Forum | PolishOrigins :: View topic - Help identifying the village of Paszki (Polish-Lithuanian)

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larapietkievicz

Joined: 18 Jun 2026
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Location: Córdoba, Argentina
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 11:35 am Post subject: Help identifying the village of Paszki (Polish-Lithuanian)

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to learn more about my great-grandfather's family and I'm hoping someone here might be able to help.

My great-grandfather was Walerjan Pietkiewicz, born on November 20, 1901. He emigrated to Argentina in 1927, arriving on the ship Meduana. According to his immigration record, he worked as a nurse.

I'm trying to identify a village called Paszki, which appears in several family documents from 1927 and 1928. Family stories say it may be in present-day Lithuania or in a historical Polish-Lithuanian border area, but I haven't been able to find the exact location.

His parents were Lukas Pietkiewicz and Ana Mozara. He also had siblings named Viktor, Maria, and Cyprian (Kipryjan) Pietkiewicz.

I've attached a few things that might help:

* A photo of Walerjan.
* A photo believed to show one of his sisters with her children.
* Documents mentioning money transfers sent to family members in Paszki.
* His immigration record.
* A list of places that might match the name Paszki.

If the village name sounds familiar, if you've come across this family before, or if you have any ideas about where I should look next, I'd be very grateful for any help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

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_________________
Lara Pietkievicz

Sophia
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Joined: 05 Oct 2014
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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2026 2:59 pm Post subject: Re: Help identifying the village of Paszki (Polish-Lithuania

larapietkievicz wrote:

Hi Lara,

Welcome to the forum. I do not have a quick answer for you, but I do have an observation. In your list of images that you included, you mention that there are documents for a money transfer. That would be your images 43 and 44. The forms are in German and French. I assume the German was there because the bank making the transfer was in Vienna, and the French was there as a standard internationally understood language. The money was going to Lukasz Pietkiewicz. Image 43 shows that he lived in "wies Paszki," the village of Paszki. On Image 44, in the area for his signature, his name is written in the Latin alphabet and there is a signature in Cyrillic if I am not mistaken. These were written by an agent in the office that received the money transfer, and the crosses were Lukasz's mark in lieu of a signature. To the left of the signature area there is an official stamp for this office, and it includes a place name that begins with the letters "H E R M A N ....." I need more time to think about this. We need to identify a village named Paszki, where the closest larger town (that would have had such an office to conduct this banking transaction) with a name starting with "Herman...." and keep in mind that this Hermanow or Hermanowo or similar place name would have had its name changed later on so we will need maps from the 1920s. We also need this Paszki to be in an area that was using the cyrillic alphabet. Today's Belarus, perhaps? Close to the border with Lithuania?

The family photographs are lovely. I always like when people include them. It may not help a lot in identifying where the village of Paszki was but thank you very much for posting them.

You mentioned that you were including Walerjan's immigration record but I do not see it. Can you add it?

Best regards,
Sophia

Sophia
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Joined: 05 Oct 2014
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Posted: Yesterday at 8:33 pm Post subject:

Hi again Lara,

Geneteka has indexed the parish of Hermanowicze (births, marriages and deaths 1848-1874) and I am seeing an entry for baptism of a Stanislawa Pietkiewicz in 1861.

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&bdm=B&w=22br&rid=13891&search_lastname=Pietkiewicz&search_name=stanislawa&search_lastname2=&search_name2=&from_date=&to_date=&rpp1=&ordertable=

She was born in Paszki. This is useful because it ties together Paszki, Hermanowicze, and the Pietkiewicz name.

I do not see your family specifically, but that may be because the years that were indexed do not include them.

Sophia

Sophia
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Posted: Yesterday at 8:56 pm Post subject:

I found a map for you:

https://polona.pl/item-view/3671fd06-8659-4310-9cff-c18fc94c363c?page=0

Both Hermanowicze and Paszki are on this map. I am including an image of just a small part of the map that you will find on Polona.

You can see the map is named for the town of Szarkowszczyzna, which on today's maps is Sharkaŭshchyna in Belarus.

I think this is a strong candidate to be the Paszki you are looking for.

Sophia

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Sophia
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Posted: 8 hours ago at 7:54 am Post subject:

The Polona website is taking a "technical break" at the moment, so you will not be able to access the full map at this time. Try again in a day or so and hopefully it will work.

Sophia

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