Warmian-Masurian (Warmińsko-mazurskie) Voivodeship, Poland Genealogy

Guide to Warmian-Masurian (Warmińsko-mazurskie) Voivodeship ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Historical Geography

 * Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Olsztyn.
 * 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.
 * 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 (formerly Bialystok) Voivodeship. Source: Wikipedia

Name Changes and Locating Records
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 (Ostpreussen), 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.
 * Geneteka

Church Records Inventories
Church record inventories are essential tools for finding German records. They identify what records should be available for a specified parish and where to write for information on these records. They list the church records, their location, and the years they cover. Sometimes inventories explain which parishes served which towns at different periods of time.
 * Gemeindelexikon für das Königreich Preußen: East Prussia
 * [[Media:1-1905_Prussia_Gemeindelexikon-Instruction.pdf|Tutorial]]
 * Genealogy.net: Ostpreußen/Genealogische Quellen Inventory created from various sources. Select county from the list. Select “Kirchbuchbestände” for that county. Find the parish on the list to see the inventory information as well as holdings in FS Library, EZA Berlin, DZfG Leipzig, and other repositories outside Germany. For civil registration, select the county and then “Standesamtbestände”.
 * Handbuch über die katholischen Kirchenbücher in der Ostdeutschen Kirchenprovinz östlich der Oder und Neiße und dem Bistum Danzig. FamilySearch Digital Library.
 * Die Kirchenbücher der evangelischen Kirchen Ost- und West- Preußen : nebst einem Verzeichnis der Militär-Kirchenbücher der Provinz West- Preußen und der katolischen Kirchenbücher der Diözese Ermland

1. Online Databases

 * Geneteka
 * 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
 * Metryki Genealodzy Roman Catholic Records
 * Metryki GenBaza
 * Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie
 * 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.
 * See, also: JewishGen Poland Database

Online Town Genealogies
As such, they are subject to human error through translation or transcription errors, mistaken interpretations, and opinion decisions of another researcher.

You should make every effort to base your research on the actual, original records or their digitized images.
 * }

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 OFB's are available on Genealogy.net (CompGen). Scroll down the page. The OFB's for modern Germany appear first, but after that OFB's for towns formerly in Germany, but now in Poland, are listed.

2. Microfilms and Digitized Records: The FamilySearch Catalog
To search the catalog:
 * Many church records have been microfilmed and can be viewed at the main FamilySearch 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, most parts of Warmian-Masurian voivodeship were in Olsztyn voivodeship. Until the treaties of the World Wars, this area was in East Prussia (Ostpreussen), Germany.
 * Use the gazetteer, Kartenmeister - German/Polish Place Name Conversion to find the name of your town in both languages.
 * a. Click on the records of Białystok or records of Poland, Olsztyn  or records of Poland, Suwałki or records of Germany, Preussen, Ostpreussen  first.
 * b. Click on Places within [whichever location], 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.

Warmia Archdiocese
ARCHIVESE ARCHIVESIA WARMIŃSKA ul. Kopernika 47 Olsztyn 10-512 Poland Phone: 89 527 51 97
 * Facebook

Word Lists
The language of the records depends on the controlling government. Most of Poland was part of Austria until 1918, and church records are in Latin. The parts of Poland which belonged to Prussia (Germany) used German until they were ceded back to Poland (after World War I or II). Records in parts of Poland controlled by Russia can be in either Russian or Polish.
 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Russian Genealogical Word List
 * Latin 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
For areas of Poland that were once part of Russia:


 * Cyrillic Alphabet - [[Media:1-Russian_Alphabet_Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Alphabet_Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Alphabet_Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Cyrillic Script - [[Media:1-Russian_Script-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Script-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Script-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * 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 Russian Birth Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Russian Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Russian Death Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_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
Handwriting Lessons on FamilySearch Learning Center:
 * German Paleography Seminar - 10 classes
 * German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
 * Old German Script
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)
 * Reading Russian Handwriting
 * Reading Russian Documents: The Russian Alphabet
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 1
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 2
 * Additional Russian Paleography Classes
 * Russian for Everyone: The Russian Alphabet
 * SGGEE Cyrillic Handout.pdf for months and numbers in Russian cursive.
 * Latin in German Church Records
 * Latin for Genealogists

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.

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.

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

Online Databases
There does not exist one central online database for Poland, rather many independent projects by many different organizations. So you will need to search several databases.

