R E S E A R C H   G U I D A N C E

A GENEALOGICAL
HANDBOOK OF GERMAN RESEARCH
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Acknowldegements
Chapter 1 Historical And Geographical
Chapter 2 Emigration Before 1800
Chapter 3 Emigration After 1800
Chapter 4 Determining The Place Of Origin L.d.s. Sources
Chapter 5 Determining The Place Of Origin U.S. Sources
Chapter 6 Determining The Place Of Origin European Sources
Chapter 7 Analyzing Surnames And Place Names
Chapter 8 Locating The Parish
Chapter 9 Determining The Present Name Of Localities
Chapter 10 Conducting An Area Search
Chapter 11 Record Repositories
Chapter 12 Naming Practices (patronymics And Occupational)
Chapter 13 Naming Practices (farm And Locality)
Chapter 14 Handwriting And Terminology Beginning
Chapter 15 Handwriting And Terminology Intermediate
Chapter 16 Handwriting And Terminology Advanced
Chapter 17 Feast Days And Calendars
Chapter 18 Finding A Birth Record
Chapter 19 Finding A Marriage Record
Chapter 20 Finding A Death Record
Chapter 21 Corresponding For Records
Chapter 22 German Genealogical And Family Organizations
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Appendix E
Appendix F
Index




Chapter 9 Determining the Present Name of Localities

Boundary changes have occurred in many countries but very few as extensive as in Germany. After World War II, Germany lost nearly one third of its area to Poland alone. Other major areas of Germany went to Russia, France, and Denmark. Still other minor areas went to Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Lithuania. The remainder of Germany was divided up between the East and the West. The former kingdoms, provinces, and duchies were done away with and new German states established in their place.

These boundary changes have affected genealogical research in many ways but only the following two ways will be discussed:

  1. Knowing the modern place name to determine what records have been microfilmed by the genealogical library.
  2. Knowing the modern place name to determine where to correspond for records that have not yet been microfilmed.

If the records for an area in Germany have been microfilmed, they will be available at the main genealogical library in Salt Lake City, Utah, or at any one of its branch libraries throughout the world. The location of the branch libraries can be determined by writing to the Genealogical Library, 50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84150, a copy of the main library’s card catalog is available on microfilm at each branch library.

That part of the card catalog that deals with locality will be based on modern boundaries. Modern boundaries were used because gazetteers representing boundary changes from various time periods do not exist. Because of this, it would be impossible to catalog each record according to the locality that it belonged to when the record was made. Usually, you will know your ancestor's place of origin as it existed in former times. This must be converted to the modern boundaries in order to locate the availability of record in the card catalog.

If the records have not been microfilmed, you still need to know the modern names of the city and country to know where to write to obtain birth, marriage, and death certificates. Before you go through the process of determining the modern name of a place, you must first determine where the parish or civil records of the place were kept (see Chapter 8 for instructions on civil and parish registers). Once the name of the parish is known, the following procedure can be used to find the modern names of the town, county and country.


Step One:

Refer first to the Myers Orts Und Verkehrs Lexikon (see Appendix B for an explanation on how to use this gazetteer). Using this gazetteer, obtain the following information:

  1. Check to see if the parish you are interested in is listed alphabetically.

  2. Note the kingdom, province, or duchy to which the place belonged.


Step Two:

Use the list on the following page to find the gazetteer that is likely to show the present place name, county, and country of the parish you are interested in. (Look for the kingdom, province, or duchy, note the present country or countries, and then select the code letter for the gazetteer you should use). Once the code letter has been selected, proceed to step three and match the code letter with the gazetteer that has a corresponding letter.


Step Three:

Having determined the code letters for the kingdom, province, or duchy that you need, you are now ready to check the appropriate gazetteer(s). Fig. 9A shows the division between West and East Germany as well as those areas of Germany that went to Denmark, Belgium, and France. Concerning Poland, or those areas of Germany now in Poland, you should note that the reason why two different gazetteers are given is because “B” covers that area of Germany that went to Poland after World War II and “C” covers that area of Germany that went to Poland after World War I. Gazetteer “D” covers all of Poland as it exists today and gives the modern county name for all of the places in Poland. Fig. 9B graphically shows the difference between these two areas. It also shows those areas that went to Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, and Russia. The Grenzmark area was that area of Westpreussen and Posen which remained with Germany after World War I. Note also that part of the eastern area of Westpreussen stayed with Westpreussen and the southern tip of Westpreussen went to Poland after World War I.

Now, locate the code letter from the following list and obtain the gazetteer which is listed after the letter then follow the instructions which are given after the reference.

