Poland Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

=== Language of the Records ===

From the beginning in 1808, the civil registers were kept in the Polish language. However, an unsuccessful Polish uprising in 1865 led to reprisals by the Russian government. Among these was a requirement to keep public records, including civil registration books, in the Russian language as of April 1868. Nevertheless, the format of the records did not change. The standardized format of the records remained unchanged until at least into the 1930s, with only minor changes in wording in 1826 and again in 1919.

Most of the records available through the Family History Library cover the time period prior to 1880. Only a few of the accessible records are in post-1868 Russian. Therefore, most of the records available through the Family History Library are in Polish. The Polish and Russian languages have complex grammar, which makes them difficult to learn. Russian is further complicated by an alphabet quite unfamiliar to most English speaking people. Fortunately, the standard format of these civil records makes it possible, in most cases, to read the Polish language records with the help of the reading aid included in this paper. This reading aid includes an explanation and literal translation of typical register entries for birth, marriage, and death. It should be used together with the ''Polish Genealogical Word List'' (FHL Publication Series LANG-POL, No. 1, 1990) or a Polish dictionary.