Where to find passports of my ancestors?
Hi, my great grandma and family left Poland in 1927. They lived in Volodimir Volinskyi, which is now Ukraine. I have been looking for birth and marriage certificates, but have had no luck yet. I understand that many records have been destroyed and some left are hard to find.
I have found their original Polish names through some letters she wrote. In one of the letters, she says that before leaving Poland, they had to have a passport and a citizenship certificate. I wonder if you know where to find copies (if any) of these records, the passports and citizenship certificates. I'm assuming they were issued sometime between Jan - July 1927.
Answers
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Hello!
Passports are not usually accessible online, they are stored in district and municipal archives. See the article under the heading Other Records of Departure for more information.
You might start with the Polish State Archives.
What religion did your ancestors belong to? We might be able to help you locate birth and marriage records.
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Oh, thank you so much, Ellie. They were Jewish.
I'd be looking for documents of the individuals below:
- Zyja Guinzberg (9J77-NY7) My grandpa. This is his birth name. The family ended up in Mexico and his name was changed to Jesus.
- Gitla Czyzyk (9J77-NYD) My ggrandma.
- Abraham Guinzberg (9J77-NYD) My ggrandpa
- Dov Ber (Berka) Guinzberg (L5VR-WKP) and Freida Mareide (L5VR-DBJ) my gggrandparents.
- Pinchas Czyzyk (L5VR-D7V) and Perla Grubej (L5VR-6KV) my gggrandparents.
There is a facebook group called Genealogy in Ukraine - Research and Ancestry. I have used it to locate documents on that end as well. So if you find a lead about a document that is not digitized yet, they might help us getting pictures of it. Any lead of a city where documents might be kept is appreciated.
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Hi Ellie,
Just wanted to see if you had a chance to see my message. And if so, wondering if there are threads that I can follow up on.
Thanks,
Yael
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Yael,
So sorry I missed this one! I'll take a look at your information
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Hello Yael,
Do you know if they were from Volodimir Volinskyi, the city itself, or just the surrounding area? Knowing the hometown will be important in locating records.
I would check the JewishGen Family Finder database first, it looked like there was at least one person on there searching for the same surname in the Volodimir Volinskyi area. I would suggest contacting that researcher to see how you might be related and collaborate.
Two databases to search for records include the JewishGen Ukraine database and JRI-Poland.
I noticed that Abraham's birth place (and many of his siblings) is listed as Ustilug on FamilySearch. Do you have some documentation for that? That might be a good place to start. There is a Yizkor book (town memorial book) available through JewishGen. You might check to see if your surnames are showing up in this area.
Some other good websites include the Routes to Roots Foundation, Jewish Roots (in Russian, but use Google Translate to help you). The Ukraine Jewish Records and Poland Jewish Records pages on the FamilySearch Wiki should also be able to give you some guidance and additional information.
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So, I know Abraham was born in Ustilug. I don’t have any official documents for that, but I recently found a Yad Vashem record with his older brother details. It said he’d been born in Ustilug, which also matched a letter that I was able to retrieve from the Polish embassy in Mexico. This letter had Abraham’s information, it’s just handwritten. I would love to find any official docs.
My cousin Estelle Hardin is the one looking for Chiziks in JewishGen. I’m in contact with her.
I have searched many of the resources you list if not all. I know the Yizkor book for Ustilug was recently translated to English. I will take a look at that. If you ever hear of a different resource where I can retrieve any documents, please keep in in mind.
Thanks,
Yael
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