Two free websites have transformed Polish-Jewish genealogy research more than any others. JRI-Poland has indexed millions of Jewish vital records from Polish archives. JewishGen connects those records to an ecosystem of community databases, surname searches, and researcher networks that exists nowhere else. Together, they’re the indispensable starting point for anyone tracing Jewish ancestors in Poland.
This guide shows you exactly how to use both tools — what each one does, how to search effectively, how to interpret the results, and how to move from an index entry to the actual record. If you’re just beginning your Polish-Jewish research, start here. If you’ve been at it a while, there are features in both tools that experienced users still discover years in.
Table of Contents
- What Is JRI-Poland?
- How to Search JRI-Poland
- Reading JRI-Poland Results
- From Index Entry to Actual Record
- What Is JewishGen?
- The Key JewishGen Databases
- Using JewishGen Community Pages
- The JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF)
- Using JRI-Poland and JewishGen Together
- Advanced Tips for Both Platforms
- Final Thoughts
What Is JRI-Poland?
JRI-Poland (Jewish Records Indexing–Poland) is a volunteer project that has indexed Jewish vital records — births, marriages, deaths, and divorces — from Polish state archives. It currently covers records from hundreds of communities across all three historical partition zones and indexes several million individual entries. The project is affiliated with JewishGen and accessible through the JewishGen portal at jri-poland.org.
JRI-Poland is an index, not an image archive. It tells you that a specific record exists, which archive holds the original, and sometimes whether a digital scan is available. The index entries typically include the subject’s name, approximate year, record type, and community. This is enough to direct your next research step — whether that’s viewing a scan online or writing to the archive for a certified copy.
How to Search JRI-Poland
Access JRI-Poland through the JewishGen portal (jewishgen.org/databases/poland) or directly at jri-poland.org. The search form asks for:
- Surname — enter the family name you’re searching. JRI-Poland supports phonetic (Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex) searching, which finds variant spellings automatically.
- Given name — optional but narrows results significantly on common surnames
- Town — the community where your ancestor lived. If you’re not sure of the town, leave this blank for a national search.
- Record type — births, marriages, deaths, or all
- Year range — approximate date range for the record
Always try a phonetic search first. Jewish surnames were transliterated between Hebrew/Yiddish and Polish, Russian, or German with enormous inconsistency — the same family can appear as Goldberg, Goldberger, Guldberg, and Goltberg in different records. Phonetic searching catches these variants automatically.
Reading JRI-Poland Results
Results appear as a table. Each row represents one indexed record and typically shows: surname, given name, year, record type, community, and the archive holding the original. A camera icon or hyperlink indicates that a digital scan is available — either on Szukaj w Archiwach, FamilySearch, or another platform.
The “community” field is the Jewish community name, which may differ from the civil administrative name for the same town. The archive field tells you which Polish state archive holds the original register — essential for requesting a certified copy for a citizenship application or other official purpose.
Important: JRI-Poland index entries are transcriptions of the key data fields from original records. Transcription errors occur — names misspelled, years misread. Always verify against the original scan before treating any entry as confirmed fact.
From Index Entry to Actual Record
When JRI-Poland shows a scan is available, click the link and you’ll typically land on Szukaj w Archiwach or FamilySearch, where you can view the original register page. Our guides on Polish state archives online and how to read old Polish records cover navigation and interpretation of those platforms.
When no scan is available, use the archive name from the JRI-Poland result to contact the relevant Polish state archive directly. Provide the community name, record type, approximate year, and the subject’s name. Most Polish archives accept email requests in Polish or English and can provide certified copies for a fee — essential if the record is needed for a citizenship application.
What Is JewishGen?
JewishGen is the world’s largest Jewish genealogical resource — a portal housing dozens of databases, research tools, discussion groups, and community resources. Founded in 1987, it’s now affiliated with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. While it covers Jewish genealogy globally, its Polish content is particularly rich.
A free account (registration required) unlocks the full range of JewishGen features. The site is well-maintained and actively updated, with new databases and community records added regularly by a large volunteer community.
