How it works
From a misspelled name to standing at the church door.
Every family’s case is different, but the road is the same five steps. You can stop after any of them — each one has value on its own.
Step 1
A free written assessment — no payment, no obligation
You write us what you have: a family name, a country, perhaps a village name spelled three different ways on three documents. Within two business days you get a written answer telling you, honestly, what can realistically be found and what it would cost. About one case in ten cannot be helped — old wars burned archives, and no one serious will promise otherwise. If yours is such a case, we say so here, and this is where it ends. No charge.
Step 2
We find the village
The name on the manifest was written down by ear a century ago. We match it against historical gazetteers, Austrian-era maps and parish structures until we know exactly which village it was, what it is called today, and which archive holds its church books. You receive a written report with maps, present-day photographs, and the state of the church and cemetery.
Step 3
We find the people
In the parish registers: births, marriages, deaths — your family tree, four to six generations deep, with copies of the original handwritten records. In the village itself: we knock on doors. It is not rare that someone with your family name still lives on the same street, and does not know you exist.
Step 4
We go — with you, or for you
If you can travel, we collect you in Poland and handle everything: border, transport, hotels, meals, insurance, translation, security. If you cannot, we go for you and bring the village back on film — the house, the church, the tidied grave with flowers laid in your name, and the voices of those who remember.
Step 5
It doesn’t end when you fly home
You leave with a film, a photo book, the records, and the addresses of people who now know you. If you wish, we keep tending the family grave — flowers on remembrance days, a photograph to your inbox every year.
Start with a request. It costs nothing.
You write us the family name and whatever you know. We write back honestly: what can be found, what cannot, and what it would cost in your case. No payment, no obligation.