I’ve recently been asked a couple times to explain how I did manage to receive successfully some files from the Polish archives and how long it took to get these files. Most of the people asking me this question, had some less good experiences. Some of them even never received a response at all from these archives.
My own general observation is that there is barely communication besides the communication relating to ordering the copies. So when I ask them for example if they could translate the file in question, there is almost never a reply (on that question).
Someone last week told me that it could be that if the applicant of the copies lives outside Europe, or if the requests are too complicated, that you may never get a response. I am not sure if it matters whether you are from Europe or not, but the latter possibility is of course something to consider before sending your requests. Therefore you should make sure to keep it as simple as possible. I used for example the order form on this page http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/psa/orderform.htm as my template.
Also make sure not to add any other questions. And if you have any other questions, ask them, but I would separate it and send another mail and may be even consider sending it on different dates.
I put down in a table how long it took to get responses from the archive, where did I send my requests to, etc.
Please share also your experience with the other visitors of this website. You can contact me and I’ll update the table (I hope the table with grow with the time):
[table “16” not found /]