Did you discuss with them just sending them cash. One dollar even if lost
or stolen is not a great loss to test this type of situation?

I have sent cash many times to my family in Poland as much as 3 and 4
hundred dollars and never had a problem.
Another suggestion is to send the cash funds plus a little extra to someone
in our group that lives in that area and have
them handle the transaction in person.

PayPal also does a great job at a relative low cost. It should be an option
for the government to use.

I am sure that there are many other avenues open to handle these type of
transactions until the Polish government sees the light!!

Julek


On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 7:59 AM, bstar53 <bernard_starzewski@...>wrote:

**


This may be a little off topic but it relates to a previous post where I
described the new ARCHIWUM G&#321;?WNE AKT DAWNYCH (AGAD) database of 19th
Century documents from the Kresy (mostly Wolyn) region.

As I related then I was able to locate a database entry for my great great
great grandparent's wedding in 1852.
I went about the process they prescribed for ordering a print of the
document (probably a church ledger page) and received an electronic invoice
for 1,50 zl (about 48 cents US).

Unfortunately the ONLY way they have to pay this "huge" sum is by bank
transfer! - which means at least $20 in initial bank fees and another $35
if you need to have the currency converted first.

In discussing it directly with them by phone - that is it! There is no
other way to pay for it unless you show up personally in Warsaw!
The response we got was that this was the Polish government and it does
not engage in credit card processing.

By comparison Ellis Island uses document reproduction as a major fund
raising tool!
I have been able to obtain my grandmother's ship manifest record from 1913
in full image along with information and a photo of the ship she came on.

Someone needs to lobby the Polish government to change their thinking on
this.
Being able to locate an ancient family document like this is a true
victory for modern technology but for those of us ex-patriot families to
then encounter such foolish bureaucracy is very frustrating.

They could easily fund their efforts by allowing on line credit card
transactions and then charging $10 or even $20 for international orders and
reducing the banker's take to a dollar or two.
I would much rather have my money go to funding this worth while project
than to have it flush into the pockets of some banks.

Hi Bernie - I have great news for you!
Kresy-Siberia has both a bank account and a PayPal account in Poland.

When group members make their annual contribution to Kresy-Siberia the money flows there to help cover the costs of our website and our project work to immortalise the Kresy-Siberia history.

If you send me the details to admin@... we can do the bank transfer for you.

You can get straight to our Poland Paypal and bank accounts here: . other countries at

Best regards
Stefan Wisniowski
Sydney Australia

On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 7:59 AM, bstar53 <bernard_starzewski@...> wrote:

This may be a little off topic but it relates to a previous post where I described the new ARCHIWUM G&#321;?"WNE AKT DAWNYCH (AGAD) database of 19th Century documents from the Kresy (mostly Wolyn) region.

As I related then I was able to locate a database entry for my great great great grandparent's wedding in 1852.
I went about the process they prescribed for ordering a print of the document (probably a church ledger page) and received an electronic invoice for 1,50 zl (about 48 cents US).

Unfortunately the ONLY way they have to pay this "huge" sum is by bank transfer! - which means at least $20 in initial bank fees and another $35 if you need to have the currency converted first.

In discussing it directly with them by phone - that is it! There is no other way to pay for it unless you show up personally in Warsaw!
The response we got was that this was the Polish government and it does not engage in credit card processing.

By comparison Ellis Island uses document reproduction as a major fund raising tool!
I have been able to obtain my grandmother's ship manifest record from 1913 in full image along with information and a photo of the ship she came on.

Someone needs to lobby the Polish government to change their thinking on this.
Being able to locate an ancient family document like this is a true victory for modern technology but for those of us ex-patriot families to then encounter such foolish bureaucracy is very frustrating.

They could easily fund their efforts by allowing on line credit card transactions and then charging $10 or even $20 for international orders and reducing the banker's take to a dollar or two.
I would much rather have my money go to funding this worth while project than to have it flush into the pockets of some banks.