| Matthew Bielawa |
| Matthew Bielawa was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is the associate registrar at Central Connecticut State University, located in New Britain, Connecticut. Mr. Bielawa currently serves as vice president of the Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast. He earned a B.A. degree in Slavic and East European Studies from the University of Connecticut in 1989 and a M.A. degree in Slavic Languages and Literatures from New York University in 1994. His research specialization is Western Ukraine/Eastern Galicia, about which he has extensively lectured, written several articles for various genealogical journals, and created a web page named www.halgal.com (the Genealogy of Halychyna (Western Ukraine) / Eastern Galicia). Mr. Bielawa has visited Ukraine, Poland and Russia several times, including a semester study at Leningrad State University. He currently resides in Stratford, Connecticut. |
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| Presentations: |
| • | Vital Records of Galicia / Halychyna (Poland / Ukraine) |
| | This presentation will introduce vital records of the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia, also known in Ukrainian as Halychyna. Topics include finding the vital records using North American, Polish and Ukrainian sources as well as reading the records through examples and learning common terminology and translation hints. In addition, you will learn how to cite your sources and maintain the information in your genealogical software. |
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| • | One Way Ticket: Polish Repatriation Records From the Post WWII Period |
| | The resettlement of ethnic Poles originating in eastern Poland at the end of World War II greatly affected family history and genealogical research. This presentation will explain the historic background, discuss techniques to find original pre-war and post-war resettled locations, as well as introduce the massive collection of documents in Poland’s State Office of Repatriation. |
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| • | Researching Polish Roots Across Poland and Its Three Partitions |
| | From the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, Poland included three empires: Austria, Prussia and Russia. Each involves distinctive genealogical research. This lecture presents the history and geography of Poland in relation to the Partitions, and explains each Partition’s own unique challenges, covering gazetteers, vital record keeping procedures, and languages of the records. The changing map of Poland will be illustrated to help the genealogist gain better understanding of one’s ancestral region. |
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| • | Hands-on Approach to Learning the Cyrillic Alphabets |
| | In order to facilitate learning how to read the Cyrillic letters, it helps to learn how to write them first! This workshop will introduce the most popular Cyrillic alphabets, as well as present tricks to learning the letters and point out common pitfalls for English speakers. Bring along a pen and lots of paper - you’’ll see how easy the Cyrillic alphabets are with just a little practice! |
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