Dear rockifivethree-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.
As you will see in a moment, your question is actually quite complex,
so I recommend you prepare yourself. While not entirely impossible,
this will be a challenging task to undertake. Let’s start with your
question:
“Is there a public "social security central records agency" in
Poland?”
Is there…"Social security”? NO.
Is there a…“Central records agency" (where you can make inquiries)?
YES - maybe several.
Social security as we understand it in the United States is a
relatively unique concept and theoretically has little to do with
keeping track of people's activities and movements. The registration
of citizens however (which is what I assume you mean when you ask for
a “social security” agency) is not. Actually, this practice is
observed in most developed nations. Poland, which for many years was
quite underdeveloped, used methods of tracking births, marriages and
deaths by means of an efficient, but archaic method mandated on all of
the Prussian Provinces by the Civil Codex of Napoleon Bonaparte. This
basically required all religious institutions to keep track of the
vital statistics and to make copies of their registers for the
district courts. The practice continued throughout the rule of every
government controlling the territory of what is now modern day Poland.
In 1874, Central Registration Offices were created and all the
citizens, regardless of their religion were required to register
births, marriages and deaths in these offices. This was slow to catch
on and even after Poland became a state in 1918, some areas still
persisted in registering separately, according to their own religion,
with their church officials. This was tolerated until the end of World
War II, at which time the Central Registration Offices began recording
vital statistics for all Polish people. This article explains all this
quite well:
POLISH ROOTS
“Where do I find records?”
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/records.htm
As you can see, record keeping has undergone quite an evolution in
Poland in the last century alone. Beyond that period records are
difficult to find at best. My reason for offering this history lesson
is to let you know that there may be a number of places to look – some
more reliable than others, but none are inclusive of, or easily
accessible to everyone. To add to the confusion, you don’t know where
your friend is or if, in fact, she is living or dead. If your friend
has married, or perhaps re-married, her name my have dramatically
changed, not once, but twice (or several times) since your last news
of her. This leaves you to approach your investigation as a matter of
genealogy and though your friend is obviously not old enough to have
lived in the days of Napoleon’s Codex, her relatives may have been. It
may even help you to start at the beginning, where your only reliable
data places her last, at birth. This is where the history lesson comes
in handy, but even so, it will not be easy. On the other hand, with a
name, date and place of birth you are much better of than many others
are at the beginning of their search.
Start by searching the LDS FAMILY SEARCH engine and see if you can
find anything there. In the best-case scenario, it may uncover the
names of her spouse(s), indicate if she has since died or list the
names of any children.
LDS FAMILY SEARCH
(Many Polish vital statistics have been turned over to LDS for
archiving purposes)
http://www.familysearch.org/
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
If you can locate a birth record in the municipal archives of her
place of birth http://www.polishroots.org/archives_polish_eng.htm, you
may also find a record of the names of other family members. If you
succeed at this and can determine if any of the relatives are living,
you can actually buy directories where you can search for their phone
numbers and addresses.
(See a list of available directories, prices and a toll free number to
order them)
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/geninfo4.htm#SECTION%2011
NOTE: Be sure you check the current boundaries. The names of places
have also changed a great deal in the past hundred years so where you
believe she was born may now in fact be known by a different name or
even lie in another country altogether:
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/changes.htm . You may be able to
confirm if the town you remember still exists under that name by
searching for it using this search engine:
http://www.jewishgen.org/ShtetlSeeker/loctown.htm
Another option would be to contact the Administrative Offices of the
State Archive (that now oversees Poland’s system of records) and ask
for information about your friend:
Administrative Offices of the State Archive System:
Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Panstwowych, 00-950 Warszawa, skr. poczt.
1005, ul. Dluga 6
Tel: 831-32-06/08 Fax: 831-75-63
National repository for documents produced prior to 1945:
Archiwum Glówne Akt Dawnych, 00-263 Warszawa, ul. Dluga 7
Tel: 831-54-91/93 Fax: 831-16-08
National repository for contemporary records:
Archiwum Akt Nowych, 02-103 Warszawa, ul. Hankiewicza 1
Tel: 822-52-45 Fax: 823-00-42
Alternatively, you can try to contact one of these POLISH GENEALOGICAL
SOCIETIES nearest you for information on what others have done that
proved to be successful.
POLISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES
http://www.pgsa.org/otherpgs.htm
It also offers helpful resources such as:
DATABASES
(Contains some marriage, birth and death indexes and notices and as
well as other vital information)
http://www.pgsa.org/database.htm
REFERENCE DESK, TRANSLATORS, GUIDES FOR BEGINNERS
http://www.pgsa.org/refdesk.htm
Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
I wish you the best of luck in your search.
Regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
* INFORMATION SOURCES *
POLISH ROOTS
http://www.polishroots.org
POLISH ROOTS
“HOW TO START”
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/start.htm
POLISH ROOTS – SURNAME SEARCH
http://www.polishroots.org/surnamesearch.htm
POLISH ARCHIVES
http://www.polishroots.org/reference.htm#Archives
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF POLAND
http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/
LDS FAMILY SEARCH
(Many Polish vital statistics have been turned over to LDS for
archiving purposes)
http://www.familysearch.org/
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
GENEALOGY & POLAND
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/geninfo4.htm#Eccl
CONTACTS FOR NATIONAL, ECCLESIASTICAL (CHURCH) & REGIONAL ARCHIVES OF
POLAND
http://www.polishroots.org/archives_polish_eng.htm
VITAL RECORDS in POLAND
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/polandv.html
“Listing of WWW addresses of Roman Catholic Dioceses and Arch Dioceses
in Poland”
http://www.opoka.org.pl/struktury_kosciola/diecezje/index.html
“Genealogy & Poland on the Internet and elsewhere”
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/geninfo4.htm#10.3
POLISH ROOTS
“Where do I find records?”
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/records.htm
GENEALOGY & POLAND
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/
HOW TO APPLY FOR CERTIFICATES IN POLAND
(Also contains sample letters already written in Polish)
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/certif.htm
HOW TO LOCATE MY ANCESTOR’S PLACE OF ORIGIN
http://www.polishroots.org/genpoland/where.htm
POLISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES
http://www.pgsa.org/otherpgs.htm
* SEARCH STRATEGY *
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=genealogy+poland
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Poland+Genealogy+Forum
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Poland+Genealogy+Societies
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Poland+vital+records
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Genealogy Poland
Locate citizen Poland
Polish Vital Statistics
Poland Vital Statistics
Poland Vital Records
Poland Records Archive
Poland Genealogy Forum
Poland Genealogy Societies |
