Germany Websites

Germany Germany Websites--Reference and Training 

Guide to websites for family history sources that assist in finding genealogy records for German ancestors.

Archives
Also see below: Church Archives and Contact Information


 * Germany Archives Wiki Article
 * Archivschule- Listing of German Archives in the Internet.
 * H-Net--Humanities and Social Services on the Internet--links to German archives, more detailed on the federal level.
 * Archives in Germany - Hanacek (2000)
 * Archives in Nordrhein-Westfalen
 * Geheimes Archiv - Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz
 * German Historical Institute Links to German Archives
 * Libweb - Directory of Libraries
 * Monasterium.net--Archive of medieval to early modern era documents
 * Niedersachsen Archives

Calendars

 * French Republican Calendar (Research outline)
 * Grotefend calendar book online
 * Calendar converter (German)
 * The Liturgical Year
 * Information on many calendar systems around the world

Colonies

 * German Colonies

Emigration, Immigration, and Passenger Lists

 * German Roots Emigration Website List
 * U.S. and German passenger lists and indexes
 * Regional Lists and Indexes of Emigrants
 * Lists of emigrants from individual towns
 * Lists of Germans immigrating to Brazil, in Portuguese.
 * German immigrants to Chile
 * Wiki Article:Internet Resources for Finding 19th Century German Emigrants

Finding Parish Registers
Priests at each church recorded baptisms (christenings), marriages, and burial events in parish registers. These records help prove birth, marriage, and death, parentage, and spouse names. German parish registers sometimes include move-in and move-out data.

Parish Register Inventories
Parish register inventories list existing, known parish registers, the years covered, and the repository where they are kept.


 * [[Media:Localities.pdf|PDF Archive Inventory]]- an inventory of localities with the location or archive where the records should be found. Corresponding list of archives named in inventory is at[[Media:Archive_Add_.pdf|Archive Addresses]] Please note that in the second column, with the heading of "key" matches the Archive "number" in the first link which contains the database.

Church Archives and Contact Information

 * Evangelical (Lutheran) Church Archives--portal to the archives of the various Lutheran dioceses.
 * Association of Protestant Church Archives
 * EZAB - Berlin Evangelical Central Archive Holdings
 * Oberlausitz Evangelical Archive
 * Lutheran Parishes Contact Information
 * Catholic Dioceses and Parishes contact information
 * List of Ashkenazic Synagogues

Parish Registers Online

 * Archion Online Church Records

Regional Collections

 * Passau Diocese Parish Records at Matricula
 * Parish registers of the Bayreuth, Bavaria, Lutheran Archive,($)
 * Ortenberg churches Wölpinghausen, Wiedenbrügge, Schmalenbruch, Windhorn, Winzlar, Auhagen and Düdinghausen
 * Lutheran parish registers available in the Church Book Archive in Nuernberg
 * Virtual parish registers and indexes for Brandenburg and Mecklenburg
 * Sources for Sambia, the area around Koenigsberg
 * Historische Masurische Vereinigung(Southeran East Prussia(Masurenland)
 * List of extant parish registers in Kreis Gumbinnen

Individual Parishes

 * Saxony, Bautzen, Church Records, 1699-1915
 * Brandenburg, Heegermühle, Church Records, 1664-1824
 * Prussia, Pomerania, Labes, Church Records, 1647-1764
 * Prussia, Pomerania, Stralsund, Church Book Indexes, 1600-1900
 * Wehdem Parish Records

Digitized Parish Registers Online

 * Portal: “Matriken im Netz” (parish registers online), organized by countries or sometimes states. For Poland the listing includes both national and regional resources. (In German.)


 * Portal: GenWiki: Kirchenbücher online, arranged by country/state, includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, and Latvia.

Former Austro-Hungarian Empire

 * Portafontium- Bavarian-Czech network of digitized parish registers.


