F A M I L Y R E S E A R C H L I N K S
Pre-WWII records
Polish Army Records
The Polish Army archives hold pre-war individual and regimental records. For example, they have records of poles fighting in the 1920 Polish-Soviet war.
You can search the archives here: (click on "Bazy Personalne" tab and enter name and surname)
The archives will send copies of records on request. Write to the archives, including as much detail as you have for your request. E.g. full name, date and place of birth, parents' names, information of military service, etc. Also include your details including postal address and relationship to the individual.
Email: wbh.informacja@ron.mil.pl
Tel: +48 261-814-584
Centralne Archiwum Wojskowe
ul. Czerwonych Beretów 124
00-910 Warszawa-Rembertów
Polska
Osadnik list (Military Settlers)
The Polish Osadnik organisation - Stowarzyszenie Rodzin Osadników Wojskowych i Cywilnych Kresów Wschodnich has published a list showing names and locations of Military Settlements/Osady in Kresy.
This list was made from early records and many osada names and settlers changed over the years, up to the deportations in 1940. This list has been updated by Kresy Family from various sources over the last years. The original name of the osada is the one used on the Deed of Land Endowment, not necessarily the later name used by your family. You can download the list here.
You can read about the organisation and history of Military Osady here.
The list is really useful if your family were military settlers, “osadniks”, as you can find details of where they lived and the names of other families at the same osada. You can read about life on their settlement, as well as their experiences during deportation to Siberia, in the excellent books that have been published by OROK:
- ‘Z Kresow Wschodnich RP – Wspomnienia Osad Wojskowych’ - read translated articles on our site here.
‘Stalin's Ethnic Cleansing’, which you can purchase here, or read extracts on our site here
Directories
The Genealogy Indexer is a really great resource, providing the ability to search over 400,000 directories located in libraries on-line. For example, it includes school year-books, trade directories, telephone books, etc. Access the site here.
Newspapers etc
Polona provides access to a massive selection of Polish publications here