Poland History: Difference between revisions

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Effective family research requires a knowledge of major historical events that may have affected your family and the records about them. Learning about wars, governments, laws, migrations, and religious trends may help you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. These events may have led to the creation of records such as land and military documents that mention your family. Your ancestors will become more interesting to you if you also use histories to learn about the events they may have participated in. For example, by using a history you might learn about the events that occurred in the year your great-grandparents were married. The following are some key dates and events in the history of Poland:  

More than a century after the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Germany, followed by the Soviet Union invading Poland in accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. More than six million Polish citizens, including 90% of the country's Jews, perished in the war. In 1947, the Polish People's Republic was established as a satellite state under Soviet influence. In the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1989, most notably through the emergence of the Solidarity movement, Poland reestablished itself as a presidential democratic republic.

Although relatively few local histories have been published for towns or regions in Poland, a careful search for available histories for your ancestor’s locality is worthwhile. You might want to write to the village mayor to see if these histories are available for your town when they are not available at the FamilySearch Library. Sometimes local histories are available at major public and university libraries and archives.  

The FamilySearch Library has several published national, provincial, and local histories for Poland.  

The following historical sources are only a few of the many that are available. Books with film numbers can be ordered through local FamilySearch centers. Some may be found in major research libraries.  

Gieysztor, Aleksander.''History of Poland.'' Warszawa: Polish Scientific Publishers, 1979. (FS Library book 943.8 H2gk, FS Library film 1181701.)  

Leslie, R. F. ''The History of Poland since 1863.''New York, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. (FS Library book 943.8 H2hp.) Includes a bibliography.  

Topolski, Jerzy. ''An Outline History of Poland.'' Warszawa: Interpress Publishers, 1986. (FS Library book 943.8 H2tj.)  

Wandycz, Piotr S. ''The Lands of Partitioned Poland, 1795–1918.'' Vol. 7 in series: ''A History of East Central Europe''. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1974. (FS Library book 940 H2ho.) Includes maps.  

'''A wiki article describing online collections are found at:'''  

[[Poland, Lublin Roman Catholic Church Books - FamilySearch Historical Records|Poland Lublin Roman Catholic Church Books - FamilySearch Historical Records]]  

[[pt:Historia da Polônia]]