Looking for my father's family, Roman Rydel or possibly Rydelski

I would like to find my father's family. I think he possibly changed his name from Rydelski or who knows what. I only know that he came to England after the WW2 and was in the Polish army. Not much to go on!

It could have been Rydel as it’s more common in Poland than Rydelski, largest concentration of Rydels is in the north east of Poland in Towns such as: Ostrołęka, Warszawa, Olsztyn, Szczytno, Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, Kolno and other...

I can see that this is going to be mammoth task but thanks for your reply it is a start. Not sure where to go next!

To go on further you will need to find some documents, letters, stories/references from relatives/friends or just about anything of importance, no matter how trivial they may be...

In Poland there are some 1,500 people surnamed Rydel and only some 230 using the Rydelski suirname which probably originated as a patronymic nick (Rydel's son).

A rydel is a garden spade.

Hi, I'm not sure how much this helps but this is pretty much all I know.
My name is Tomasz, my father's name is Piotr and my grandfather is also named Piotr. My family is originaly from around nowe miasto lubawskie, and I'm not sure if this is true, but I've been told that up untill WW2 our last name was spelled Riedel, allthough I cant confirm that.

My grandfather had two children, Piotr and Robert, they live (woj.mazurskie) and woj.mazurski respectively.

I've been told that someone from my grandfathers side of the family fought during WW2, but if Im not mistaken, they fought on the german side (our dark family shame).

That's all I can think of for now, if you can come up with some more information, for example your fathers home town, his closest relatives, etc. then I can ask around the next time I go down to Poland to visit my dad.

- Tom

Thanks for that. I am trying to find out some more info. its a little difficult as my Dad did not speak much about his life before coming to England and he was only 17. I know he had 3 sisters, Jean, Adel and Helen and one of them had a son called Sacha who must be in his fifties or even sixties by now. Its not much to go on but my parents divorced when I was five. He was in contact his family but has been dead now for 11 years.

Rydel is the generally accepted way of Polonising the German name Riedel (German ie usually becomes y in Polish).

Ok, I'll see what I can find out, but you should find out wich voivod he was from, and whether or not he was part german, that could eliminate my family. I know my grandfather has lots of siblings, some are dead and some are living in germany I think. Its hard to find out anything conclusive in my family, seing as we are notorious for fighting and never speaking to each other again. There are also some things my father doesnt like to discuss, especially regarding his fathers side of the family, he mostly embraces his mothers side of the family (which I suspect is because they are a polish family).

Yes, its highly likely that my fathers side of the family were prussians who were forced into changing their name. The entire area where my family lives in now used to be a german state.

I'm heading over to Poland before new years, I'll ask around about anyone named Roman Rydel, and try to draw up some family map. The hard thing will be seperating real cousins from polish-cousins. Growing up I had like 10 "uncles" and 20 "cousins".

When you say he came over after WW2, just how long after the world was over? I assume some years after if he was only 17 and had been in the army, seeing as there were two polish armies during the war, the pro-exile-goverment one and the pro-kremlin one. So I'm guessing he was in the peoples army during the age of the peoples republic? If you could provide his year of birth and any other fact you might remember then it would help.

I have my brother interested now and my stepsister so maybe between us we will remember something. My brother seems to think he came from Kiev and that we have loads of cousins.

Think my father may have been from Ukraine but he was in the2nd Polish Corps and 7th Light Anti Aircraft Artillery, then when coming to england lived in Hereford, Ty Croes angelsey, Wales then moved to Stoke on Trent where he lived until his death in 1998. He contacted his family through the Red cross in the 1960's and I was told they were in "Nipoprinski" but this triggered some memories of him having lived near the river "Nippa". Think this may have been Dnipropetrovsk. We now know his name was Romanowi Rydel. DOB 10-12-22. Not certain of the year could have been 1923 or 24 and he joined the Army at 17

Any one with any information that can help?

Exactly what I was going to say.

It is probable that with a name like Riedel at least a couple of your family fought on the German side in WWII. It's also easy to see why the name was changed!

I now have a place where relatives were living in 1968 Dnieprodzierzynsk which is Ukraine. Aunt Genya and Galina - possibly the same person as the hand wriing was difficult to translate.

what was his first name? as my grandad was a rydelski in england.

His first name was Romanowi and I have just discovered that his surname was Rydel not Rydelski

Probably his name was Roman. Romanowi would be a declension of Roman.

He was always called Roman. On his Identity card which he was required to carry with him at all times when he moved to England he was called Roman. He had a medal awarded to him for the Battle of Monte Casino but on the document which accompanies the medal he was called Romanowi. I have since discovered what I presume to be his birth certificate which I need to get translated but I cannot pick out his name on it. Would the spelling look completely different I wonder? Any suggestions?

scan it and post it here

plenty folks here have the skill and knowledge to help you out.

