There are two types of records that are extremely valuable to the genealogist: Registration Lists and Town/Village Records (Ewidencje) of Repatriates and Resettlers. Both types of records may not be available for all powiaty. Furthermore, determining the type of record is not easy due to the various methods of cataloging the material at each of the State Archives.

As the Repatriates and Resettlers came to their new location, they had to register at an Assembly Point (Punkt Etapowy), usually the powiat center.

The lists are held separately for each Assembly Point. The lists, usually handwritten, were then bound in books. The forms are not standardized; they vary from month to month and from powiat to powiat. The information is usually found on pre-printed forms. This makes reading the information easy. However, I have often seen many lists on blank paper without the column headings and descriptions. Therefore, one should understand the types of information that can be included in the lists. The Registration Lists were created in the order that someone was registered.

Many of the bound books are indexed by the head of the family of the relocating group. These indexes are not strictly alphabetized, but rather, are kept by the first letter of the surname. The index was created only using the head of the family of the relocating group. Not all families were relocated at the same time. If members of a family traveled separately, the head of each traveling group would be processed separately in the Registration Lists and thus indexed separately. Therefore, you may find a father traveling with his children and the wife traveling separately with some uncles and aunts. In the indexes, you will find both the father’s name and the mother’s name since they traveled separately. If, however, they all traveled together, usually the father’s/husband’s name. The index will list only the first and last name with the entry number in the actual Registration Lists. This number corresponds to the line number of a ledger containing all the detailed information about that person and his/her traveling companions.

As the forms were not standardized, any of the pieces of information listed below may be provided. In addition, the pieces of information may be listed in different order.

Nr. Kolejny ewidencji (sometimes abbreviated as "N", or "Kol." or "L.P."
The Line or Record Number is important if an index is available. In some cases, I was able to find an index for some counties (powiaty). The index contains only the name of the head of household. The indexes are grouped together alphabetically by the first letter of the last name. Within each letter of the alphabet, the names are not strictly alphabetized. Next to each name is a number which corresponds to the Line Number in the Registration List.

                                    Dumanski may have been written as Dómanski.

                                    In both these cases, the variations in Polish are pronounced identically.

Sometimes, all children accompanying the head of family were listed. Sometimes, only children above the age of 16 are listed. In such cases, names of children under the age of 16 are not provided, but only a number count of such young children is listed.

Possible Polish terms found in the Lists:

Additionally, the relationship of each person to the head of household is often provided.  Here are some common Polish vocabulary regarding household relationships:

Data urodzenia
Date of Birth. Usually, only the year of birth was listed. This, however, is obviously in invaluable piece of information that can help distinguish ancestors. In some rare cases, I did find that a complete date of birth was provided in the document.

Zawód
Occupation. This lists the occupation of all members in the family.

Data wyjazdu
Date of Departure. This is the date when the person(s) left for the resettlement.

Data przybycia or Data przyjazdu
Date of Arrival. The date when the person arrived, usually by train, to the relocation point.

Data rejestrowania
Date of Registration. This is the date that the person registered at the Assembly Point in the new home in the Western Territories. These Registration Lists were created as the people were processed. Therefore, you may not find all members of an extended family together. Furthermore, you will not find all people traveling from one village together.

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