Polish State Archives
You can begin a search in Polish archives while working from home in the UK. The useful starting point is a person, a locality and a period, rather than a surname entered into every available database. This guide explains how state archives fit into your research and how to distinguish a catalogue reference, an online image and a record that still needs to be requested.
How the Polish State Archives are organised
The State Archives network, run by the Head Office of State Archives in Warsaw, has three central archives and 30 regional archives, most with local branches. Between them they hold the records of state offices, local government, courts and notaries, and many parish and civil registers.
Where Polish vital records are kept
Birth, marriage and death registers are the records most family searches start from. Recent registers are held by the civil registry offices the civil registration offices (Urząd Stanu Cywilnego) with different retention periods: generally 100 years for births and 80 years for marriages and deaths before archival transfer. Check the record holder for the specific register. You can also check out our guide describing birth certificates in Poland.
Searching the State Archives for you
We search the State Archives catalogues and registers, request copies of records that are not online and explain what they say in English. To have a birth, marriage or death entry found, order a record search online.
The Head Office and the central archives
The Head Office of the State Archives in Warsaw, known as Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych, oversees the entire network of state archives in Poland. It sets the rules for the network but holds no records itself. Of the three central archives in Warsaw, the Central Archives of Historical Records (AGAD) holds records from before 1918, the Archives of Modern Records (AAN) the records of central government after 1918, and the National Digital Archive (NAC) photographs, films and sound recordings.
Are Polish archive records online?
Part of the State Archives holdings, including many parish and civil registers, can be viewed as scans on SzukajwArchiwach. Most registers are not indexed by name, and much of the material has not been scanned and has to be requested from the archive that holds it.
Regional State Archives
The 30 regional archives each cover a defined area, which does not always match the present voivodeship boundaries. Five of the largest:
- State Archives in Warsaw (Archiwum Państwowe w Warszawie) covers Warsaw and much of the surrounding region through branches such as Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Otwock, Pułtusk and Mława. Other parts of Mazowieckie are covered by the separate State Archives in Płock, Radom and Siedlce.
- State Archives in Kraków (Archiwum Państwowe w Krakowie) holds the historic records of the city of Kraków and of much of western Galicia.
- State Archives in Poznań (Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu) covers Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), much of which was in the Prussian partition.
- State Archives in Wrocław (Archiwum Państwowe we Wrocławiu) covers Lower Silesia (Dolny Śląsk); most of its records from before 1945 are in German.
- State Archives in Gdańsk (Archiwum Państwowe w Gdańsku) holds the archive of the city of Gdańsk (Danzig) and records of Pomerania.
Turn a UK family clue into an archive request
A place name copied into a British document may need to be identified before it can be used in a Polish catalogue. Keep the original wording and make a separate note of any proposed modern place name. Then record the archive, collection and reference for each possible match.
A catalogue entry does not by itself mean that a scan is online. Save the reference and ask about access or copies. If the locality is uncertain, first use our guide to identifying a village and its parish.
Check the date and the record holder
The Polish State Archives genealogy guidance distinguishes older birth records from marriage and death records. A date threshold is a starting point for an enquiry, not a promise that every eligible register has been transferred or digitised.