Olsztyn Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy

Go to the Wiki article Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy for information, instruction, and important internet links that apply to the 1967 voivodeship of Olsztyn. The following explanation explains the relationship between Olsztyn and Warmian-Masuria.

Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn. The Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship was created on January 1, 1999, from the entire Olsztyn Voivodeship, the western half of Suwałki Voivodeship and part of Elbląg Voivodeship. The province's name derives from two historic regions, Warmia and Masuria. Before the end of World War II, Masuria was mostly inhabited by Polish-speaking (Masurian dialect) Lutheran Masurians and constituted a part of East Prussia. From 1772-1945, Warmia was part of Lutheran East Prussia, with the exception that the people of Warmia remained largely Catholic. Small parts of western Warmian-Masurian voivodeship came from Gdańsk voivodeship, and small parts of eastern Warmian-Masurian voivodeship came from Bialystok voivodeship.

Because of this history of changing nationality, records for Warmia-Masuria voivodeship are found in the FamilySearch system under both Germany, Preußen, Ostpreußen, and mostly Olsztyn, Poland. A few records will be listed in Gdańsk, Poland and Bialystok, Poland.
 * Use the gazetteer, Kartenmeister - German/Polish Place Name Conversion to find the name of your town in both languages.
 * See also: East Prussia, Germany Genealogy