 * Matricula online – digitized church records from St. Pölten Diocesan archive, Upper Austria State Archive, and the Diocesan Archive Vienna, including the City of Vienna.


 * Crossborder Archives – Written sources of Slovak and Austrian archives online. For digitized parish registers specifically go to Crossborder parish record search . Of special interest may be sacramental records from the military church office in Vienna for 1899-1905. The parents often came from far away, and their birth places are listed in the records.


 * Links to digital archives and online parish registers for the Czech Republic are found on the FamilySearch Wiki Czech portal page under “Online Databases”. Also see land records, school records, and regional noble domain archival collections on FamilySearch. Scroll down the alphabetic list the Czech Republic records. Most collections have not been indexed.


 * Use the gazetteer on Genteam.at to find the state archive that holds the records you need. Free registration with user name and password required. Various indexes are useful in conjunction with online parish registers.


 * Familia-Austria Portal includes links to archive pages for the various Austrian states and those of adjoining countries.

Polish State Archives
The Polish State archives platform is located at http://www.szukajwarchiwach.pl/ (archival collections on the Internet). A list of records that are scheduled to be published, arranged by archives, is found at http://nac.gov.pl/files/D'ASC1_02_2013v.3.pdf. Place names have adjectival endings, so use the “control-f” search function to search for the beginning of the name. (i.e. “Lublin” is in the list as “w Lublinie =of/in Lublin).

Instructions:


 * Go to thePolish State archives.
 * Click “English" on the top right.
 * Close the “Databases in State archives” banner that comes up.
 * Because results of simplified search are not very accurate (collections, units and items are mixed), please choose “Advanced search” under the search box.
 * Enter place/parish name [for example: “Grodzisk”] in the search box. Also check the following boxes “collections”, “vital records”, and ”only units with scans” if only material searchable online is desired. Click orange search button. Use Polish place names, but diacritics are not required. German place names generally will not work.
 * Choose a collection.
 * Click on “units” below the title.
 * A page of thumbnail images appears. You can click through those and go on to subsequent pages.
 * For easier viewing, use full screen button (left button on bottom right” or the magnifier (right button on bottom left, marked with a “z”).
 * The arrows for “previous” and “next” are found on the bottom left and right, and scans can be saved using the “download” button in the bottom center.

Another example:


 * Recently, the police registration cards for Gdansk/Danzig were put online, so, to locate those, I entered “Gdansk” in the “search” field and checked both “collections” and “only units/collections with scans". There were two results, and the top one is the one we need “Prezydium Policji w Gdańsku”. Notice the red arrow on “collection”. You can bypass the next arrow: “series” and click directly on “units”. This shows that the collection is alphabetically arranged by last name. Click down to locate the name group you need.
 * Click on “digital copies to bring up thumbnail images. Click on an image, then use forward/back arrows to navigate.
 * Images can be downloaded by clicking on the “expanding screen symbol on the bottom right.
 * If I enter “Gdansk”, then click on “Vital records and civil registers” I get 451 results. These are all records held by this archive. If I also check “only show units/collections with scans, this number changes to zero. So none of these records are available as images online at this point.

Central Archive of Historical Records in Warsaw(AGAD)
This archive has records from towns in the eastern areas of Poland that became part of the Ukraine after WWII and from Volhynia. Many of the images available here complement collections available on films through FamilySearch.

Instructions:


 * On the home page http://www.agad.gov.pl/inwentarze/testy.html click on the collection of interest
 * On the left, click on “inwentarz” (inventory). In some collections, this is subdivided by districts etc.
 * A list of records, arranged alphabetically by locality, then record type, then time period, comes up.
 * You can also check the list of places by clicking on “Haslo”. Search or scroll down the list. If you find your place, go to the bottom to see available records.
 * If scans are available, the entry contains this hyperlink: “galleria ze skanami”.
 * This brings up the first page of thumbnail images.
 * The number of available pages is listed on the bottom, i.e. “strona 1 z 5” = “page 1 of 5”
 * Double-click on a thumbnail to bring up the page.
 * Use left-right arrows on the bottom to bring up the previous/ next page.
 * Click on the house (top center) to get back to the first thumbnail page.
 * To save the scan, right click on the image and choose option:”save picture as”.

