BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Polish Culture Finding a long-lost Polish penpal

Hi everyone,
I am new to the forum with a question I hope someone can help with. I had a Polish penpal I used to correspond with, 10 or so years ago, and I recently found some old photos I thought she might like. I'd like to try to contact her again but don't have a current address. After doing extensive Internet "White Pages" searches, it seems that there are none for Poland, due to some kind of privacy laws. Is that the case? How can one look up Polish addresses? I still have her old address in Poznan, where her father may still be living, so I can send the letter there, but it would be great to have a current address. Thanks.

suzannem,

Just send a letter to the previous address describing the photos and your desire to renew the correspondance. I'm sure the father will notify his daughter of the mail. If she is interested then you surely will recieve a reply

Yes, this is probably what I'm going to have to do. If she's no longer at that address, hopefully the letter will get forwarded. Thanks.

Susan,

I am sorry, I saw your mail but then I got busy with something else and O forgot to respond. There was actually the Polish phone book (white pages) available for some time. Later Inoticed that the service was... in construction and I am not sure whether it is back.

I see that yellow pages are easily available:
http://www.dfi.ca.gov/directry/tma.asp
http://www.pkt.pl/index.php?strona=main&lang=eng

Polska Ksiazka Telefoniczna

but I do not see anywhere the white pages, maybe you are right it was taken out due to privacy laws?

Maybe somebody else can help?

Susan,

it is very probable that the old address will still work. Poles do not move that frequently as Americans do. If you have somebody in Poland - every post office should have the phone books from all around Poland.

Good Luck!

Thanks for your responses and links, Jaga.



That's what I was thinking too, that perhaps moving around a lot isn't done there as frequently as here. I only sort of have a contact - the parents of one of my husband's coworders live in Poland. But I think I will just send the letter to her old home address and hope that her dad still lives there. If my penfriend has married since I last was in contact with her (which is possible), I wouldn't know her married name, so a phonebook wouldn't help in that case, anyway. I'll post back if I end up hearing from her!

In Russia and many other former USSR republics, you can call the telephone information bureau, and they will give a phone number or address for a name. Personal listings, such as White Pages in the U.S., are rare, if they even exist at all. Usually, there is only published the Yellow Pages of businesses.

If you can't find an address by the means listed above, maybe Poland has such a phone bureau, and you can find someone in Poland in that city to call for you?

Susan,

but send the registered letter - then you would make sure that it reached somebody. Otherwise it can be lost on the way - like 50% of my letters...
Susan - there is also a telephone information in Poland - it costs something but... you should be able to get there. The problem - you should be able to speak Polish. So, I believe that sending the letter is the best solution for now.

Thanks for your response, Eric. Unfortunately I don't speak Polish, and the only contact I have in Poland is the parents of a coworker of my husband's, but I suppose that's a possibility.

Ok, I can certainly send it registered, but I'm just curious about this: when I used to write this penfriend of mine, I never sent letters registered, and it seems she always got them. Has the mail system gotten worse there? Just wondering. Thanks.