Former Kingdom, etc. Present Country or Countries Gazetteers
Anhalt East Germany A
Baden West Germany A
Bayern West Germany A
Brandenburg East Germany & Poland A or B & D
Braunschweig (Brunswick) East & West Germany A
Elass-Lothringen (Alsace-Loraine) France C
Hannover West Germany A
Hessen West Germany A
Hessen Nassau West & East Germany A
Hohenzollern West Germany A
Lippe West Germany A
Mecklenburg East Germany A
Oldenburg West Germany A
Ostpreussen (East Prussia) Poland, Russia, & Lithuania B & D, E or C
Pfalz (Palatine) West Germany A
Pommern (Pomerania) East Germany & Poland A or B & D
Posen Poland B & D or C & D
Reuss-Greiz East Germany A
Reuss-Schleiz-Gera East Germany A
Rheinland (Rhineland) West Germany & Belgium A or C
Sachsen, Kingdom (Saxony) East Germany A
Sachsen, Province (Saxony) East Germany A
Sachsen Altenburg East Germany A
Sachsen Coburg Gotha East & West Germany A
Sachsen Meiningen East Germany A
Sachsen Weimar- Eisenach East & West Germany A
Schaumberg-Lippe West Germany A
Schelsien (Silesia) East Germany, Poland & Czechoslovakia A, B & D or C
Schleswig-Holstein West Germany & Denmark A or C
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt East Germany A
Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen East GermanyA A
Thüringen (Thuringia) West & East Germany A
Waldeck West Germany A
Westfalen (Westphalia) West Germany A
Westpreussen (West Prussia) Poland B & D or C & D
Wurttemberg West Germany A

A

Muller, Fritz. Mullers Grosses Deutsches Ortsbuch, Part I Wuppertal-Barmen: Post- und Ortsbuchverlag Postmeister A.D. Friedrich Muller, 1958. (Ref 943 E5m 1958) (Film No. 1,045,448)
  1. Locate the town you are interested in. The places are listed alphabetically in the left-hand column.

  2. For towns presently located in East Germany, “Bz” appears at the end of the entry and then the abbreviation of the present county is given as shown in Fig. 9C for the city of Eulendorf.

  3. For towns presently located in West Germany, a dash appears at the end of the entry and then the abbreviation of the present county is given as indicated in Fig. 9C for the city of Eulengrund.

  4. A list of abbreviations used is found at the front of the book on pages III and IV.

Click here to see Fig.9A

Click here to see Fig. 9B

Click here to see Fig.9C

B

Amtliches Gemeinde- und Ortsnamenverzeichnis der Deutschen Ostgebiete Unter Fremder Verwaltung. Remagen: Selbstverlag Der Bundesanstalt fur Landeskunde, 1955. (Ref 943.8 E5b) (Film No. 824,243 Item 2)

  1. Find the old German name of the town in the first column titled “Amtlicher Deutscher Ortsname” as indicated in Fig. 9D under the town of Tingen.

  2. If more than one town is given under the same spelling look for the one with the same “Kreis” or district as found in Meyers Orts und Verkehrs Lexikon. ( see Step one)

  3. Look in the next to the last column titled “Fremdsprachiger Ortsname” for the present name of the town.

  4. To determine the present Polish county see gazetteer “D.”
    See Fig. 9D

  5. If the name of the German place is not listed in gazetteer “B” check Mullers Grosses Deutsches Ortsbuch, Part II, beginning on page 1139. This gazetteer covers the same geographical area as Amtliches Gemeinde-und Ortsnamenverzeichnis der Deutschen Ostgebiete unter Fremder Verwaltung. There may be places listed in this gazetteer that are not mentioned in the other and vice-versa. When the German place is located in Mullers Part II, the present polish name will appear directly under the German spelling as indicated in Fig. 9E for the town of Posilge. A “-pV” will appear in the entry indicating it is under Polish rule. For those towns in that part of Ostpreussen (East Prussia) that are now under the Soviet rule a “-sV” will appear in the entry as shown in Fig. 9E for the town of Posmahlen.

Fig. 9E

C

Kredel, Otto and Thierfelder, Franz. Deutsch-Fremdsprachiges Ortsnamenverzeichnis. 3 Vols. Berlin: Deutsche Verlagsgesselschaft, 1931. (Ref Q 940 E5kt) (Film No. 583,457)
1. The following areas pertain to those parts of Germany that were taken over by other countries after World War I. After each area the volume and the page numbers are given where they can be found.

  Vol. Page
Elsass-Lothringen and the rest of France 1 139
Eupen-Malmedy and the rest of Belgium 1 251
Northern Schleswig and the rest of Denmark 2 265
Memelland and the rest of Lithuania 2 293
The ceded areas of Ostpreussen, Westpreussen, Posen, Oberschlesien and the rest of Poland 2 453
2. Find the old German name of the town in the first column as shown in Fig. 9F for the city of Kunau.

