Learn More About Polish Jewish Genealogy

Commonly confused letters How to improve your searching
Duplicate records Why two copies of a birth, marriage, or death record
BMD records: available years BMD records begin in 1808 for most towns
Language of BMD records Language to expect in birth, marriage, and death records
Maiden names The meaning of a maiden name that includes a suffix
Map Map showing CRARG’s core towns
Notary records Marriage records that indicate “a contract was made”
Patronymic names What is a patronymic name?
Polish citizenship How to obtain Polish citizenship
Pronunciation How to pronounce names and towns
Raptularz records BMD records in “table” format, created before the actual, official akt (record in paragraph form) was created
Scanned images Scanned images of birth, marriage, and death records for towns in CRARG’s core area
Search advice How-to advice for CRARG search engines
Surnames When were surnames first required in Poland?
Two dates Why many records list two dates
Unavailable birth record Wording used in books of residents and alegata marriage records when a birth record is not available
vel What does “vel” mean between two given names or surnames?

Thinking of joining CRARG? Feel free to write to me (danielkazez@crarg.org) to ask if we have records for your family! —Daniel Kazez, CRARG President (a volunteer/unpaid position)

If you are ready to join CRARG, visit our Pre-Holocaust Database page.