there is no place called Polish National Archive
I didn't realise there wasn't a National Archive. I thought the Warsaw archive may hold some general information and I could branch out from there. I'll try and get a bit more information out of my grandparents and hopefully get an idea of where to start looking. My grandmother has already told me the name of the town she lived in and shown me it's location on a map so that should help. I know her family name came from the Lodzia clan so I may also be able to find some information around Lodz for much older ancestors once I've exhausted other options. It does seem like a better idea to hire an organisation to help me since I don't speak the language but I'll ask some of my relatives still living in Poland if they'd be willing to help me a little bit first- They've offered to have me stay with them and I'm considering taking a semester off university to visit next year. I'm just grateful it's only my grandmother's family I have to research so it should make searching easier, my mother's father has researched her side of the family and a relative of my father's has done my father's father's side, although I may need to trace back my great grandmother's family.
ome of them were burned down
Do you know why they were burned down or what type of churches they were? I hadn't realised any churches had been targeted, and that could definitely make my search harder. I believe I'm looking mainly at the Roman Catholic Church but when I move towards my grandmother's mother I know she was Russian so I'll probably have to move into Russia to start that search, but I also know she spent 2 years converting, in Poland, to Catholicism from Russian Orthodox, in order to marry my grandmother's father so I may find church records on that.
Is there any place in particular that may hold information on people involved in the Polish underground as well? I knew my great grandfather was thrown into jail a few times by the Germans during the occupation for helping to finance them, but I believe his factory was too important to them and wasn't running without him so they kept on letting him go until the last time where the accusation was a bit more serious and they fled from Poland. I only found out a few days ago that the other branch of my father's family (his mother's) was heavily involved in the Polish underground and one of her relatives was a leading figure and I'll have to ask her for his name before I can even start a basic search. I do know he was eventually killed by the Germans and his body was never found and I'd really like to find some answers and information on these individuals. Thanks.