Weiner's Unique and Extensive Archival Collection to be part of JRI-Poland.org

In 1989, Miriam Weiner traveled to Poland where she met with the director of the Polish State Archives. As a result, Weiner was given unprecedented access to archives throughout Poland for the purpose of identifying, translating, coding and creating an index to Jewish and civil records, later published in Weiner's book, Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories. Further, they agreed that her material would be submitted to the various archives for verification and updates.

In 1993, Weiner signed a historic agreement with Prof. Jerzy Skowronek, then director of the archival system in Poland, in confirmation of the above verbal agreement.

Miriam Weiner and Prof. Jerzy Skowronek sign historic agreement wherein Weiner receives permission
to identify and publish an inventory to Jewish and civil records throughout Poland, 1993
(Photo Source: Miriam Weiner Archives)

About six weeks prior to publication, Prof. Skowronek was tragically killed in an automobile accident and his position was filled by Dr. Daria Nalecz who stated "This publication is the first effort to present a comprehensive listing of our archival holdings and documents relating to Jewish people together with the documents in the Urzad Stanu Cywilnego offices (local town hall offices holding vital records) and the Jewish Historical Institute."

Beginning in the late 1990s, many articles from Jewish Roots in Poland were posted to the Foundation website which is very important since the book is now out of print.

Archive Inventories

• Inventories of Jewish documents held at the various archives in Poland
  • Polish State Archives
  • USC Offices (civil records offices)
  • Jewish Historical Institute
  • Metric Book of the Stanu Cywilnego in State Archives of Poland, 1998 (published book)
  • Urzedy Stanu Cywilnego – 1984 listing of USC offices in Poland and holdings by religion (published book)
  • Certain other holdings

The foregoing inventories and following name lists and publications represent a massive amount of material that JRI-Poland will process (translate, index, etc.) and make available as soon as we can.

Name Lists of Various Jewish Communities in Poland

• PKO Bank Records – 1936 list of account holders for all of interwar Poland
• Jewish Community of Bedzin – 1939 Census List
• Burials in Jewish Cemetery in Bialystok – list of about 2,000 burials
• Births in Bialystok – 1860-1883 index of names
• Jewish Community of Chelm – 1936 Tax List
• Jewish Community in Chelm Powiat (district) – 1922 list of religious buildings and officials
• Jewish Community of Hrubieszow – 1930 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Irena Bobrowniki – 1930 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Krasnystaw & Environs – 1936 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Krasnystaw & Environs – 1928 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Lubartow – 1930 Membership dues to Jewish Council
• Jewish Community of Lubartow – 1940 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Lublin – 1914 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Lublin – 1924 Jewish Council Member List
• Jewish Community of Lublin – 1936 Tax List
• Jewish Cemeteries in Lublin – various articles and pamphlets
• Burials in Lublin Jewish Cemetery – 1941-1942 list
• Death Incidents Register of Lublin – 1941/1942 list
• School records in Lutowiska – 1874-1911 list of students
• Burials in Lvov Jewish Cemetery – 1941-1942 microfilm of book
• Jewish Community of Piaski – 1927 Membership dues to the Jewish Council
• Naturalizations of Jews in the Grand Duchy of Posen – 1836 Index
• Burials in Poznan – 1914-1924 index
• Jewish Community of Pulawy – 1929 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Rejowiec – 1928 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Turobin – 1936 Tax List
• Telephone book for city of Vilnius in 1980
• Jewish Community of Zamosc – 1928 Contributions to community
• Jewish Community of Zamosc – 1934 Tax List
• Jewish Community of Zamosc – 1936 Tax List

Holocaust Lists, Booklets, etc.

• Transport list of Jews from Bezirk Bialystok to Majdanek – 1942-1943
• Surviving Jews in Czestochowa – booklet
• Surviving Jews in Kielce - list
• Surviving Jews in Kielce District – booklet
• Surviving Jews from Kolomyja – list
• Surviving Jews in Lublin – booklet
• Jews in the Lublin Ghetto from Belzycz, Rejowiec, Siedliszcz – March 1941 list
• Jews in Lublin Ghetto, Majdan Tatarski district – 1942 list
• Liberated Jews in Sweden – 1945 list
• Survivor Reunion in Shanghai – 1980 list
• Surviving Jews in Siedlce – list
• Surviving Jews in Warsaw – booklet

Other Materials

• Josephine and Franciscan Metriki (Galicia) – book published in 1965
• Wykaz Izraelickich / Okregow metrykalnych (registration towns for Jewish metrical records)
• Ksiega Adresowa Polski – Directory of Poland for trade, industry, handicraft, and agriculture, 1930

Chapter Excerpts from Jewish Roots in Poland

• Chapter 1 - Introduction to Polish-Jewish Genealogical Research
• Chapter 2 - Cities and Towns in Poland: Pages from the Past and Present (This chapter focuses on the 28 cities within the current borders of Poland that had pre-Holocaust population of 10,000 or more Jewish inhabitants)
  • Bedzin
  • Bialystok
  • Chelm
  • Czestochowa
  • Gdansk
  • Kalisz
  • Kielce
  • Krakow
  • Lodz
  • Lomza
  • Lublin
  • Miedzyrzec Podlaski
  • Nowy Sacz
  • Otwock
  • Piotrkow Trybunalski
  • Plock
  • Przemysl
  • Radom
  • Radomsko
  • Rzeszow
  • Siedlce
  • Sosnowiec
  • Tarnow
  • Tomaszow Mazowiecki
  • Warszawa
  • Wloclawek
  • Wroclaw
  • Zamosc

Articles from Routes to Roots Foundation website (Chapters 3-6 originally published in Jewish Roots in Poland)

• Chapter 3 from Jewish Roots in Poland: Jewish Genealogical Research in the Polish State Archives by Professor Jerzy Skowronek
• Chapter 4 from Jewish Roots in Poland: Urzad Stanu Cywilnego Warsaw Srodmiescie (with Jewish Documents from Galicia) by Kazimierz Kotlarski, Director
• Chapter 5 from Jewish Roots in Poland: Jewish Historical Institute (Zydowski Instytut Historyczny) by Miriam Weiner
• Chapter 6 from Jewish Roots in Poland: Concentration Camp Archives by Miriam Weiner
  • Chapter 6a: Majdanek Museum Archives by Janina Kielbon, Archives Director
  • Chapter 6b: State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, The Archives by Barbara Jarosz and Helena Sliz, Archivists
  • Chapter 6c: State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Regulations for Access to Archival Documents by Jerzy Wroblewski, Director
• Archival Collections at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum by Teresa Swiebocka, Executive Director
• Jagiellonian University: The Research Center on Jewish History and Culture by Joachim S. Russek, Assistant Director