Collections include:


 * Księgi metrykalne gmin ewangelicko-augsburskiego i helweckiego wyznania, 1764-1939, Lutheran and Reformed records – divided by church district. HINT: Town genealogies exist for many of these parishes, available for purchase on CD-Rom, or accessible on the Family History Library Computers (Search the Catalog for “Galiziendeitsche Familienbücher” – CD-Rom no. 6850. See also Galizien German Descendants.


 * Księgi metrykalne gmin wyznania mojżeszowego z terenów tzw. zabużańskich, 1789-1943, Jewish records from areas East of the Bug river.


 * Księgi metrykalne parafii wyznania rzymskokatolickiego z terenu archidiecezji lwowskiej, 1604-1945, Roman Catholic records from Lviv Diocese.


 * Księgi metrykalne i akta parafii prawosławnych z terenów Wołynia i Polesia, 1823-1909, 1929-1939, Orthodox records Polesia (a region) and Volhynia.


 * Księgi metrykalne parafii wyznania rzymskokatolickiego z diecezji łuckiej i wileńskiej, 1799-1905, Roman Catholic records form the dioceses of Lutzk and Vilnius.


 * Księgi metrykalne parafii wyznania rzymskokatolickiego z diecezji przemyskiej, 1590, 1600-1943, Roman Catholic records from Przemysl Diocese)


 * Księgi metrykalne gmin wyznania ewangelicko-augsburskiego z zachodnich guberni Cesarstwa Rosyjskiego/(wschodnich woj. II Rzeczypospolitej, 1790-1940, Lutheran records from the Western provinces of the Russian Empire (mostly Volhynia).


 * Księgi metrykalne i akta parafii i gmin różnych wyznań i obrządków (Ormianie, Autokefaliczna Cerkiew Prawosławna, Baptyści, Mennonici, Ewangeliczni Chrześcijanie)z terenów tzw. zabużańskich, 1685-1942, church records from other denominations, including Mennonites, Baptists, Evangelical Christians etc… from areas east of the Bug river–a relatively small collection, but much of it hasn’t been filmed.

Other Archives

 * Olszstyn Allenstein, formerly East Prusssia, state archive--digital archive, search by German and Polish place name using the “Ctrl-F” search function.


 * GenBaza, additional images of church and civil registration records. Free registration is required. This website provides access to scans from the following archives:
 * State Archive in Kielce
 * State Archive in Sandomierz
 * State Archive in Grodzisk (available also without login)
 * State Archive in Pułtusk
 * State Archive in Łódź
 * Cath. Church Archive in Kielce.

Instructions for Using GenBaza


 * Society of German Genealogy in Eastern Europe.This page links to pages that list Baptist and Lutheran parishes in Russian Poland, Volhynia, Kiev, and Podolia, with links to images and some indexes.

Polish Digital Libraries
Several Polish state archives have also established extensive digital libraries that include historical publications, genealogy society journals, and some wonderful maps. German-language materials are often categorized as “cultural heritage materials”. Most digital libraries are area-specific. GoogleTranslate helps a lot in navigating these sites.


 * Federation of Digital Libraries, includes a master catalog. For instance, a search for “Gdansk” brings up entries in about 50 different digital collections.


 * Pomorska Biblioteca Cyfrona, good example of a regional digital library that includes historical maps, German-language pre-1945 genealogical journals, indexes etc.