Will have to get some help there. Not much good on the old computer. Have managed to scan it into my computer but cannot seem to post it on here.

Upload it to tinypic.com and post the link

Here is the birth certficate (if I've done it right!).

Front:

tinypic.com/view.php?pic=25upk4z&s=6

Back

tinypic.com/view.php?pic=122n1ba&s=6

Thanks for the tip Convex! :)

I think it would appear that the birth certificate is Ukraine but he was in the polish army. Anyone got any ideas as to why this might be?

Front
======================================================

Birth Certificate

Family name : Rydel
First name and name after father : Romuald, Robertowicz

Born 10 December 1923 .

This Birth Certificate is registered in our registry under the 1923 year, under the December month and under the number 308.

Parents: Father - Rydel Robert, name after father.........??
Mother - Rydel Aleksandra, name after father/or maiden name..........???

Place of birth:...........?? and the Region:................??

Place/city of birth registration:.......?

================================
Maybe some native Russian/or Ukrainian speakers will help you with the missing details which are under the ???? .
It's hard to recognise the handwriting and I don't want to guess it.

The other thing is, in Russia there is a tradition to put name after father as in this case, if father is Robert , the after father name becomes Robertowicz .

The name Roman can be written in two different ways:
* Roman or
* Romuald

As for your question:


you need to read about Poland's history and here are some details:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_%281918%E2%80%931939%29

There are 2 stamps at the top on the right side:

1. Passport issued in the year 1939?, in the city: Kamianske (Russian: Kamienskoje)

Look here about the city:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dniprodzerzhynsk

2. The other stamp says (probably) the same but there is a different date. Hard to tell what date it is. Something 18. 12. 19....

Also, regarding:


The name is not Romanowi as there is no such name, it actually says:
to Roman Rydel and according to the birth details your relative's first name was Romuald which in short you can call Roman

Asik
Thankyou for the translation it is most interesting. Romanowi came from his documents relating to his medal for his part in the Battle of Monte Casino. it clearly states his name as Romanowi Rydel. Any ideas ?

Asik has explained above. So have I. Names in Poland decline according to the gramatic case in which they are expressed. Roman, Romana, Romanego, Romanów, Romanowi, Romanemu etc. So his name was Roman. Romanowi eans 'for Roman'.

Try putting the word Romanowi into Google instead of repeating questions that have already been answered several ties.

Sorry i missed the point but do not fear I understand now- its just that Asik said there was no such name as Romanowi and I was trying to explain where I had it from.

Message for Caffienewreck
Hi Tom
Its been a long time since you posted the information about your family. I have since obtained my fathers Army records. It may be a complete shot in the dark but My Grandfather was called Robert Rydel which I believe is not a very common name and you have an Uncle by the same name. My grandfather would probably be around 106 if he was still alive so I suspect that may rule out your uncle being the same person. My Grandmother was called Aleksandra Giemska (her father was Josef) and my father was born in Dnieprodzierzynsk USSR , but his nationality was Polish. He was conscripted into the Soviet Red Army in June 1941 but as he was Polish he was released for the purpose of joining the Polish Army in December the same year. Perhaps you could ask your family if there could be a connection. Look forward to hearing from you.

My mother was a Rydel from Warsaw. I'm in the process of getting information regarding her internment during World War II, and after that, I'll be doing an ancestry search.

Try the Sikorski Institute in London for Army Records. Records from there may provide you with place of birth. An alternative is the Ministry of Defence records held in Kew. If you know which division of the army your father served in it might be worth doing a search on the internet.

hi I'm Hubert Rydel. How are you? You see, Your father is my cousin and your grandfather is my uncle. My father was £ucjan Rydel,he was born in 1929 in Otręba he died in 2004.I was born in Poznan and have one more auntie there Haline she is sister of your grandfather. Please say hi from me to grandad and rest of our family if you will have a chance! I must say that I am glad that I have found another member of Rydels' family, as it is hard to get any information, as you know how it is with Rydels they don' t say much...

I live in Londyn by the way.

by the way that was to tomek caffeinwrack!!

Hello! Did your father live in Stoke-on-trent, 74 Aylesbury road?

Hello! May be I know part of your Rydel(Riedel) family which live in Russia but first they were exiled in Kazakhstan!

My mother's name is Honorata Rydel, born in Wola Pasikonska in 1925. I don't think any of her family moved to England - but then again, she didn't speak much of her family, so I can't be sure. I was told her sister, Regina, moved to Australia after WWII. My parents came to the USA.

Merged:

7th Artillery Brigade (II RP) -7th Regiment of Light Artillery (II RP)

Dear All,

My grandfather served in the 7th Regiment of Light Artillery between 1937-1939. Does anyone know who I could get records.

Best,

RM