Poland is, indeed, a highly Roman Catholic country – the church plays a central role in the culture and history of the country. And while the current Jewish population is small now, it was a sizeable minority before World War II.
Thus many genealogists assume that their Polish ancestors were either Roman Catholic or Jewish. The fact is, though, that a number of other denominations are (and were) represented in Poland. In addition, Catholics may have belonged to either Roman Catholic, or Greek Catholic, parishes. These distinctions can be very important in tracing records in the old country.
Religious Toleration in Poland
Poland has a long history of religious toleration; in fact, the Warsaw Confederation of 1573 guaranteed freedom of religion to anyone who did not try to overthrow the government. Immigrants from other countries brought a variety of faiths, including Lutherans from Germany, Calvinists from Scotland, Mennonites from Germany and the Netherlands, Huguenots from France, and Russian Orthodox from Russia or Belarus (formerly called Belorussia). Many of these groups built churches and kept records that may still be available.
Roman Catholic and Other Church Registers
Roman Catholic birth registers began in the late 1500s; anyone with access to these records can trace their Roman Catholic families back for many generations. However, after the Partitions of Poland in the late 1700s, some areas of the country were required to keep records of all births, not just those of Roman Catholic parents.
In Austrian Poland, for example, the Roman Catholic clergy became the keepers of all official vital records for their areas. In contrast, laws were passed at various times that allowed Lutherans and Jews to keep their own registers. Thus researchers looking for non-Catholic records from the late 1700s onward should look at the Roman Catholic records from that area, as well as any records available from other denominations.
Religion in Poland Today
Today the vast majority (96%) of Poles are Roman Catholic. A large percentage of the remaining 4% are members of the Orthodox Church, with the remainder being Greek Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Lutherans, Mariavites, Pentecostals, Seventh-Day Adventists, Baptists, Methodists, members of the Church of Christ, Reformed Lutherans, and the New Apostolic Church. A small number of Jews, Muslims, and devotees of ISKCON (Hare Krishnas) make up most of the rest of the population.
Before World War II, about 10% of the population was Jewish – the largest percentage in any country at the time. From 1939 to 1945 nearly 3,000,000 Polish Jews were killed; most of the rest fled to the USSR or other countries. By the end of the war, only about 55,000 Jews remained in Poland, though another 200,000 returned in 1946. When Israel was established in 1948, however, most Polish Jews chose to emigrate. By 1998, only about 10,000 to 30,000 Jews were living in Poland.
More Articles on Polish Genealogy
- Resources for Finding Ancestors From Poland lists books and websites to help the new genealogist find Polish resources.
- U.S. Polish Immigration Patterns Before WWI explains why millions of Poles left their homeland in the 1800s.
Sources
- Encyclopedia of the Nations: Poland—Religions
- Polish Roots, by Rosemary A. Chorzempa. Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993.
- Going Home, by Jonathan D. Shea. Language and Lineage Press, 2008.
- Polish Parish Records of the Roman Catholic Church, by Gerald A. Ortell. Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1966.
Katharine Garstka - Katharine Garstka specializes in genealogical research and in historical and genealogical writing.
Join the Conversation