Polish Records Indexes
Vital records indexes for formerly German areas now located in Poland include:


 * Ksiegi-parafialne (Parish registers)-Lists localities for which indexed church- or civil registration records are online. Arranged by modern Polish regions and former Polish areas. Specifies town/parish, religion, record type(s) and time period, web site(s) where the index is located.
 * Genetka Genealodzy– includes entries from most Polish regions; see title page for breakdown.
 * PTG Pomorskie Towarzystwo Genealogiczne - Pomeranian Genealogical Association (includes a lot of former West Prussia).
 * Poznan province marriage index
 * BaSia-indexed vital records from Greater Poland, almost one million entries.

Gazetteers
A gazetteer (Ortzeichnis or Topographie) is a dictionary of placenames. Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as: population size, the different religious denominations, the schools, colleges, and universities,major manufacturing works, canals, docks, and railroad stations. Gazetteers can help you find the places where your family lived and determine the civil and church jurisdictions over those places.


 * FamilySearch: A digital copy of Meyers Gazetteer is in two volumes and is found at: part 1 A-K, ; part 2 L-Z, . See "Step-by-step guide: Using Meyers Gazetteer Online" for detailed user instructions. An abbreviated guide to locating place names and jurisdictions in Meyers Gazetteer is found here.
 * The Genealogisches Ortsverzeichnis (GOV)
 * For areas east of the Oder-Neisse rivers, Kartenmeister provides church- and civil jurisdictions
 * For phonetic searches in the area covered by today’s Germany, use the “fuzzy gazetteer”
 * JewishGen gazetteer has several search options, including “contains”. Be sure to change the country and choose a search option.
 * Deutsch-Fremdsprachiges Ortsnamenverzeichnis place name changes for formerly German localities as of June 1919,
 * Orbis Latinus (1909 edition - English interface) – Latinized place names. Several volumes/editions are available on multiple websites: 1972 four-volume combined set version
 * A number of gazetteers and parish register inventories are available in the Digital Library-Geographie, Kartographie, Topographie of the German Society for Computer Genealogy. New titles are added regularly.
 * Prussian (Preussen) Gazetteer
 * Various volumes of the Gemeindelexikon Preußen (1885, 1895, or 1905 editions) are also available on Digital Library-Geographie, Kartographie, Topographie
 * For an extensive list of regional gazetteers and parish register inventories states, click on this link.
 * The Historic Gazeetter
 * An index of German-Polish and Polish-German localities
 * German-speaking Location Databases

Genealogy
This section lists databases of compiled genealogy, family pedigrees and group records, submitted by other researchers.


 * Ahnenforschung.net- German genealogical forum and link list
 * DigiBib - Digital Library on genealogy.net
 * German Association of Professional Genealogists
 * Genealogy Search Engine Mocavo
 * GedBas Collection of GEDCOM files submitted by other researchers
 * FamilySearch Genealogies
 * Ancestry.com Public Member Trees
 * MyHeritage Family Trees
 * Google As keywords, use the surname, locality, and "genealogy" or "family records"

Geography

 * Ravenstein Atlas of the German Empire
 * Kartenmeister
 * Multimap
 * Expedia
 * Historical maps of Germany
 * German States in 1871

German Soundex
Soundex is a phonetic index that groups together names that sound alike but are spelled differently. This helps searchers find names that are spelled differently than originally expected, a relatively common genealogical research problem.


 * Ahnenstammkartei des deutschen Volkes Instructions on German Soundex

Heraldry

 * Ahnen und Wappen Heraldry, Nobility, Crests

Letter Writing

 * Germany Letter Writing Guide

Dictionaries and Translation

 * Leo Searchable German-English Dictionary
 * Grimm's Dictionary of the German Language
 * Google Translation

Word Lists--Frequent Words in Records

 * German Genealogical Word List
 * Latin Genealogical Word List
 * Glossary of German military terms
 * Orbis Latinus Latin Place names
 * Archaic Medical Terms(in English)
 * Historic German professions
 * Translation of Phrases

