Record Atlas
6 eras · 1526–2026 · 204 places

Silesia

Breslau (Wrocław), Kattowitz (Katowice), Opole, Opava. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Where researchers lose records here

1742–1871 — Frederick took most of Silesia in 1742 and left a strip — Austrian Silesia, around Opava and Těšín — with the Habsburgs. Two record systems, two languages of administration and two present-day countries, for a province people still name as one place.

1918–1939 — THE TRAP, again and worse. The 1921 plebiscite and the partition that followed cut Upper Silesia in two, and Těšín was cut a third way. Three archives now hold what one parish produced.

1945–2026 — THE TRAP that catches everyone. The German population was expelled and the place names changed wholesale — Breslau is Wrocław, Waldenburg is Wałbrzych, Gleiwitz is Gliwice. Records made in German before 1945 sit in Polish archives under Polish names. Search the German name for the record and the Polish name for the archive.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1526–1742 Habsburg Bohemian crown lands Acta Publica · Porta fontium · FamilySearch

Catholic and Lutheran registers in Latin and German, kept by the parish.
1742–1871 Prussia — Province of Silesia (Austrian Silesia stays Habsburg) Szukaj w Archiwach · Archion · Acta Publica · FamilySearch

THE TRAP. Frederick took most of Silesia in 1742 and left a strip — Austrian Silesia, around Opava and Těšín — with the Habsburgs. Two record systems, two languages of administration and two present-day countries, for a province people still name as one place.
1871–1918 German Empire — Prussian Silesia Szukaj w Archiwach · Archion · Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych (AGAD) · FamilySearch

Standesamt civil registration from 1 October 1874, in German, alongside the church books.
1918–1939 Divided — East Upper Silesia to Poland in 1922, the rest German; Těšín split with Czechoslovakia Szukaj w Archiwach · Geneteka · Acta Publica

THE TRAP, again and worse. The 1921 plebiscite and the partition that followed cut Upper Silesia in two, and Těšín was cut a third way. Three archives now hold what one parish produced.
1939–1945 German annexation of the whole Arolsen Archives · Bundesarchiv

Auschwitz is in this region, in what the Germans had annexed as Ost-Oberschlesien. Arolsen and Yad Vashem hold the names.
1945–2026 Poland, and Czech Silesia in the south Szukaj w Archiwach · Geneteka · Acta Publica · FamilySearch

THE TRAP that catches everyone. The German population was expelled and the place names changed wholesale — Breslau is Wrocław, Waldenburg is Wałbrzych, Gleiwitz is Gliwice. Records made in German before 1945 sit in Polish archives under Polish names. Search the German name for the record and the Polish name for the archive.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1526–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

204 places on this ground

The 200 carrying the most collections are listed; 4 more stand on this ground. Every place has them all.

105 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 45 more.

All record regions · The map