Lower Silesian (Dolnośląskie) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy

Guide to Lower Silesian (Dolnośląskie) Voivodeship ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.


 * It is highly recommended that you watch this class: Course: Research in Prussian Poland.

Historical Geography

 * Throughout its earlier history Lower Silesia was under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy.
 * In 1742 nearly all of the region was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia (Germany) and became part of the German Empire in 1871.
 * After 1945, the main part of the former Prussian Province of Lower Silesia fell to the Republic of Poland, while a smaller part west of the Oder-Neisse line remained within East Germany. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrzych and Jelenia Góra Voivodeships. Sources: Wikipedia, Lower Silesia and Lower Silesian Voivodeship.

Name Changes and Locating Records
Because of this history of changing nationality, records for Lower Silesia are found in the FamilySearch system under both Schlesien, Germany and Wrocław, Poland. Use the gazetteer, Kartenmeister - German/Polish Place Name Conversion to find the name of your town in both languages.


 * See also: Silesia (Schlesien), German Empire Genealogy

Civil Registration and Church Records
'''Almost all of the research you do will be in civil registration (government birth, marriage, and death records) and church records (baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial records). To understand these records better study the articles: Poland Church Records and Poland Civil Registration.
 * 1. You will find birth, marriage, and death records:
 * in online databases
 * in microfilmed records of the FamilySearch collections
 * by writing to request searches
 * from State archives where records have been deposited
 * from church archives where records have been deposited
 * from local civil registration offices
 * from local parish churches
 * 2. To find information on town of origin for U.S. immigrants from Poland, use the Wiki article Poland Locating Town of Origin.
 * 3. You will need to determine the both the Polish and German name of the town your Polish ancestors lived in.
 * If the town was in the area of Poland once controlled by Prussia, use Kartenmeister.
 * To see a map of the town, use mapa.szukacz. Enter the town name in the "place" field in the right sidebar and click "Show". Province, area, commune, and postal code will appear at the bottom of the right sidebar.

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.
 * 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
 * Geneteka

Parish Register Inventories

 * Findbuch: Schlesische Kirchenbücher wo finden? List giving town name in German (and Polish), Lutheran and Catholic parish and Standesamt. In addition to the location of various records it provides some links to online records and Ortsfamilienbücher.
 * Die Kirchenbücher Schlesiens beider Confessionen
 * Handbuch über die katholischen Kirchenbücher in der Ostdeutschen Kirchenprovinz östlich der Oder und Neiße und dem Bistum Danzig Inventory of Catholic parish registers for the former German areas east of the Oder-Neiße, including Ostpreußen, Pommern, Brandenburg, Westpreußen, and Schlesien; now located in Poland, Lithuania, and Russia.

1. Online Databases

 * Geneteka
 * Upper Silesian Genealogical Society 
 * Szukaj w Archiwach; [[Media:1-Polish_State_Archives-Instruction.pdf|Tutorial]] - The Polish Archives
 * Archion: Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin($), records for former Prussian localities, browsable image
 * 1700-2005 - images, no index.
 * 1226-1950 - images, no index.
 * Metryki Genealodzy Roman Catholic Records
 * Metryki GenBaza
 * Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu
 * Matricula Breslau is now Wrocław
 * Silesian Digital Library, address books
 * See, also: JewishGen Poland Database
 * Jewish Records Indexing-Poland

Ancestry.com

 * Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany (Poland), Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945, index and images, incomplete. ($)
 * Poland, Roman Catholic Church Books Index, 1742-1964, Lublin and Kielce, index, ($)

Jewish Records
Some areas of Poland were predominantly Jewish settlements. Because churches were frequently expected to act as civil registrars, Jewish births, marriages, and deaths can appear in Catholic records.
 * A comprehensive list of finding aids for Jewish records is found in the Wiki article Poland Jewish Records.
 * An excellent two-part online course is available: Poland and Galicia Jewish Research. This demonstrates important finding aids and databases.
 * See, also: JewishGen Poland Database

Online Town Genealogies
In German genealogy records, an Ortssippenbuch (town lineage book) or Ortsfamilienbuch (town family book) includes birth, marriage, and death data for all persons found in the local records during a specified time period, compiled into families. Sources may include the local parish registers, civil registration records, court and land records, and sometimes published material. In the printed book, this information is then arranged in a standardized format, usually alphabetically by surname and chronologically by marriage date. Family entries are identified by sequential numbers. Town genealogies are known by various names, including “town lineage book,” “local heritage book,” “one-place-studies,” “Ortssippenbuch (OSB),” and “Ortsfamilienbuch (OFB).”

