Roman Catholic church registers older than approximately 100 years are to be found mostly in the diocesan's archives. Because many Protestant churches were converted in Silesia after the end of WW2 into Roman Catholic one, protestant books may also be found in these archives. But not all Roman Catholic municipalities have given their old church registers to the archives. Often a letter in Polish language to the parish helps to retrieve information.
Besides many Roman Catholic as well as protestant church registers are in the state archives. Their web site is:
http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/index.eng.html
However, many protestant church registers were taken at the end of WW2 to the west of Germany and are found today in the Protestant Central Archive, Jebenstr. 3, 10623 Berlin, Germany.
Archives responsible for the area of Hirschberg (Jelenia Gora)
Archiwum Panstowowe w Wroslawiu (State archive Wroclaw)) Opening times: Monday - Friday 9 am - 6 pm, Saturday 9 am - 3 pm Literature: A. Dere: Informator dla korzystaj cych z
materialnów archiwalnych. Wojewódzkie Archiwum Panstowowe we
Wroclawiu, Oprac. Wroclaw 1976 Oddzia w Jeleniej Górze (Branch Jelenia Gora) Opening times:Monday- Friday 9 am - 3 pm
Literature: Archiwum Archidieczjalne we Wroclawiu (Archbishop's Archive Wroclaw)
Opening times:Monday - Friday 8 am - 3 pm, Saturday 8 am - 1 pm Literature: W. Urban: Katalog Archiwum Archidiecezjalnego we
Wroclawiu (Catalogue of the Archbishop's Archive),
Lublin, 3 Vols. A very good introduction into the genealogy of Silesia offers the web page:
http://www.PolishRoots.org Helpful is the web site of the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft
ostdeutscher Familienforscher e.V. (AGoFF)" (in German) Czech Republic Parish books older than the year 1900 are stored in the Czech Republic in the State Archives Archive responsible for the area of Trutnov Státni oblastní archiv v Zámrsku (State Archive of Zamrsk) Opening times:Monday, Wednesday 8 am - 5 pm, Tuesday, Thursday 8 am - 3 pm, closed on Friday
A working place must be reserved in advance! Many helpful links concerning genealogy on the "Sudentenland" are found here (in German): http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/SUD/sudet.html#arch
PL-50-215 Wroclaw
ul. Pomorska 2
Tel. Information: ++48 / 71 / 328 8101
Fax: ++48 /71 / 32 88 395
e-mail: wroclaw@ap.wroc.pl
http://www.ap.wroc.pl/index_de.html
R. Zerelik: Staatsarchiv Breslau - Wegweiser durch die Bestände bis zum Jahre 1945, München
1996
PL-58-500 Jelenia Góra
ul. Podwale 27
Tel./ Fax: ++48 / 74 242 08
e-mail: jgora@ap.wroc.pl
http://www.ap.wroc.pl/strony/jgora/jgora.htm
Cz. Margas: Archiwum Panstwowe w Jeleniej Górze. Przewodnik po zasobie. Prace Karkonoskiego
Towarzystwa Naukowego Nr. 32. Pracownia Bada Humanistycznych. Jelenia
Góra 1984
PL-ul. Kanonia 12
PL-50-328 Wroclaw
Tel.: ++48 / 71 / 3221755, 3271178
Fax: ++48 /71 / 3271179
e-mail: muzeum@pwt.wroc.pl
http://www.archidiecezja.wroc.pl/kuria_14.php
J. Pater: Pfarrbücherverzeichnis für das Erzbistum Breslau. Regensburg 1998
Here indications are listed where special information is stored in Polish archives. Very helpfully is a listing of all Polish state and religious archives. One finds a list of all Polish archives in the internet with links also to non-Polish archives under
http://www.archiwa.gov.pl/internet/index.eng.html
http://www2.genealogy.net/gene/vereine/AGoFF
CZ-56543 Zámrsk
Further Literature
K. Puschmann, J. Grünewald: Die noch vorhandenen Kirchenbücher Schlesiens und ihre derzeitigen Lagerorte. In: Deutsches Geschlechterbuch Bd. 178, 1978, S. XIV-XXVI (Still existing parish books of Silesia and where they can be found today - in German)
J. Grünewald: Verzeichnis noch vorhandener insbesondere evangelischer Kirchenbücher Schlesien, nebst evangelischer und katholischer Garnisonkirchenbücher und deren Lagerorte. In: Deutsches Geschlechterbuch Bd. 178, 1978, S. XXVII-XLIX (List of still existing protestant parish books and where they can be found today- in German)
E. Quester: Hinweise für Forschungen nach Vorfahren aus Schlesien. In: Deutsches Geschlechterbuch Bd. 153, 1970, S. XLVII-LIII
J. Kaps: Handbuch über die katholischen Kirchenbücher der ostdeutschen Kirchenprovinzen östlich der Oder, München 1962 (not up to date) (Handbook on catholic parish books from the former German settlement areas in the East - in German)