3. The present name of the town is given immediately after the old German name.

4. If more than one town is given under the same spelling, look for the one with the same “Kreis” or district as found in Meyers.

Fig. 9F

5. For places now in Poland disregard the capital letters following the entry and see Gazetteer D to determine the present Polish counties.

6. The capital letters following each entry for places in France and Denmark represent the province to which each place presently belongs.

7. For places now listed in France, the present French departments are also listed:

NR = Bas RhinOR = Haut RhinMOS = Moselle
8. For places now in Denmark, the present Danish counties are listed as:

A & S = Aabenraa-SonderborgH = HaderslevT = Tonder

9. For places now in Belgium, the former German places are all in the Belgium county of Liege.

10. For places now in Lithuania it is necessary to determine if the place was a parish and if not, to determine where the parish was. To determine if the town had a parish, refer to Appendix E which lists all of the parishes in that area of Germany that went to Lithuania. If it is listed, then the name of the present county will be given after it. If it is not listed, then locate the town on a detailed map as explained in Chapter 10. After the town is located on the map check the surrounding towns against the list of parishes in Appendix E to locate the closest ones to your town.

D

Spis Miejscowosci Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej, 2 vols. Warsaw:Wydawnictwa Komunikacji I Lacznosci, 1967. (Ref 943.8 e5s) (Film No. 844,922)
1. Find the present polish name of the town in the first column titled “Nazwa I Rodzaj Miejscowosci” as shown in Fig. 9G for the city of Tynga.

2. Find the present Polish name of the county in the fourth column titled “Wojewodztwo.”

See Fig. 9G

3. The name of the place in the third column under the heading “Siedziba PRN” should also be written down. This is the name of the “powiat” which is a smaller district within the “Wojewodztwo.” when the records were being microfilmed in Poland, they would usually be brought to the powiat centers. When they were cataloged by the genealogical library, many of these records were cataloged under the name of the powiat instead of the parish or town name. Care needs to be taken in looking up these district records in the genealogical library card file. Fig. 9H show taken in looking up these district records in the Genealogical Library card file. Fig. 9H shows samples of cards taken from the card file. The top card concerns vital records for the city of Stuhm taken in looking up these district records in the genealogical library card file. Fig. 9H shows samples of cards taken from the card file. The top card concerns vital records for the city of Stuhm, Germany, now Sztum, Poland. The lower card concerns vital records for the powiat or district of Sztum and in the contents portion of the card it indicates that it is the parish register of the Mennonite church of Tragheimerweide. The contents on the (Powiat) cards must be checked to determine the name of the parish or town that the record pertains to.

E

U.S. Office of Geography. U.S.S.R. and Certain Neighboring Areas; Official Standard Names Approved by the U.S. Board On Geographic Names. Washington, D.C., 1959-1970. (Ref 947 E5u) (Film Nos. - See below)
Vol. 1 (A-B) 928,609 item 1Vol. 2 (C-J) 928,610 item 1Vol. 3 (K) 928,610 item 2Vol. 4 (L-N) 874,455 item 1Vol. 5 (O-R) 874,455 item 2Vol. 6 (S-T) 874,456 item 1Vol. 7 (U-Z) 874,456 item 2

1. Find the former German place name in the left-hand part of the columns. (See Fig. 9I and the town of Tilsit for an example.

2. The Russian name is given next after the word “see.”

3. The second column contains descriptive designations or abbreviations of designations which tell what the place is. The following are some examples:

BAYCST = coastISL = islandPOPL = populated area (city or town)STRM = stream

4. The third column gives the latitude and longitude of the place.

Fig. 9I
5. All towns that are now in Russia but were formerly in East Prussia belong to the county of Kaliningrad.

6. If it is not possible to locate the present Russian name, you must look in the card catalog under the old German spelling.

7. A valuable feature of this gazetteer is that it gives the latitude and longitude for geographical features as well. When the name of the place of birth of the emigrant ancestor is not given, sometimes the name of a mountain, stream or lake will be given. By obtaining the latitude and longitude from this gazetteer, it is just a matter of locating the coordinates on a detailed map and searching the surrounding parishes.


Step Four:

Check the card catalog at the main genealogical library or at one of its branches, using what you have found in the gazetteers.

1. Look first for the country, then the county, and finally the city.

2. Under the country the counties are filed alphabetically. After locating the respective county, look up the desired town or parish which will be filed alphabetically under the county.

3. Obtain films and begin search.

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Copyright 1996, by Larry O. Jensen. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be translated or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the author. Printed in the U.S.A.
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