In some cases, these books were written before the records were lost or damaged during the war. A fairly large number of online OFBs are available on Genealogy.net (CompGen). Scroll down the page. The OFBs for modern Germany appear first, but after that OFBs for towns formerly in Germany, but now in Poland, are listed.

A comprehensive list of links to Silesia OFB's is found at Register of Silesian local family books.

2. Microfilms and Digitized Records: The FamilySearch Catalog

 * Many church records have been microfilmed and can be viewed at the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eventually, microfilmed records will all be digitized and available online. The records you need might have been digitized now.  Check back from time to time to see if they have become available.
 * The FamilySearch Catalog is organized by the voivodeships as they existed in 1967. There are maps on the Poland Genealogy main page comparing those jurisdictions with the modern jurisdictions. In 1967, Lower Silesi voivodeship was known as the Wrocław voivodeship. The FamilySearch Catalog is organized for Germany by the 1871 Meyer's gazetteer.  At that time, Lower Silesia was part of Schlesien, Germany.  Therefore, records for this area are listed under Wrocław, Poland and Germany, Preußen (Prussia), Schlesien.
 * Towns had both German and Polish names. For example, Polish Wrocław is Breslau in German.  Use the gazetteer, Kartenmeister - German/Polish Place Name Conversion to find the name of your town in both languages.

To search the catalog:
 * a. Click on the records of Poland, Wrocław  or records of Germany, Preußen, Schlesien.
 * b. Click on Places within Poland, Wrocław or Places within Germany, Preußen, Schlesien and a list of towns will appear.
 * c. Click on your town.
 * d. Click on the "Civil registration" or "church records" topic, if available. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * c. Choose the correct record type and time period for your ancestor.
 * For records in German: "Geburten" are births. Heiraten are marriages.  "Verstorbene" or Toten are deaths.
 * For records in Polish:  Akta urodzeń are births.  Akta chrzest are christenings/baptisms.  Akta małżeństw are marriages.  Akta zgonów are deaths.
 * f. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

Poland Letter Writing Guide
This letter writing guide will enable you to write in the Polish language to parish churches and church and government archives: Poland Letter Writing Guide. Generally, the people you wrie to will appreciate your effort to use Polish and cooperate more readily.

Civil Registration Office Address
Write to the local civil registration office for records after 1900. Records prior to 1900 will probably be in the state archives. Records in the last 100 years will have some privacy restrictions where you will have to prove your relationship and/or the death of the person the certificate reports.

State Archives Addresses

 * PRADZIAD This website can be searched by location (town or parish).  It will then tell you which archives hold what records for the location. On the entry for the records you want, click on "More" at the far right, and it will give you the contact information for the archive.

Church: 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.

Church Diocese Archives Addresses
See the Catholic Diocese map on the Poland Church Records page. Use The Catholic Directory, Poland to find the diocese for your town. Click on "View Full Listing" for your parish.

Wrocław Archdiocese
Archiwum Diecezjalna We Wrocław ul. Kanonia 12 50-329 Wrocław Poland tel .: 71 / 327-11-78, tel./fax: 71 / 327-11-79 e-mail: muzeum@pwt.wroc.pl www.muzeum.archidiecezja.wroc.pl
 * Website

Świdnica Diocese

 * Archives page in preparation.

Word Lists
The language of the records depends on the controlling government. The parts of Poland which belonged to Prussia (Germany) used German until they were ceded back to Poland (after World War I or II).
 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List

Word-by-Word Reading Aids

 * German Civil Registration
 * Reading Polish Birth Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Polish Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Polish Death Records - [[Media:1-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Polish Civil Registration Reading Aid

How-to Guides

 * Reading Polish Birth Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Polish Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Polish Death Records - [[Media:1-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Poland-Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading German civil birth records - [[Media:1-_Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Births-Instruction_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-_Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Births-Activity_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Activity,]] [[Media:3-_Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Births-Answer_Key_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading German civil marriage records - [[Media:1-Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Marriages-Instruction_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Marriages-Activity_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Marriages-Answer_Key_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading German civil death records - [[Media:1-_Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Deaths-Instruction_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-_Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Deaths-Activity_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-_Germany_-_Civil_Registration_Deaths-Answer_Key_D_Jones_Dec_2018_JMR.pdf|Answer Key]]

Lessons

 * German Paleography Seminar - 10 classes
 * German Paleography Seminar: Introduction
 * Reading German Handwritten Records
 * Lesson 1: Kurrent Letters
 * Lesson 2: Making Words in Kurrent
 * Lesson 3: Reading Kurrent Documents
 * Old German Script
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)

Search Strategy
'''For records before 1874, you will use just church records. For records from 1 October 1874 on, civil registration records will be your main source, supplemented by church records, if possible.'''
 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.