1742-1964, index, ($)
• 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, ($).

FamilySearch Historical Records

• 1784-1964 - Poland, Lublin Roman Catholic Church Books, 1784-1964, images and index.

• 1587-1966 - Poland, Radom Roman Catholic Church Books, 1587-1966, images and index.

• 1612-1900 - Poland, Tarnow Roman Catholic Diocese Church Books, 1612-1900, images and index.
• 1794-1874 - Germany, Prussia, Brandenburg and Posen, Church Book Duplicates, 1794-1874, index and images.

• 1544-1945 - Germany, Prussia, Pomerania Church Records, 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 

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’’’ - Poland, Evangelical Church Books, 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’’’ - Poland, Częstochowa Roman Catholic Church Books, 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.

Major Religious Dioceses

Use The Catholic Directory, Poland to find the parish and diocese for your town.

Lutheran Dioceses: Use Luteranie.pl to find the diocese and parish for your town.

Catholic Dioceses

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

1. Białystok Archdiocese 2. Drohiczyn Diocese 3. Łomża Diocese 4. Craców Archdiocese 5. Bielsko–Żywiec Diocese 6. Kielce Diocese 7. Tarnow Diocese 8. Częstochowa Archdiocese 9. Radom Diocese 10. Sosnowiec Diocese 11. Gdańsk Archdiocese 12. Pelplin Diocese Another list 13. Toruń Diocese 14. Gniezno Archdiocese 15. Bydgoszcz Diocese 16. Włocławek Diocese Click on "Katalog". Click on "Akta dekanalne i parafialne". Click on "Akta parafialne". Click on "Księgi metrykalne". 17. Katowice Archdiocese Clickable map

18. Gliwice Diocese 19. Opole Diocese 20. Łódź Archdiocese 21. Łowicz Diocese 22. Lublin Archdiocese 23. Sandomierz Diocese 24. Siedlce Diocese 25. Poznań Archdiocese 26. Kalisz Diocese 27. Przemyś Archdiocese 28.Rzeszów Diocese 29. Zamość-Lubaczów Diocese 30. Szczecin-Kamień Archdiocese 31. Koszalin-Kołobrzeg Diocese 32. Zielona Góra-Gorzów Diocese 33. Warmia Archdiocese 34. Elbląg Diocese 35. Ełk Diocese 36. Warsaw Archdiocese 37. Płock Diocese 38. Warsaw-Praga Diocese 39. Wrocław Archdiocese 40. Legnica Diocese 41. Świdnica Diocese

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