Thanks Robert, The village of origin was Kostomloty near Koden in what is now Easter Poland. My father Wiktor was born there in 1926. He was sent to Germany as a slave labourer in 1944 and migrated to Australia in 1950. I have some information about him and his past. Wouldf I would also like is some info about his parents. They married in Siberia where his grandparents had been exiled. I don't know the name of the village but am told it was near Omsk. Is there anyway to refine my search? Thanks again. Andy Kowaluk "Hugh Watkins" <hugh_watkins@net.dialog.dk> wrote in message news:bdtc6c$10e6cb$1@ID-71976.news.dfncis.de... > > "Robert Jerin" <rjerin@adelphia.net> wrote > > snip > > > > > What is the village of origin? > > > > FYI in the late 1700s Poland was split 3 ways with the west going to > > Prussia, the south to Austria (known as Galicia) and the east to Russia. > > After WW I Galicia was split in 2 with the west going to Poland and the east > > to Ukraine. > > > > Once the village of origin is determined then you can begin to get some real > > information? The LDS Church (Mormon) has thousands of microfilm parish > > records > snip > > use library search > > place search > > but many villages have to or three names > > so find some old maps > > eg http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=galicia+digital+map > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~atpc/research/map-library.html > > > big and slow > > > enjoy > > > Hugh W > >