Silesia became a German State.It borders the East of Ge rmany & its Eastern most Border is Poland & Checloslovakia(can't spell it),Poland on the North & East. Prussia took it over.  then after WWll the portioning by Roosevelt,Stalin,Churchhill,etc, gave it all back to Poland where it became a province of USSR until Paristroika,etc. In brief it should be clear as mud,but, you can find out about it w/ Google . Hope this gets you started. Good luck Phil ----- Original Message ----- From: "Judy Wiersema" <judybevans@att.net> To: germany-passenger-lists@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, April 3, 2011 5:17:54 PM Subject: [G-P-L] question about Selisia Could anyone tell me about the country Selisia, I have been searching for years for my ggrands, and now I find out I have been researching in the wrong place and they probably came from Selisia, I was visiting the Allen County Library and a kind young man from Belgium who was sitting by me, informed me that I was looking in the wrong place, and to look at Silesia.  I have never heard of Silesia.  Their surname I believe was spelled originally as Czechowicz, as I have seen other names like that, but not the spelling they used in America.  In Silesia there is a province named Katovicz, and Cossel, could they have used that for their names when they came here or how did it work on the passenger list. I just heard of the country lately.  Both ggrands said they came from Prussia, born in 1860. He I think from what family has said was Kolm, they came to America in 1887, her name was Amelia Kosel, or Kozal.  There is a town in Silesia of Cosel.  I just cant find them anywher.  He spelled their last name when they came to America as Karl Cekafetz, sounds like Chic a fetz.  Any Any Any help would be tremendously appreciated,  They lived in Taylorville, and Decatur IL all of their lives.  My ggrandmother said she was sorry she ever let him over the border, so I think she was German and he was Polish?????  I am at a loss, but always depended on each other until they died, even tho married to someone else. Thank you for any help to guide me in the right direction.  I have seen a few books but not events for during the years 1800 to 1900, it was all after 1944 they anyone mentions Silesia ________________________________ For all the latest News, please visit our Homepage: http://www.germanyroots.com Please visit and participate in our new forum http://www.germanyroots.com/phpBB3/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANY-PASSENGER-LISTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Sorry, Schlesien in English Silesia as well as Poland never were a Russian Province. From here you can get some good info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesia_%28disambiguation%29 As you can see Silesia has been and is split up in several parts. From time to time the frontiers changed, because of a new splitting. So if you don't have any hint about where to search it might become a rather difficult research. Brigitte Am 04.04.2011 00:39, schrieb Phil Kuehn: > > Silesia became a German State.It borders the East of Ge rmany& its Eastern most Border is Poland& Checloslovakia(can't spell it),Poland on the North& East. > > Good luck > > Phil >