Poland Letter Writing Guide: Difference between revisions

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This guide is for researchers who do not speak Polish but must write to Poland for genealogical records. It includes some useful information and a list of sentences you would use in requesting genealogical records and Polish translations of these sentences.  

The best sources of genealogical information in Poland are records of births, marriages, and deaths records kept by churches and civil registration offices. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of these records for many, but not all localities. Use the FamilySearch Catalog to determine what records are available through the Library and the Family History Centers. If records are available from the Library, it is usually faster and more productive to search these records first. If the records you want are not available through the library, you can use this guide to help you write to Poland for information.  

Before You write to Poland for family history records, you should do following things:  

*'''Determine exactly where your ancestor was born, was married, lived, or died. <br>'''Because most genealogical sources were recorded locally, you will need to know the specific locality where your ancestor was born, married, lived or died.  

*'''Determine your ancestor's religion.<br>'''Because most early records were kept by churches or synagogues rather than civil registraiton offices, you may need to write to the church your ancestor attended in his or her hometown. If you are not sure what your ancestor's religion was in Poland, determine what religion he or she practiced after immigrating. People usually did not change religions when they moved frm Europe to their new home. Remember that main religion in Poland was and still is Roman Catholic. There were also following minority religions: Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Protestant (Lutheran) and Jewish.  

*'''Determine where records from your ancestor's home parish are stored today.''' <br>When you have a locality name, use a gazetteer to determine which parish or civil jurisdiction served your ancestor's locality.  

*'''Check if records are available on-line.''' A great amount of records are available online. You can find those records on following pages:

**[https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1&countryId=1927187 FamilySearch] - Catholic records from 4 dioceses (Częstochowa, Gliwice, Lublin, Radom and Tarnow)

**[http://szukajwarchiwach.pl/ Szukaj w Archiwach]- instructions [https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/a/af/Polish_State_Archives.pdf here] (note that this is a pdf document, and you will need a pdf reader to read it).

**[http://metryki.genealodzy.pl/ Metryki]

== Archives, offices and parishes ==

The best and the quickest way to contact State Archives in Poland is e-mail. It shouldn’t be a problem when you write letter in English. Probably there is at least one archive worker who knows English good enough to understand your inquiry. Of course all answers you will get in Polish. You should receive an answer in a month but sometimes it takes up to 2 months to get results of research. There is also a possibility to sent regular letter but it will significantly increase the time to get information.  

 

[http://20090209.archiwa.gov.pl/repository/aktualnosci/Informator%20adresowy%202006%20%2811%29.pdf Here] you can find a list of all archives in Poland (with e-mails).  

If writting regular letter do not include any money in an envelope. The only acceptable form of payment is bank transfer. If research looks for time consuming one, you can be asked to pay an advance. If not, you will receive an invoice for archive services and after it is paid you will receive results of research.  

*Copy A4: 2-3 zl (1 USD)

*Copy A3: 4-6 zl (2 USD)

*Research: 40-90 zl (13-30 USD)/hour  

 

In civil registration offices are kept documents younger than 100 years (with some exceptions). Older records should be transferred to an archive. If you would like to know if records are already in archive, you can check it in the [http://baza.archiwa.gov.pl/sezam/pradziad.php?l=en Pradziad database].  

A letter to civil registration office should be written in Polish. You should include as much information as you know concerning record you are interested in: eg. full name, exact or estimated date of event and denomination. Civil registration officer is not obligated to perform research if you can’t specify what are you looking for.  

To receive a record you need to be straight descendant of person you are interested in. For example: you will get death certificate of your great grandfather but it can be a problem to get record of your grandmothers sister second husband. You can apply for that, but the result is determined of officer goodwill.  

[https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/a/ae/Letter_to_Polish_civ_reg.pdf Here] you can find an universal form that you can use to apply for full or shortened transcript of civil registration record.  

Since 2007 the only form of payment is bank transfer. Payment should be done before sending request. Otherwise you will get a response to complete your application within 14 days. If you have a friend or family member in Poland you can ask him to make bank transfer for you (which is cheaper and quicker) and send confirmation of payment. Prices are the following:  

*Copy of certificate (without legal validity) - 5 zl (ca 1,5 USD)

*Shortended transcript of certificate - 22 zl (ca 7 USD)

*Full transcript of certificate - 33 zl (ca 10 USD)  

There is also an option that records can be send to the nearest Polish consulate in your country and you will be notified to make payment in your local currency, but this way is more expensive.  

You can include a small donation (eg. $10-20 USD) in the envelope. It may increase your chance in getting a response, but remember there are no guarantees.

Remember that in some cities there are more that one parish. Usually you need to determine the oldest one, where helpful records are most likely kept.  

A great number of records kept in Catholic Church archives in Poland are microfilmed and records can be ordered to your nearest Family History Center. Before you write to church archives, please try to determine if records are kept in other places.  

In Poland approximately 134 protestant parishes exist. Some records formerly found in such parishes may now be archived in local Catholic parishes. For a list of the Protestant parishes in Poland, and their addresses, you can visit the [http://www.luteranie.pl Lutheran Church in Poland] for a listing of Lutheran parishes which are in existence today.

 

Additionally if there was not a local protestant church, many baptisms would be performed by local Catholic churches.

Other [http://www.pgsa.org/EducationalCenter/letterwriting.php letter writing forms] that may meet your needs are available from the [http://www.pgsa.org/index.php Polish Genealogical Society of America] website.  

For the French translation of the Polish Letter Writing Guide click [https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Poland_Letter_Writing_Guide_in_French here].  

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