Chapter 1 · Records in Poland · Military & conscription
Every young man in partitioned Poland was liable for service in the army of the empire that ruled his village, and avoiding it was one of the main reasons for emigrating. A man marked absent on a conscription list has, in effect, been recorded leaving.
Russian partition
After the military reform of 1874, men were called up in the year they turned twenty-one. Each commune drew up annual lists of the men of that age, with notes on who appeared, who was exempt as an only son or breadwinner, and who had “gone abroad”. These lists survive in many regional state archives and are one of the best sources for dating an emigration from the Russian partition.
Galicia
Austria introduced universal service in 1868. Each soldier had a personal service sheet recording his birth date, parish, parents, physical description and service history. Most of these sheets are held in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna, with some Galician series in Polish and Ukrainian archives.
Prussian partition
Prussian regimental records were largely destroyed when the army archive in Potsdam was bombed in 1945. What survives is mainly local: town conscription lists, discharge papers kept by families, and notes in parish registers.
What these records add
- A precise birth date and parish for men whose baptism is missing
- A physical description: height, hair and eye colour
- The year a man left, or failed to appear for service
- Service records of brothers and cousins who stayed
Families often kept quiet about how an ancestor avoided the draft. The conscription list is usually more candid than the family story.
How we can help
Military and conscription sources are searched within Family Tree Reconstruction and larger projects when a man’s movements or birth parish need confirming.
Keep reading
Exit permits and illegal emigration