Genealogy Search in Poland the beginning

My interest in genealogy began when I was in middle school and we had an assignment to make a family tree. A history of the Placzek Family.

This led to one of the greatest questions I ever asked my father, Joseph Placzek:
"Can you tell me about our grandparents or relatives in Poland?"

However, he was unable to answer this question.
All he knew about his parents, Constantine Placzek and Anna Lassa, amounted to: they came from a region called Posen, now known as, Poznan.

When I started trying to find information, over twenty five years ago, no sources were readily available for finding information and resources were not easily accessible, in order to begin a genealogy search. The internet had not been created, and books and literature were very limited on the subject of genealogy in Poland.

How My Search Became Easier
One day, my mother received a genealogy booklet from a relative, Audrey Fisher, who is my cousin.

The Fisher family was related to us through my father, Joseph Placzek. His sister, Sofie Placzek, married John Fisher and had several children. Her daugher, Audrey was interested in genealogy. Fortunately for me, she had put together a booklet of information from documents she had from her mother.

Her mother, Sofia Placzek Fisher, was born in Poland on 13 Apr 1903, and came to the United States with her parents, Constantine Placzek and Anna Lassa in 1906. They had several documents with them from Poland and fortunately, were preserved by Sofia and her children.

Audrey copied the documents and put them into her booklet about the family. I was fascinated with them and got her phone number and called her. We have been in contact ever since.

The most critical phase of genealogy:
How do you find where your relatives were born?

To begin a genealogy search, you need to know the birth cities of your relatives and one of the biggest challenges was, how to read the handwriting of Old German script that was on the documents?

Remember, at the time, there was no internet or sources readily available on how to do this. All I could do was pour over the documents and try to decipher the words, which proved impossible.

Instead, I found a map of Poland. However, it did not list the German names of towns and that proved frustrating. How would I find their birth cities if I couldn't find a map that had the German or Prussian names of towns from the 19th and 20th centuries?

Again, I had to wait to find a map of the region of Posen/Poznan that listed German names of towns, in order to begin my search.

Every time I took out the booklet, I would feel so discouraged. I knew the documents listed birth cities and dates, but until I could read them, they would have to wait until a time several years later.

Instead of waiting to decipher the documents, I began studying the history of Poland and learned a great deal about the history, the time my grandparents and their families lived and what they experienced.

Then, the internet became a reality. Even though information was a trickle and it took many years for the volume and quality of information to reach the levels that are currently available on the internet, I knew there were others searching for family in Poland. Perhaps, our relatives in Poland were searching for their relatives or families that emigrated to the United States?

My search for my family in Poland began in earnest.

What I can tell you, is that in the last two years, not only did I discover the birth cities of my Grandparents, Aunt Sofia and Uncle Johann, I've found some of my family in Poland.

I would like to share with you how I did it, the resources I've found on the internet and the wealth of information available to anyone who would like to find their family in Poland.