Can anyone help me trace my great-granfathers family?

Question

Hello everyone, my great-grandfather Leon Lachs was born in Gdynia, Poland on September 11th 1921 and passed away on July 16th 1981 in Blyth, Northumberland, England. My grandmother told me that he never really spoke about Poland and the only thing he mentioned was that he lived on a farm with his family. He had a sister called Anna Lachs and I have a photograph of her but no additional information. Since I have been researching my family tree since 2020, I have tried to find any sources about his family but I haven't been able to find anything. The only sources available are the English marriage and death indexes. I will link his wikitree ID here: Lachs-12

If anyone can help me find his Polish family and or his ancestors, it will be very appreciated.

Comments

I have a Polish relative who served in Africa.

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Maybe they would have served together? As I mentioned unfortunately his Royal Engineer record isn’t available when I’ve been searching.

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Not likely to have served together - he became a paratrooper. However it is possible they knew each other.

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Ah alright, yeah they may have known each other.

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Pure speculation on my part. I imagine that some that some bars in Cairo would have been seen as natural gathering points for the Poles attached to British Army.

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Yeah that would be very likely.

Answer 1

Can you tell us a little more?  Do you know when he emigrated to England?  What is his ethnicity or religion?

Comments

He was catholic and he migrated to England just after the end of WW2 so maybe 1945-1946. My grandmother told me that he served with the Royal Engineers in Egypt during the Second World War but I haven’t been able to find a records yet.

Answer 2

Hi, check this out:

https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&bdm=S&w=11pm&rid=S&search_lastname=Lachs&search_name=&search_lastname2=&search_name2=&from_date=&to_date=&rpp1=&ordertable=

Comments

Thank you for the link some of those people could be his family.

Answer 3

Hi Matthew,

I found this Civil Birth Record for Leon Lachs, it's in Polish.  I don't read Polish but the date is 11 month? 1921.  Hopefully someone who reads Polish will verify it's September and translate the record for you.

This was in the Łebcz registry records which is about 40 km north of Gdynia.  

Comments

Thank you very much for your help.

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You're very welcome.

Tina

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September 11th, 1921 at 8am (the year 1921 should be written tysiąc dziewięćset dwudziesty pierwszy (not "jeden"!), but yes it should be 1921 just like the date at the top opf the document. Sorry!

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Thank you Maciej for confirming September!  Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like 1921.  The 1 in 11 and 1921 are the same.  If you or anyone else who reads Polish has time,  could we please have the entire record translated?  Thanks!

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Strzelno September 11th 1921

In front of the civil registar signing this document, showed up labourer Jan Lachs living in Łebcz, of the Catholic faith, and stated that  Anna Lachs born Sierocka (info from geneteka), his wife, also of Catholic faith, living in his household in Łebcz, gave birth, on a day of September 11th 1921, at 8am,  to a baby boy, and the boy was given the name Leon.

Read, accepted and signed: Jan Lachs

Civil registar: Ellwart (?)

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Thank you very much for your translation!

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I am wondering if there will be any website that will hold the marriage record between Jan and Anna? My grandmother told me that Leon had a few siblings as well, one of them was also called Anna and he had a brother called Jozef.

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https://geneteka.genealodzy.pl/index.php?op=gt&lang=pol&bdm=S&w=11pm&rid=S&search_lastname=Lachs&search_name=Jan&search_lastname2=&search_name2=Anna&from_date=&to_date=

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Thank you

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There are also dates of birth:

Jan - October 2nd, 1896

Anna - September 11th, 1897

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Thank you very much!

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Thank you Maciej!

Answer 4

Matthew,

His parent's marriage record.  It's in German and the rough translation is:

Nr. 21, Werblinia 18 October 1920

Worker Jan Wojciech (sp?) Lachs, Catholic religion, born 2 February 1896 in Strzelno, living in Miruszyno, son of resident Piotr Lachs and wife Marya born Köpke living in Miruszyno.

Anna Cirotzki (sp?), Catholic religion, born 11 September 1897 in Werblinia, living in Werblinia, daughter of Jan Cirotzki and his wife Anna born Paczocka living in Werblinia.

Witnesses:  blacksmith Augustyn Radzicjurski (sp?), age 35 and worker Jan Cirotzki, age 32 living in Werblinia (Probably her brother or cousin).  

There are dates and notations in Polish at the bottom that I can't make out.  

There are probably more records available, but I can't help you until next week.  I will add to your tree what I find.

Tina

Comments

Thank you very much. My grandmother did tell me that they lived near the German border. So this would make sense

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Actually at this time this area was part of West Prussia, Prussia which was part of the German Empire.  It wasn't until around 1917 that it was given back to Poland and then around the beginning of WWII back to Germany and then after the war back to Poland.

In case you aren't familiar with Partitions of Poland this gives a good synopsis.

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Yeah I definitely am familiar with Prussia. Would there be any place to find out Jan’s parents?

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Great work Tina!
I acknowledge your experience to answer this question,

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Yes there might be, but I am not able to do any additional research until the beginning of next week.

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That’s alright take as much time as you need too