The Key JewishGen Databases
GiladDB — The Unified Search
GiladDB (also called the JewishGen Genealogy Index) is JewishGen’s central search interface, aggregating data from dozens of individual databases into a single search. Searching here simultaneously queries JRI-Poland, the Holocaust Database, the Ellis Island database, various community records, and more. It’s the best first search for any new name you’re researching.
The Holocaust Database
This aggregates victim names from Yad Vashem’s Pages of Testimony, the Arolsen Archives, Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, and other sources. Searching here can surface information about relatives who perished — their home towns, ages, and sometimes information submitted by family members who survived.
Ellis Island and HIAS Records
JewishGen hosts records from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), which assisted hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants through the Ellis Island era. HIAS case files can contain rich biographical detail including exact hometown, family members left behind, and contacts in the destination country.
Yizkor Book Project
JewishGen’s Yizkor Book Project has translated, indexed, and made accessible hundreds of yizkor books — the memorial books created by survivor communities for destroyed Polish Jewish towns. The project’s database lets you search victim lists across many volumes simultaneously, and the full texts of many translated books are available free online.
Using JewishGen Community Pages
For every Jewish community in Poland with meaningful documentation, JewishGen maintains a dedicated community research page. These pages list available records, relevant databases, links to yizkor books, names of researchers working on that community, and historical background. If your ancestor’s town is known, the JewishGen community page is often the single most valuable thing to read before diving into database searches.
Find community pages through the JewishGen Communities Database, searchable by town name. The Shtetl Seeker gazetteer on the same platform identifies the modern location and archive jurisdiction of historical Jewish communities — essential when a town name from an old document doesn’t match anything on a modern map.
The JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF)
The JGFF allows researchers to register the surnames and towns they’re researching and be contacted by others researching the same combinations. It’s a direct cousin-finding tool — if someone researching the Rosenblatt family from Kraków has already registered that combination and you register the same, JewishGen alerts both of you. Registering your research interests in the JGFF is free and takes five minutes; connections made through it have united previously unknown relatives around the world.
Using JRI-Poland and JewishGen Together
The most effective approach combines both tools in sequence. Start with GiladDB on JewishGen for a broad sweep across all databases simultaneously. Then go to JRI-Poland for a focused vital records search within the relevant community. Use the JewishGen community page for your ancestor’s town to understand what records exist and where. Register your surnames in the JGFF. Follow any promising leads to Szukaj w Archiwach or FamilySearch for the actual scanned records.
Each tool surfaces different records and connects to different resources. Using them in combination — rather than relying on either alone — dramatically increases the chances of finding what you’re looking for, particularly for families from communities that are well-represented in JewishGen’s specialist databases but less well-indexed in general Polish archive portals.
Advanced Tips for Both Platforms
- Search maiden names — JRI-Poland indexes mothers’ maiden names in birth records. If you know your ancestor’s mother’s maiden name, searching it in JRI-Poland can locate siblings and other relatives.
- Try all name variants — search the Yiddish name, the Hebrew name, the Polish civil name, and any anglicised version you know. The same person can appear under completely different names in records from the same decade.
- Use the JewishGen discussion groups — the Poland SIG (Special Interest Group) mailing list and discussion forum has thousands of experienced researchers who respond to specific research questions, often with suggestions that aren’t obvious to newcomers.
- Check the LitvakSIG for eastern Poland — for communities in eastern Poland that were part of the historical Lithuanian Jewish world (Vilna, Grodno, Białystok areas), the LitvakSIG database on JewishGen has specialist coverage.
- Don’t overlook the JGFF researcher network — before spending hours on a search, check whether someone else has already done the work and is willing to share.
Final Thoughts
JRI-Poland and JewishGen together represent decades of volunteer effort and institutional investment in making Polish-Jewish genealogical records accessible. They’re free, they’re comprehensive, and they’re constantly improving. Learning to use them well is one of the highest-return investments of time in Polish-Jewish research.
For the broader framework of Polish-Jewish genealogy research — beyond vital records into community records, yizkor books, and DNA — see our Polish-Jewish Genealogy for Beginners guide. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly Polish heritage guides covering every aspect of the research journey.
