Jewish/Polish Research

[Keptin Thedark]

Does anyone here have experience of dealing with the Jewish/Polish research? Or had dealings with the Polish National Archives in Warsaw?

Thanks

[Christine in Herts]

Presume you've looked here?

JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy

Christine

[Keptin Thedark]

Hi Christine, yes I've looked there. I need to get some searches carried out at the Warsaw Archives, I just wanted some sound advice from someone who has already dealt with them.
I'm wondering if it's best to try and deal with the Polish archivist's or just get in touch with an English speaking researcher in Poland, and let them deal with all the admin and searches etc.

[Guest]

Keptin have you tried Rootschat ?? they are pretty good at immigration stuff RootsChat.com - Genealogy, Family History, Local History, Messaging Forum and more

[Christine in Herts]

Hi Christine, yes I've looked there. I need to get some searches carried out at the Warsaw Archives, I just wanted some sound advice from someone who has already dealt with them.
I'm wondering if it's best to try and deal with the Polish archivist's or just get in touch with an English speaking researcher in Poland, and let them deal with all the admin and searches etc.

I wondered whether anyone on one of their message boards might be able to answer you?

I shall be interested in the outcome, as I may find myself with a similar task in following up some names on my niece's tree - but in Lithuania.

Christine

In this context, researching: Freeman/Friedman, Marks, Jones, Cohen

[Keptin Thedark]

Thanks for the link Val, very interesting, and as I've been reading and linking and searching I have not had the chance to do any posting, lol, so cannot answer your question just yet Christine.

Having a very bad day of searches anyway, is there something wrong with findmypast today?

[Astro Lady]

Hi Keptin,

I would also be very interested in the outcome of your queries. I married into a Polish family and MIL is asking about her ancestorsmore and more these days. She knows i've done research for years but is getting really inquisitive lately.The thing is she doesn't talk about her family as they went through hell in the war and it brings back terrible memories.
Please let us know how you get on.
Thanks
Valley

[Keptin Thedark]

Hi,

Ok, spent a lot of time checking databases to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious before parting with my hard earned cash.

Found nothing new so I'm no further forward than I was this morning (or two months ago for that matter).

I did contact a research company in Poland a while back and they quoted £450 for approx ten hours, the cost included a family tree illustration etc etc.. No need for all that bumpf, just inflates the cost, sounded a LOT like an FTM production, I just want the information. The price also included admin charges, from what I can gather it's much the same as the copyright forms that we complete in RO's here to get our parish register entries and the like. I believe that the form can be downloaded from here free of charge Accessing the records

There is also a price list on the above link, as usual it's not straightforward (to me anyway, lol).
I think it will be a long drawn out process to go through the archives due to language barriers.
I have however had some key phrases translated by a Polish teacher, incase I do decide to contact the archives direct, she is working over here filleting fish (I kid you not).£450.00 would be at least 5 months wages for a teacher in Poland!
But the translation includes all the squiggles which I do not have on my keyboard.
I can see that it is just going to be one problem after another, so, at the moment it is my intention to contact several researchers based in Warsaw for quotes including translation of any documents they may find, I'll make it clear that I know the admin papers can be downloaded free of charge!
I may have a change of heart by morning but after 14 hours plodding away today I just don't have the heart for it.

I may be absent for long periods of time but promise to let you know my decision and the outcome.