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ARCHIVE DATABASE


ADMINISTRATIVE DISTRICTS  



Administrative-Territorial Divisions

The information for this database was collected over a 25-year period beginning in 1989 that included the collapse of the Soviet Union and the new independent countries that were re-born as a result.

Because there is often more than one locality (town) with the same name, the database includes the CURRENT districts where the town can be found. The decision to use the current district names (at the time of the compilation of the material) was based upon the assumption that the researcher would want to locate their ancestral town on a current map.

For example, the compiler of this information resides in the town of Secaucus, in Hudson County, in the State of New Jersey, United States of America.

In the database, each locality includes the equivalent of two larger districts and the country name (with the exception of Moldova).

As elsewhere in the world, documents for the countries in this database are recorded on several levels: local, region, district and national. For further information, see "Key Russian Terms for Genealogical Research"

Subsequent to the publication of
Jewish Roots in Poland, significant administrative reforms took effect in Poland on January 1, 1999. The number of larger districts (wojewodztwo) was reduced and the "powiaty" (smaller districts) were restored. See map.

Note: The administrative districts relating to towns within the current borders of Poland (in this database) are based upon the districts in effect during the period 1975–1998.

Changing Borders:
The area known as Galicia, formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, no longer exists. Towns that were in Eastern Galicia are now in Ukraine and towns that were in Western Galicia are now in Poland.

Bessarabia, formerly part of Russia, now primarily within Moldova. Bukovina, a region that now comprises Southern Ukraine including the Chernovtsy area and Northern Romania.



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