Help me find my cousins from Rybnik

it's been over 25 years since I was in contact with my 2 cousins from Rybnik. They left Poland in the late 1980's and changed their last names. Does anybody have any ideas on how to find them?

I forgot to add that they emigrated to Germany

Maybe try to find then in the telephony book by current surname dasoertliche. de/ telefonbuch. de or look for at websites like Familysearch.org, geneanet.com, archestry. com, genealodzy.pl, forgen.pl.

I hope it helps some way...

find the original name on facebook, nasza klasa etc and hope a sibling/cousin of theirs kept the name.

then look on the friend list for a first name match.

How/why did they change their names ? through marriage ?

they changed their names out of fear of anti-polish discrimination.....unfortunately, they left without word and haven't communicated with any family members.

if u are looking for people who don't want to be found u have a difficult task.

however, i still believe they may have made contact with old friends.

dumb question: how do u know they changed names, if they cut off all contact ?

no question is dumb. They left a message with my mom back in 1989, that they are now living in "West Germany" and had changed their names. I, dealing with my own problems at the time, never got back to them....on a lark, I checked the german phone books using the old surname with no luck.

you have to start looking in Poland, if they change their names looking in Germany would be too complicated, since they change their names.. do you know any names related to their family in Poland (their mother maiden name, etc)? Let me know, sometimes we work cases like that..

i don't have any of that information unfortunately. The cousins I am in contact with were not close to them either....I'm thinking I have to start looking in Germany. The question is how/where do you change your name in that country?

Maybe German Red Cross can help you.

you could check in the Registry of Vital Records, but there are to many of them.. What would be a reason of changing their names? What is exactly the year of their emigration??

seeing as they emigrated to Germany, I'm thinking they did it to appear less-polish...we got a call from them in 1988 or 89.

Fear of anti-Polish discrimination - what a nonsense. Maybe they were criminals and needed to hide? ;)

Byc moze. But I seriously doubt it! I've been to Germany many,many times while studying in Wroclaw in the 80's. I can attest to the fact that during my time there was a very palpable anti-polish sentiment among the older Germans. Please remember, many of them were kicked out of their homes(polish) at the end of the war.

Well, Germans would have changed their names if they had lived in Poland, but not in the opposite way.. Maybe the change in their names was only because of the spellig or something in eg Schmitke instead of Szmitke, otherwise German authorities wouldn't agree on such a change, and the fact of being polish among germans - wouldn't be a good reason for such a change..

ok
let's agree that they did change their surnames. The question remains how and where do you do this in Germany? The german consulate has yet to reply to my query.

OR
they changed it in Poland. Is that possible??

rybnik
Rather not possible to change a name in Poland before emigrating.. In germany you'd have to do it in Registry of Vital Records..

I have another request. Would anyone be willing to look up an address of a cousin of mine? I'm unsure as to the "etiquette" of such a request but I'm at my wit's-end.

Ok I've got an update. I've been busy since my last entry.....Over the past year or so I've been corresponding with an Australian cousin, whom I've never met. Just recently she started a Facebook account for her mother Teresa; I friended her and we began "talking".

I ask about some other cousins to which she sends me an address. I snail mail a letter to my Aunt, that I've never met. One week ago I get an e-mail from this cousin Wojtek who's also a stranger to me. We exchange e-mails and I find out the two cousins in Germany did change their last name to Schenker. Cousin Wojtek doesn't have an address but he does have a 10-year-old cellphone number and he doesn't know if it's still active.......Needless to say, I'll be checking-in on Wojtusz this September when I re-visit.

I am not from poland. I am from USA in Pa. My last name is Rybnik All my grandparents were from Poland. I did not think anyone in this country had the same last name as me.I thought it was a pretty unusual last name that's why I thought no one else had it..

I am a second generation American of Polish decendents and I am very interested in the Polish traditions of my Grandparents. .
I belonged to a polish American Catholic church my whole life ,but alas the new priest do not follow old traditions. I grew up singing Polish Kolenda Christmas carols I served atleast 100 or so Polish funerals as an altar boy. The mass I served was in Polish and English. I miss the old church traditions but as I said they are things of the past.

RYBNIK: root-word ryba (fish). It could have originater as an occuaptional tag (a rybnik was once a fishpond) or a toponymic nickname for someone from the town of Rybnik.

I'm not sure whether this holds true for Poles changing their names in Germany, but in America some translated their names so Rybnik might become Fisher, Fichman, Fishpond, etc.; others chose sound-alike equivalents so maybe Ribman, Ribton, etc.

If we apply that approach to Germany than maybe they changed it to Fischer, Fischmann, Fischteich or similar or Ribbmann, although probably not Ribbentrop.

We have similar histories bt I hate to disappoint you bt Rybnik is not my surname. It is, however, the name of a small town in the Poland's Upper Silesia province. My father's family is from there. You should look up your name!

I have been visiting my wifes relatives who live near Rybnik for the past 15 years or so.
In fact we were there only 2 weeks ago.
We are hoping to have a house built for us in the vicinity for our retirement.

where exactly?

The relatives mostly live in Rybnik, Wodzislaw,Pszow,Radlin 2.

After much searching for properties we have decided on a plot of land in Gorzyce to have a house built.
A local builder owns the plot and has applied for permission to build the house we have chosen, should be starting within the next month.

We have been searching for a house for over a year now, frustrating at times and dissapointing on whats available/described by the agents.

Local estate agents are next to hopeless IMO. I could elaborate if anyone is interested?

I am! Why don't you register and start a new thread? I'm sure the forum would find it very interesting. I know I would :)

rybnik-moje-miasto.blogspot.com/