1.*Geneteka: a collaborative effort by numerous volunteers who index church and civil records all over Poland. 2. *Metryki GenBaza: scans from a few different Diocesan Archives and State Archives. Requires free registration. 3. 4. Family Search 5. *National Archives in Krakow: online collection of census, church books, civil registers. 6. *Lubgens: large index of the church books of Lublin 7. *AGAD (Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie) Lublin,  Subcarpathian Voivodeship 8. *Poznan Project marriages from the 1800’s 9. *BaSIA Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian 10. *Genealogia w Archiwach: Torun and Bydgoszcz State Archives withscans from 450 registry offices, mostly in Kuyavian-Pomeranian area. 11. *PTG (Pomorskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne): online indexes to birth, marriage and death records for the Pomeranian area ::Go to "PomGenBase". > Search "PomGenBase". > Select "Christenings", "Marriages", or "Deaths”" > Use drop-down menu to see list of locations. > Select a locality or search in all localities. > Restrict your search using "Years". > Enter at least a "Surname". > Change "Search Method" to "similar". > Click "Search". 12. *Archiwum Państwowe w Przemyślu: State Archive in Przemysl, Podkarpackie 13. *Archiwum Państwowe w Katowicach: Record books of Katowice, Silesian voivodeship, Lesser Poland 14. *Archiwum Państwowe w Olsztynie: State Archives in Olsztyn, church and civil records, Warmia-Masuria and Podkarpackie 15. *Archiwum Państwowe w PoznaniuState Archives in Poznan, Greater Poland 16. *Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu: State Archives in Wrocław 17. *Archiwum Państwowe w Szczecinie:State Archives in Szczecin, church books and civil records, West Pomerania
 * Geneteka: a collaborative effort by numerous volunteers who index church and civil records all over Poland.
 * Szukaj w Archiwach: collections from all over Poland, continuously updated.


 * JewishGen Poland Database
 * Archion: Evangelical Central Archives in Berlin ($)
 * Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany (Poland), Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945, index and images, incomplete.
 * Pommerscher Greif e. V., Association for Pomeranian Family and Local History.
 * Go to Forschung > Famillienforschung > Standesamt online or Kirchenbuch online > Find your Kreis >Parish


 * Index of Polish marriages until 1899
 * Search Rzeszów Vital Records: An extracted records database from the Rzeszow area.


 * Metryki Genealodzy Roman Catholic records indexing

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.
 * See, also: JewishGen Poland Database

Online Town Genealogies
As such, they are subject to human error through translation or transcription errors, mistaken interpretations, and opinion decisions of another researcher.

You should make every effort to base your research on the actual, original records or their digitized images.
 * }

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 OFB's are available on Genealogy.net (CompGen). Scroll down the page. The OFB's for modern Germany appear first, but after that OFB's for towns formerly in Germany, but now in Poland, are listed.

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * 1226-1950 ., images, no index.
 * 1700-2005 , images, no index.
 * 1784-1964, images and index.
 * 1587-1966, images and index.
 * 1612-1900 -, images and index.

Microfilms: The FamilySearch Catalog
Many church records have been microfilmed and can be viewed at the main FamilySearch 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,      voivodeship was known as To search the catalog:
 * a. Click on the records of Poland, ].
 * b. Click on Places within Poland,  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.

Jewish Entries in Catholic Church 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. See also, Jewish Records Indexing-Poland and JewishGen Poland Database

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.

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). A very small part of Warmia-Masuria was controlled by Russia. Records in parts of Poland controlled by Russia are in Russian 1868-1918, and in Polish otherwise.
 * Polish Genealogical Word List
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Russian 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
For areas of Poland that were once part of Russia:


 * Cyrillic Alphabet - [[Media:1-Russian_Alphabet_Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Alphabet_Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Alphabet_Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Cyrillic Script - [[Media:1-Russian_Script-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russian_Script-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russian_Script-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * 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 Russian Birth Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Birth_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Russian Marriage Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_Marriage_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]
 * Reading Russian Death Records - [[Media:1-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Russia_Death_Records_in_Paragraph_Format-Activity.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Russia_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]]

Russian and Polish Transliteration Tools

 * Transliterating Russian to English in One Step, or English to Russian
 * Polish Cyrillic Transliterate the Polish language to a Cyrillic
 * Converting between Russian Print and Cursive in One Step
 * Russian for Everyone: The Russian Alphabet
 * SGGEE Cyrillic Handout.pdf for months and numbers in Russian cursive.

Lessons

 * Reading Polish Handwritten Records
 * Lesson 1: Polish Letters
 * Lesson 2: Polish Words and Dates
 * Lesson 3: Reading Polish Records
 * German Paleography Seminar - Lessons on German Handwriting
 * Old German Script
 * Part 1
 * Part 2
 * Part 3 (German Church and Civil Records)
 * Reading Russian Handwriting
 * Reading Russian Documents: The Russian Alphabet
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 1 
 * Russian Alphabet, Language and Handwriting, part 2 
 * Russian for Everyone: The Russian Alphabet
 * SGGEE Cyrillic Handout.pdf for months and numbers in Russian cursive.


 * '''Latin for Genealogists

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.