Silesia (Schlesien), Prussia, German Empire Genealogy

Germany  Schlesien (Silesia) Guide to Prussia - Schlesien ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Description
The Prussian area known as Silesia consisted of two regions, Upper Silesia (Oberschlesien) and Lower Silesia (Niederschlesien). It was bordered on the west by Saxony, on the north by Brandenburg, on the east by Poland, and on the south by Czechoslovakia. The Sudenten Mountain range ran along its southern border. Two major rivers, the Oder and the Neisse ran through it. Two major cities were Breslau and Görlitz.

As a result of various wars, Silesia is now divided between three different countries. The largest portion of Silesia is in modern-day Poland. A small portion of southern Silesia was ceded to Czechoslovakia in 1918 and is now in the Czech Republic. In 1945 as a result of the Potsdam Conference, the line between Poland and East Germany was drawn along the Neisse river dividing Görlitz between East Germany and Poland. The portion of Görlitz that remained in Germany retained its name. The portion that went to Poland is now called Zgorzelec. The Polish name for Breslau is Wrocław.

A useful tool exists at GenWiki. The following site is very useful for research in Schlesien/Silesia.

http://wiki-en.genealogy.net/Schlesien

Featured Content
There is a site for digitized books of Silesia. These books are mostly in German and Polish and you can download them to your computer. To use this site, click here digitized books

For "Heimatbriefe" (Homeland newsletters) for various areas in Upper Silesia please go to this site

Websites

 * Silesia Websites