Gothic Handwriting

 * German Handwriting
 * BYU Tutorial on Old Handwriting
 * Reading old German Handwriting
 * German-type fonts to download

Search Vocabulary--Frequently Used Words in Search Engines
address books - Adressbuecher archive - Archiv [Kirchen{buch}archiv, Landesarchiv, Staatsarchiv, Stadtarchiv, Komunalarchiv, Kreisarchiv] calendar of events - Veranstaltungskalender church(es) - Kirche(n) civil registration office - Standesamt community (civil) - Gemeinde, Ortsgemeinde community consisting of several towns (civil] - Verbandsgemeinde [VG] Computer Genealogy (on-line journal) - Computergenealogie culture - Kultur data base - Datenbank economy - Wirtschaft emigrants - Auswanderer emigration - Auswanderung emigration research - Auswandererforschung general - allgemein illnesses (old terms) - alte Krankheitsbezeichnungen index, listing - Verzeichnis Latin - lateinisch list - Liste map(s)- Karte(n) mayor's office - Buergermeisteramt measures - Masse occupations - Berufe old - alt parish office - Kirchenbuero, Pfarrbuero parish [church] - Kirchengemeinde passenger lists - Schiffslisten pastor - Pfarrer pictures (old) - alte Bilder place names - Ortsnamen postal code(s) - Postleitzahl(en) printed - gedruckt public - oeffentlich public institutions - oeffentliche Einrichtungen research - Forschung research associations, clubs - Vereine search screen - Suchmaske search term - Suchwort sources - Quellen town genealogy - Ortssippenbuch, Ortsfamilienbuch, OFB, OSB

Metasearches and Large Databases with Many Record Types

 * FamilySearch.org
 * Ancestry.com--patron-submitted name databases, as well as indexes and images of many sources, including vital records, U.S. census records, several important emigration indexes, and passenger lists.
 * World Vital Records--German
 * German Genealogy Databases Search
 * Google Biography Search
 * German Newspapers
 * Online German Genealogy Records &amp; Databases
 * Metasearch--one search portal for data in GedBas, Datenbank Historischer Adressbücher, FOKO, Forschungsdatenbanken der Vereine, Online Ortsfamilienbücher, Familienanzeigen, and Volkszahlregister Schleswig Holstein


 * FOKO-This database allows the family historian to find others who are working on the same families or in the same towns. GedBas-Anyone can contribute data in form of Gedcom files, or search for information. Familienzeigen-extracts from birth-, marriage-, and death notices placed in daily newspapers from the last 20 years. Grabsteine-records tomb stone information of recent origin. Totenzettel (Memorial cards) Verlustlisten 1.WK - (WWI Casualty lists)

Names--Surname Frequency
Geogen Surname frequency, based on current phonebooks

Societies

 * Leipzig Genealogical Society
 * Palatines to America Society
 * Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe(SGGEE)
 * Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America
 * American Historical Society of Germans from Russia
 * Germans from Russia Heritage Society
 * Sacramento German Genealogical Society
 * Germanic Genealogy Society (in Minnesota)
 * The German-Acadian Coast Historical Society
 * Immigrant Genealogical Society
 * Orangeburgh Swiss-German Genealogical Society
 * Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society
 * Southwest Florida Germanic Genealogy Society
 * German genealogy resources at the Max-Kade Institute
 * Society for Genealogy in Franken
 * Science and History Association,Lippe
 * The Maus Genealogical Society, Bremen area]

Town Genealogies (Ortsippenbuch or Ortsfamielenbuch)

 * An Ortssippenbuch or Ortsfamilienbuch includes birth, marriage, and death data for all persons found in the local records during a specified time period, compiled into families. Sources may include the local parish registers, civil registration records, court and land records, and sometimes published material.
 * Online Database of Ortsippenbuch Large country-wide collection.
 * Ortssippenbücher and similar sources held by the St. Louis County Library Special Collections Department interlibrary loan or paid search necessary.