It’s great that so many records in Poland are being scanned and put online for everyone to access, but sometimes it’s necessary to contact an archive directly. I’ve created a list of archive locations with their contact information, which you can view on the new Polish State Archives Contact List page.
You can get an idea of what it looks like above. Each archive has their archive number, the name in both English and Polish, the physical address, the phone number, and a series of links which include e-mail, web site, the list of records for that archive, a description of that archive, and (if it exists) the Facebook page.
You can search through the list using the search field on the top right of the table.
My annual posting of the top 101 Jewish boys and girls names in Israel are popular posts on this site. Usually the data for a given calendar year is posted over a year after that calendar year comes to an end. Possibly due to the ongoing upgrade of the Central Bureau of Statistic’s web site over the past year, I don’t think the 2017 names data was posted until this week when it was released together with the 2018 data. That’s late for the 2017 data but early for the 2018 data. Therefore I’m combining both sets of data for this post, and also include the 2016 ranking information for comparison. You can also see the posts for 2016 (which includes rankings for 2015 and 2014), 2015 and 2014. You can also see the parallel post 101 Most Popular Jewish Boys Names in Israel in 2017 and 2018.
Only three girls names entered the top 101 names in 2017 – Haleli (102 to 98), Michaela (122 to 92), and Lior (104 to 99). The names that left the list in 2017 were Aleen (80 to 109), Rotem (84 to 104), and Yuli (99 to 105).
In 2018 five names entered the top 101 names – Lenny (108 to 91), Liv (122 to 94), Bar (107 to 96), Aleen (109 to 97), and Anne (137 to 101). Note that Aleen reentered the list after exiting it in 2017. I’m still not sure if Aleen is supposed to be a form of Aileen or not. The names that left the list in 2018 were Odele (84 to 103), Daniella (91 to 105), Batsheva (96 to 106), Lior (99 to 109), and Orin (100 to 113). Note that Lior entered the list in 2017 and exited it in 2018.
My annual posting of the top 101 Jewish boys and girls names in Israel are popular posts on this site. Usually the data for a given calendar year is posted over a year after that calendar year comes to an end. Possibly due to the ongoing upgrade of the Central Bureau of Statistic’s web site over the past year, I don’t think the 2017 names data was posted until this week when it was released together with the 2018 data. That’s late for the 2017 data but early for the 2018 data. Therefore I’m combining both sets of data for this post, and also include the 2016 ranking information for comparison. You can also see the posts for 2016 (which includes rankings for 2015 and 2014), 2015 and 2014. You can also see the parallel post 101 Most Popular Jewish Girls Names in Israel in 2017 and 2018.
Seven boys names broke into the list in 2017 – Aryeh (484 to 72), Leo (113 to 97), Yedidya (107 to 99), Re’em (117 to 92), Dan (106 to 93), Ofek (109 to 94), and Elazar (102 to 100). The names that left the list in 2017 were Leroi (76 to 103), Yinon (93 to 106), Shai (98 to 109), Yaheli (86 to 105), Oz (97 to 108), Ron (83 to 115), and Osher (99 to 120).
In 2018, there were also seven names that broke into the list – Ray (136 to 83), Levy (119 to 93), Leroi (103 to 95), Yinon (106 to 93), Shai (109 to 98), Arbel (107 to 100), and Yarden/Jordan (117 to 101). Note that Leroi, Yinon and Shai were all on the list in 2016, left the list in 2017, then returned in 2018. The names that left the list in 2018 were Tom (90 to 103), Ofek (94 to 104), Aryeh (72 to 105), Uriah (82 to 108), Elazar (100 to 112), Asaf (76 to 118), and Dvir (98 to 119). Note that Ofek, Aryeh, and Elazar were not on the list in 2016, were added in 2017, and left the list again in 2018.
