Finding Jewish Ancestors in Poland: Difference between revisions

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==Find the Town==

In order to research your family in Poland, it is essential that you have identified the place where they came from. It is not enough to know only ‘Poland;' you must know the town name and the district/province name. The name of a nearby larger town can also be very helpful.  

*Use the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/ocrsearch.php OCR Surname Database] (optical character recognition) to search for your ancestor's surname. This database is comprised of information from business directories, address calendars, telephone books, typed name lists, and name lists from books and from archives.

**To search, type in the surname, and you'll find an automatic translation of the surname into Cyrillic appear in the second search box. Repeat the search twice - once using the Latin Letter search, and again using the Cyrillic Letter search. Searches may yield different results. Once search results appear, you may want to use Google Translate to help you navigate search results. If using the Chrome browser, right-click anywhere on the page and select '''Translate to English'''. Keep in mind if you are looking at a telephone directory, the original directories have been donated to the U.S. Library of Congress. View the original by selecting the '''Get Page Scan''' button.

==Find Records for your Town==

===Archive Database===

Use the '''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/search.php Archive Database]''' to locate what records exist for your ancestor's town, and where to find them. Search for the name of your ancestor's locality, and the database will provide results for known surviving records from that location, and where the records are held. Remember to adjust the search criteria for Soundex options or spelling variations. Review the '''General Information about the Archive Database''' section for some helpful resources.  

This database contains documents such as army/recruit lists, family lists and census records, Jewish vital records (birth, marriage, death, divorce), immigration documents, voter and tax lists, property and notary records, Holocaust documents, police files, and pogrom documents, school records, occupation lists, local government, and hospital records.

=== Holocaust Lists Database ===

Use the new '''[https://www.rtrfoundation.org/holocaust.php Holocaust Lists Database]''' at Miriam Weiner's Routes to Roots to determine the location of Holocaust documents such as victim and survivor lists, survival testimonials and more. Holocaust Collections included in this database are from select towns in Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine. Database entries include information about archive the records are stored in and the archival file number. This information will help you locate the original record in the archive.

To determine what holocaust lists may survive, simply select the locality or town name you are searching form from the drop-down menu and select Search. Click on an entry to view additional information about the record and its location. After you have determined that Holocaust documents for your town are available, consider searching your surname in the Surname Database. Miriam Weiner has digitized many Holocaust lists and they are accessible through the Surname Database. Keep in mind that this is an ongoing project, so check back often for new information and updates.

===Accessing the Records===

For information about the repositories referred to on Miriam Weiner's Archive Database, see the [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/webs.shtml '''Archives in Eastern Europe'''] page which includes archival contact information. Contact/visit the respective repository for details on their holdings. For instructions on contacting archives and accessing records, see Q11 on [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/archdta11.shtml#Q10 this Routes to Roots page.]  

==Historical Photos==

The [https://www.rtrfoundation.org/newwebsite/imagesearch.php '''Image Database'''] on Miriam Weiner's website contains photographs and postcard views of many towns and cities throughout Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Poland, and other select countries dating back to the early 1900s. These include pre-WWI and current town views, photos of synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and Holocaust memorials. It's a great way to see what your ancestor's shtetl may have looked like at the time they lived there.

[[Category:Poland]]