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SURNAME DIRECTORY of the Polish Genealogical Society August 2011 |
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Forward From our inception, we had a goal to create an ancestral index or surname list. The first PGS-CA Surname Directory was published in 1996. Additional surnames and updates are regularly included in our quarterly Bulletin. In 2007, we published the second updated directory and added the database to our website. The new format stressed the connection of surnames to their Polish villages of origin. The “Old” province is included to easily identify the area. The “New” province is abbreviated according to the current 16 provinces’ map. Our gratitude goes to Noella Benvenuti who adopted this surname project and created the database to support it. The database is updated annually. We ask members to participate by sending additions and corrections as often as needed. The complete Surname Directory, sorted by Surname, Village, and Member Number is available to purchase at the current price of $15. If you wish to contact a member to compare surnames, send a note or email and we will forward your request. Polish Genealogical Society of California
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BRIEF HISTORY OF POLAND In 1772, the first partition of Poland occurred. The country was divided between Prussia, Austria and Russia. The second partition by Russia and Prussia took place in 1793 and the Russian Ambassador became the ruler of Poland. The entire country of Poland ceased to exist after the third partition in 1795. In 1918, after years of foreign tyranny, Poland regained its independence and was recognized by the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. A provisional government was formed and Poland was proclaimed a democratic republic. The Polish state now consisted of most of Posen and West Prussia, the Kingdom of Poland, and Galicia. In 1921, Poland signed the Riga Treaty with Russia dividing Byelorussia between them. Poland acquired Grodno, most of Vilna, the western part of Volhynia, and the western fringe of Minsk. In 1939, at the start of World War II, Germany invaded Poland and conquered the entire country. It was not until the end of World War II that a new Polish republic was established from lands acquired from the German provinces of Pomerania, Brandenburg, Silesia, and East and West Prussia. By 1946, Poland was organized into seventeen provinces. Although independent, Poland remained under the domination of the Soviet Union until the Iron Curtain fell in 1989. Administrative reform divided Poland’s seventeen provinces into forty-nine voivodships in 1975. A bill signed in 1998 reorganized these forty-nine into sixteen administrative districts which were subdivided into provinces (wojewodztwo), counties (powiaty), and communes (gmina). These new divisions were implemented on January 1, 1999. |