Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - What city is Warklau? Varakļāni?

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mchait

Joined: 16 Nov 2015
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 7:22 am Post subject: What city is Warklau?

Gilberto, Elizabeth, Henryk,
Thanks for the info! Do you know, was this city ever Polish? My great-grandfather said in 1910-1930-he was from Russia. Then, in 1930, Poland, then 1942- Lithuania. Do you know if this matches with this city?
Thanks again,
Meredith

Elzbieta Porteneuve
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Joined: 09 Nov 2012
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Location: Paris, France
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 10:10 am Post subject: What city is Warklau?

mchait wrote:

Meredith,

The city Warkland / Warklany is in the center of today Latvia, circa 90 km North of the city of Daugavpils(Latvian name)/Dyneburg(Polish name).

Going backward with time.

After WWI, since 1918, your g-gfather was from Latvia.
The UK has a compiled summary of the world between 1900 and 2000, Europe is rather 1914 to 2000, see page 7 and 11, and related comments with political changes
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/documents/maps-in-time.pdf

From 1910 up to the end of WWI, your g-gfather was from Russia
1910 map here:
http://www.emersonkent.com/map_archive/europe_1910.htm

I found a very well compiled Latvian history with maps
http://latvianhistory.com/selected-maps/
Note Polish Livonia with Dünaburg on the map from 1740, as part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The German name of the river Daugava, going to Riga (Baltic Sea) is Düna
Riga was Hansa City, here is Polish map:
https://latvianhistory.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/hanza-map.jpg
More about Hansa:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League

Note that in 1772 the part of Latvia with Warkland / Warklany became Russian (first partition).
https://latvianhistory.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/765px-rzeczpospolita_rozbiory_31.png

Latvia was part to Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rzeczpospolita_Obojga_Narod%C3%B3w
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Lithuanian_Commonwealth (1569–1795)

And at the end a very interesting map with Polish territories back in 1400s
http://history-belarus.by/images/img-places/samogitia/baltic_1380.jpg

The answer to "was this city ever Polish?" is yes, before first partition of Poland.

Re: "then 1942- Lithuania".
1942 it is in the middle of WWII war, and any search of "Europe 1942" leads to maps like that one
https://www2.bc.edu/~heineman/maps/1942label.html

Best,
Elzbieta

mchait

Joined: 16 Nov 2015
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 11:29 am Post subject: What city is Warklau?

Thanks for the research! From here, do you think my best option to learn more is to go to Latvia? And, visit Varakļāni?

Henryk
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Joined: 05 Dec 2008
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 1:23 pm Post subject: What city is Warklau?

Searching Latvian records online:
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Latvia_Genealogy

Quote:

If your ancestor was born in Latvia prior to 1905, and you know where they were born, you can start immediately with religious records. These religious records are available online through the Latvian State Historical Archives online digital archive called Raduraksti. As the Family History Library has very few records from Latvia, this new website with about five million images of genealogical records is a source of both information and joy. The images include church records of Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Greek Catholic, Reformed Protestant and Jewish faiths, and also revision lists and 1897 census records of the Russian Empire. The word raduraksti means genealogy. You must register to see the images, but registration is free. The site has useful instructions in English, including lists of abbreviations and some vocabulary.

http://www.lvva-raduraksti.lv/en/menu.html
Archives registration form, required for access. Free

Elzbieta Porteneuve
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Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2015 2:12 pm Post subject: What city is Warklau?

Re: "then 1942- Lithuania"

I am trying to figure out what could explain that Lithuania.

I might have an explanation if your g-gfather spoke Polish.
In Polish:
Litwa - Lithuania
Łotwa - Latvia
FWIW.

Best,
Elzbieta

mchait

Joined: 16 Nov 2015
Replies: 9

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Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 1:43 pm Post subject:

Thanks Henryk and Elzbieta!
BTW, he spoke Russian, Hebrew, and Yiddish.

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