Gazetteer of Poland 1933

This gazetteer of the Republic of Poland from 1933 is valuable because it is a single resource for all of Poland back then. Prior to the restoration of the Polish state, you often needed a different gazetteer specific for the partition you were working in. Furthermore, modern gazetteers do not include the eastern territory that was taken from Poland after World War II. This gazetteer includes the parish that a locality belonged to so you know where to looks for parish records.

The gazetteer was imaged as DjVu files instead of the more popular PDF format. DjVu format offers excellent image quality and smaller file sizes which is important for transmission over the internet. Your browser needs a DjVu plugin or separate app to view these files.

There are over 2000 files-- one for each page of the gazetteer. How do I know which page/file I need? With a slim 1 in 2000 chance of finding the correct page, I decided to make it a little easier. I entered the locale name at the top of each page and file number into a database. Using the form below, I can search that database to give me an indication of the first page/file that contains the needed entry.

IMPORTANT: Since the gazetteer is in Polish, it uses strict Polish alphabetization rules-- plain letters come before their modified forms. I have listed the order below:

a ą b c ć d e ę f g h i j k l ł m n ń o ó p r s ś t u w y z ź ż

If you don't otherwise know how to enter the modified letters, you can do what I often do. I have a list of the letters like what follows: ąćęłńóśźż    Then when I need to use one, I cut it (CTRL-C) from the list and paste it (CTRL-V) in the spot where it is needed.

The result you get from the search will show you exactly what you typed for the locale regardless of whether it exists or not (the search algorithm doesn't care). For example, make up a place like 'kjlm' and search for it. The result will show you the link to the first page/file on which that locale should appear on (between ki and kl names on image 0705.djvu if it existed). Clicking the link lets you download the djvu file for viewing in an app. The purpose of this page is to help you get the gazetteer page you need rather than guessing which one will have your locale.

Enter your locale in the box below.