Tracing my Polish ancestors? My fathers Polish surname is Daj

i am looking to trace my polish ancestors, my dad came here after the war in june 1946, he gave his previous address as Naples. Unfortunetley my father passed away in 1970 aged 48, i was only very young at the time. The only info i have are his discharge papers from the Polish Resettlement Corps, not a lot to go on i know. He lists his address as Karczew i am aware that he mentioned a sister and a step-brother, so there could be relatives. I am finding it difficult knowing were to start my search, my fathers polish surname, (Daj) seams to be very rare and i have not bin able to trace it. My father was reluctant to discuss the war years but i do remember him telling me that the Russian troops attacked his home murdered his grandparents and parents and that he was forced to join the cavalry and was sent to siberia, somehow he ended up in Italy and from there the UK were he was in a camp he met my mother and married in 1949. If anyone can point me in the right direction to trace his life prior to coming to the UK i would be grateful.

i'd start with the last thing first.

see if you can find records for the camp in the uk. the national archive may have something.

also, there are threads and info on the forum about resettlement camps.

try and find a WWII forum and ask for advice there.

check the family name at the usual genealogy sites. the name Daj is listed at ancestry.co.uk but it seems to apply to people of various cultures.

DAJ: imperative form of the verb dać (give); very rare indeed; it is one of a small group of surnames of imperative verbal origin; others include Kuszaj (Russian for eat), Piecz (bake), and Zalej (inundate).

woah thats weird Daj sounds like an arab. I didn't know poles could have arab names. That is aboslutely disturbing!!!!

Thread attached on merging:
Tracing Family

First thanks for all the replies re my surname, my father left a sister Juliet and a brother Edward behind he has Karczew as his place of birth. I am not sure if this is a village, town or district, I think its near to Warsaw. I do remember him telling me that they bred horses and lived on a farm not a lot of help I know. So if any one could give me any info on Karczew or the surrounding area my father was born in 1922 so my family have bin in the area for quite some time, also any help or advice on how to trace family records in Poland would be appreciated, once again thanks for all the help.

I am looking for my father that comes from poland is names Munisky

No Munisky or Muniski or even Muniwski in Poland. The closest is Muniewski (extremely rare - used by only 1 person). It would have probably emerged as a patronymic tag for the son of Munio (short for Edmund, Zygmunt. Rajmund and similar).

It is a town near Warsaw

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karczew

but also a capital of a county with the same name

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gmina_Karczew


Italy is nothing unusual...but If he was deported to Siberia, It rather wasn't from Karczew as that town wasn't in Soviet occupied area.

my mother went by 2 maiden names- Zofia Berning and Zofia Parmonik how can i find out which one was correct. when she went to germany with my father to wórk on a farm her Work book had the maiden name as Berning.

I found my family trough a private consultant that didn't cost me that much.

My story started years ago when the Polish Embassy in Argentina told me and confirm me that my grandparents birth certificate are lost so they can do nothing, so I went to Poland 3 years ago and I met an Argentinian guy that advice me to contact this consultant that helped him so I gave him my details and this guy was looking inside the documents of the civil registries and found names and places, so we asked for a new birth certificate creation and then I could apply to recover the polish nationality, the consultant asked me to recommend him with family and friends so here I am. He is giving commercial services for local companies but he knows how to create new birth certificates, his website is www castaneda com pl and there is his contact.

I hope this can help some of you

Chez Guras

My birth name is Durejko. I never knew my father but know he came from Wilno and served in the First Polish Independent Parachute Regiment. I have been trying to trace ancestors but without success and would be glad of any indication as to how I may proceed.

DUREJKO: root probably Old Polish dur (madness) which gave rise to such words as dureń (fool), durny (foolish) and durować (to go wild, act crazy). The -ko ending* is typical of the NE Lithuanian-Ruthenian borderlands of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

*Other examples include Kościuzsko and Moniuszko.

My father's surname was Szyling and I believe lived near Warsaw. Born on 17th December 1919. How can I find out more??