3

On my father's birth certificate and Naturalization papers, Bacziw, Poland is listed as his birthplace. Imagine my shock when I found these papers after his passing two years ago. All along, we were told he was born in Lvov, Ukraine. On his original birth certificate, his last name ends with an "a", which my friends say is Polish.

When I enter Bacziw, Poland into Google, I get Labaczow, Poland.

Are these the same city?

3
  • Could it be Bacze? Aug 13, 2019 at 6:22
  • (1) Are they handwritten or typed naturalization papers? If the former, any chance of an image? (2) I think Google suggests Labaczow because it's the biggest place it can find with the "bacz" sequence of letters. The place is less than 50 miles from Lvov, and less than 10 miles from the Ukrainian border, but I can't find any reference to it without the "La-" part of the name. (3) JewishGen's Town Finder suggests Baczki, Poland, which is a village due west of Łochów.
    – JPmiaou
    Aug 13, 2019 at 19:37
  • 1) The Naturalization papers are typed. It is listed on his birth certificate, all in Latin, which was translated into English. From that, they came up with the Naturalization papers, in 1959. The birth certificate was obtained from The Greek Catholic Parish of Phil. Theophanius in Bacziw. Bacziw, Poland is listed on Dad's birth certificate as his place of birth.. Aug 13, 2019 at 23:11

1 Answer 1

3

Quite likely it was Bachiv, Ukraine (Baczów in Polish language) a village southeastern of Lviv. However you should not assume it is this village without further double-checking (there could be other villages of the same name in the same region which are not searchable in OSM).

It is a regular occurence to have place names ending in -ów in Polish and -iv in Ukrainian language, such as : Lwów/Lviv , Kraków/Krakiv, Kjów/Kiev, and so on so forth. Endings in -iw in Polish languge are extremely unlikely.

This village was part of Poland before 1945. You can't see it on this map of pre-war poland because the village isn't large enough, but you can see both larger villages : Rohatyn and Przemyślany - both are also visible on OSM and have similar names in Ukrainian today so this confirms this area was part of Poland before 1945.

Note that another locality in this region, marked Firlejów on the old map, can't be found on a modern map, and after some investigagion this is because the village is today named Lypivka in Ukrainian. So it's possible for villages in this area to have changed their name completely. This also means it's possible for another Baczów village to have been renamed completely and not be foundable anymore without detailed investigation.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.