There are changes afoot at the Polish State Archives (PSA). Most of the databases of archival records hosted at the main archives site, which included ELA (population registers), SEZAM (combined search of PRADZIAD and ELA) and IZA (search of archival inventories) are gone, and they will not be returning. The only database remaining there, the PRADZIAD database of vital records, may not be there too much longer either.
Instead, you are expected to use the szukajwarchiwach.pl (search the archives) site. There are many advantages to this new search engine, although there are some disadvantages as well.
On the plus side, if the archival files have been scanned, you can in most cases see that and access the scans directly on the site. This is very convenient. Not all archives share their scans with the site for some reason, however. Archives that come to mind with their own pages hosting their scans include AGAD, Przemyśl, and the Bydgoszcz and Toruń archives which jointly have files on the Genealogia w Archiwach site. So if you’re searching the szukajwarchiwach.pl site for records in one of these archives, don’t trust the indication of if scans exist for the records, but rather try to find the files on the above archive sites.
Another plus is that there are many more options for advanced searches, although figuring everything out is complicated. You can reproduce the same search as on PRADZIAD, but you need to figure out what to configure. I don’t know yet if it’s possible to set up the same searches as on IZA and ELA, as its a bit of a learning curve with the new system.
My main criticism of the new search interface, besides the steep learning curve, is how it displays its results. The old databases displayed search results in a simple tabular format, while the new search interface gets too fancy for its own good, making it harder to see at a glance what records are available.
PRADZIAD vs. szukajwarchiwach search showing same number of Jewish vital record sets
If you take a close look at the comparison image above (you can click on it to load a larger version) you’ll notice that while the SA results show a bit more information, the PRADZIAD results are organized alphabetically by town, and allow you to click on any column title to sort the results by that column. The SA results also show two results from the same town, which might lead you to think those are the only ones from that town, but when in fact there are four results. On the plus side, both systems return the exact same number of results, 3303, which means at least the data is currently in sync.
All in all I’m hopeful that the focus on a single database will benefit everyone by giving the PSA a single place to focus on the technology. The old databases had an annoying problem whereby you could not reliably offer a link to a results page, since every time they updated their database (several times a year) the links would change. As far as I can tell that is not a problem with the new system. I wish the Polish State Archives the best of luck, and hope they’ll work out the kinks as soon as possible. If you have experience using szukajwarchiwach.pl and want to share your tips on finding specific types of records, please share them in the comments.
I’m happy to announce a new set of resources in the B&F Compendium of Jewish Genealogy. I recently came across a set of files from the JDC Archives that is organized by town, and has all of the records scanned and online. These are referred to as the Warsaw Office, 1939-1941 Localities collection.
Zbaszyn Refugees in Falenica
The documents in these files are for the most part correspondence between the Warsaw office of the American Joint Distribution Office and representatives of Jewish groups in over 500 different towns in Poland during the years 1939-1941. Frequently the group in the town was the German-organized Judenrat, although not always. Sometimes the organizations are local support organizations, and sometimes the letters are to individuals.
Some of these files consist of a single letter. Others have over 100 documents. While the letters can open up an important view into the lives of Polish Jews during the first years of the Holocaust, before the deportations to concentration camps, the more exciting feature of this collection are the lists.
Bolimow Matzah Recipients
Many of the towns have lists of people. These lists can be lists of all the Jews in the town, refugees from other towns, those who received financial assistance, and even those who received flour, matza and even herring. Considering the dearth of information on the lives of Jews during this period, I think these lists are incredibly important.
I did find some minor issues with the list of files which I tried to correct if I could. I’m also sending an e-mail to the JDC to mention them so they can be fixed. A few items on the list had incorrect links. Many of the items list the file language as English, even though essentially none of the files have any English in them. I think this must have been some default setting. Almost every file has documents in Polish, many have in German, and some are in Yiddish. A few files are just in German, but not too many.
These files will show up in over 500 Polish town pages (out of the more than 1400 on this site) in the Holocaust resource category. See the Holocaust category for the town of Żabno: Continue reading JDC Warsaw Office Locality Files 1939-1941→
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