Raptularz Records

The Polish word raptularz refers to informal or unofficial records that were created before the official records in paragraph form (called “akts”) were made. Raptularz birth, marriage, or death records include all or nearly all of the essential details, but usually present them in a table, perhaps without the names of the witnesses.

According to Wielki słownik języka polskiego (https://wsjp.pl/haslo/podglad/61825/raptularz/5225104/urzedowy): raptularz — formerly, a collection of continuously recorded information used as the basis for preparing an official document [Polish: dawniej zbiór notowanych na bieżąco informacji, na którego podstawie sporządzano jakiś dokument urzędowy].

Occasionally, raptularz records exist for a particular year, but the akts themselves do not. A likely explanation is that the akts for that year were lost or destroyed by fire or flood.

Many raptularz records exist in the area of Poland covered by CRARG, including records for Pławno, Szczekociny, and Kłobuck.

Here is an example of a page of raptularz marriage records:

Pławno 1933 raptularz marriage records, listing five marriages (click on the image to see a larger version)

Here is the actual marriage akt for the marriage numbered 4 in the second column of the illustration above:

Pławno 1933 marriage akt 4: Alje-Chaim Chojnowicz and Zyseł Zylberberg (click on the image to see a larger version)

• Volunteer to help type records!
• Learn about other topics in Polish Jewish genealogy.