PolishOrigins(TM) Forum

Re: Research resources in Kielce?

Hussar — Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:36 pm

Author: Hussar

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:36 pm

My father was a POW as a Belgian, Koln was where the British liberated him from. From the information I have Grossessen was near Leipzig, Sachsen being on the other side from Hesse. I am told that the Kaiser's forces had POW camps for Russian troops and they would have to work the Lignite mines. A WWI POW record or a Russian draft record from Konskie would fill a few blanks.

Re: Research resources in Kielce?

Ute — Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:32 am

Author: Ute

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:32 am

Hussar wrote:

Still no closer. During my last converstion with my father, I had mentioned my results with Moikrewni and started listing places. That narrowed it down to Kielce-Konski with Knoskie being 12KM away from Kielce proper. Any archives available? I had also mentioned that I can't find anything about his birthplace, Grossessen Germany. Maps of Leipzig show nothing, one search engine metions it in 1944 along with Leipzig and a battle against the Red Army. I haven't used German since the 70's "Deutsch Flight back to Germany" to escape the USA's affirmative action policies, so couldn't read it properly. He had mentioned that his father Jozef had moved the family to Belgium shortly after his birth and the reason he was in Germany was because his father was a German POW serving the Czar's military. My father was born July 12th, 1920. Armistice day was almost a year and a half prior, any info here? He had no answer to why his father and mother moved from Belgium after they closed up shop when the mines closed in 1952 to Chorzow Batory and not Kielce-Konskie. I did discover that the Kielce archive is still trying to recover documents taken by the Nazis to Katowice, no answers here.

When I read the place name Grossessen I thought of Gross-Hessen (resp. Groß-Hessen, the German ß = ss), but according to Wikipedia* that was "the provisional name given for a section of German territory created by the US military administration in at the end of World War II", and you are saying that your father was born in 1920. If you have a record in German that you cannot read, please scan and post it, and I will have a look at it.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Hesse

Re: Research resources in Kielce?

Hussar — Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:21 pm

Author: Hussar

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 10:21 pm

Still no closer. During my last converstion with my father, I had mentioned my results with Moikrewni and started listing places. That narrowed it down to Kielce-Konski with Knoskie being 12KM away from Kielce proper. Any archives available? I had also mentioned that I can't find anything about his birthplace, Grossessen Germany. Maps of Leipzig show nothing, one search engine metions it in 1944 along with Leipzig and a battle against the Red Army. I haven't used German since the 70's "Deutsch Flight back to Germany" to escape the USA's affirmative action policies, so couldn't read it properly. He had mentioned that his father Jozef had moved the family to Belgium shortly after his birth and the reason he was in Germany was because his father was a German POW serving the Czar's military. My father was born July 12th, 1920. Armistice day was almost a year and a half prior, any info here? He had no answer to why his father and mother moved from Belgium after they closed up shop when the mines closed in 1952 to Chorzow Batory and not Kielce-Konskie. I did discover that the Kielce archive is still trying to recover documents taken by the Nazis to Katowice, no answers here.

Research resources in Kielce?

Hussar — Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:41 am

Author: Hussar

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:41 am

I have come up empty with what should be easy family tree search. A couple basics I am determined to find is: family oral history states that my great-grandfather Stanislaw/Stanislaus Karkusiewicz was murdered by a Russian Cossack and his widow coerced to start signing over the family's land. On "Moikrew" it states many with the same surname in and around the area (I was told that I was the "last of the Mohicans") but my efforts at contacting the local bishopric have produced no response. My father (same name) visited the area after WWII and was met by his grand-uncle (brother of the slain) "Matjas" or "Matthias" and situation described. I would like to get whatever hard facts I can. I do have a first cousin in Poland ( she can always sniff out inheritances) who's son is/was in the military and had served in Iraq. Can their influence be why the diocese doesn't respond to my inquiries? My father is now 91, I would like to confirm some of the traditions before he's gone. FamilySearch comes up empty every time. Any ideas?