Family Research
Please refer to the list below of institutions holding archival materials concerning the lives and histories of individual persons.
In order to locate additional information in the PISM Archives, please remember to include copies of documents or information obtained from these institutions.
Detailed information concerning opening hours and remote research enquiries is available in the Price List of the Archives of the PISM.
Persons interested in researching their relatives’ history during the period of the Second World War should initially contact one of the institutions listed below.
These institutions hold the primary personal records for people whose wartime experiences fall under specific categories, such as the Polish Army, Navy and Air Force, the Home Army, prisoners of war. and others.
Once this primary information has been obtained from the institutions whose contact details are given below, researchers can then approach the Archive at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum and enquire whether any additional information might be found.
Opening hours and contact:
The PISM Archive Reading Room is open Tuesday to Friday, 9:45–15:45, except during the month of February.
Entry to the building is available between 9:30 and 16:00.
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7589 9249
Email: info@pism.org.uk
1. Persons interested in tracing their relatives who were soldiers, seamen and airmen in the Polish Armed Forces under British Operational Command, please write to the Polish Section, Ministry of Defence where their individual service files are held:
Ministry of Defence
Army Personnel Centre Disclosures 5 (Polish)
Building 1 (Ops)
RAF Northolt
West End Road
Ruislip
Middlesex
HA4 6NG
United Kingdom
https://www.army.mod.uk/people/join-well/army-personnel-centre
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/requests-for-personal-data-and-service-records
2. Persons wishing to trace ancestors who served in the Polish Armed Forces prior to 1939, please write to:
Military Historical Bureau
Central Military Archives
ul. Pontonierów 2A
00–910 Warsaw-Rembertów
Poland
https://wbh.wp.mil.pl
3. Persons wishing to trace ancestors who served in the Polish Army in France 1939–1940 and who subsequently did not serve under British Operational Command, please write to:
Ministère de la Défense
Service Historique de la Défense
Centre des Archives du Personnel Militaire
Caserne Bernadotte
Place de Verdun
64023 Pau Cedex
France
https://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/centres-shd/pau-centre-des-archives-du-personnel-militaire-capm
https://francearchives.fr/service/34577
4. Persons wishing to trace ancestors who were prisoners of war (POW) following the Polish 1939 Campaign and the Warsaw Uprising 1944, please write to:
Central Museum of Prisoners of War
ul. Minorytów 3
45-017 Opole
Poland
https://www.cmjw.pl
5. Persons wishing to trace ancestors who were forced to serve in the German Armed Forces (Wehrmacht) during the Second World War, please write to:
Bundesarchiv
Abteilung Bereitstellung (Abt. BE)
Finckensteinallee 63
12205 Berlin
Germany
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Navigation/Home/home.html
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/EN/Content/Artikel/Artikel-ausserhalb-der-Navigation/Hinweise-milit-Unterlagen-persbez/benutzen-hinweise-militaerische-unterlagen-persbezogen-en.html
6. Persons wishing to trace ancestors who were prisoners in concentration camps, forced labourers and Displaced Persons (DP) during the Second World War, please write to:
Arolsen Archives
International Center on Nazi Persecution
Große Allee 5-9
34454 Bad Arolsen
Germany
https://arolsen-archives.org
7. Persons wishing to trace ancestors who served in the Polish Guard Companies attached to the US Army from 1945 onwards, please write to:
The National Archives and Records Administration
700 Pennsylvania Avenue
Northwest
Washington
District of Columbia 2040
United States of America
https://www.archives.gov
https://www.ebenefits.va.gov/ebenefits/about/feature?feature=military-personnel-file
8. Persons wishing to trace ancestors who were forced to serve in the Soviet Red Army after 1939, please write to:
Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense
(Центральный архив Министерства обороны Российской Федерации)
ul. Kirova 74
Podolsk
Moscow oblast
142100
Russia
https://eng.mil.ru/en/archival_service/central.htm
https://archive.mil.ru/archival_service/central/history.htm
9. Persons interested in tracing ancestors who were prisoners of German concentration camps, please write to:
Yad Vashem The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
Har Hazikaron
P.O.B. 3477
Jerusalem 9103401
Israel
https://www.yadvashem.org/archive.html
10. Person searching for missing family members and searching in general, please write to:
International Committee of the Red Cross
19 Avenue de la Paix
1202 Geneva
Switzerland
https://www.icrc.org/en
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The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum is a registered charity (no. 312168) and other than funds that we generate through our activities, we are totally reliant on membership, donations and legacies to enable us to carry on with our work.