Saxony (Sachsen), Germany Genealogy

Guide to Saxony ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History
Saxony has a long history as a duchy, an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire (the Electorate of Saxony), and finally as the kingdom of Saxony. In 1918, after Germany's defeat in World War I, its monarchy was overthrown and a republican form of government was established under the current name. The state was broken up into smaller units during communist rule from 1949 to 1989, but was re-established on 3 October 1990 on the reunification of East and West Germany. Between 1697 and 1763, the Electors of Saxony were also elected Kings of Poland. In 1756, Saxony joined a coalition of Austria, France and Russia against Prussia. In 1806, French Emperor Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire and established the Electorate of Saxon as a kingdom in exchange for military support. Liberal pressures in Saxony mounted and broke out in revolt during 1830 a year of revolution in Europe The revolution in Saxony resulted in a constitution for the State of Saxony that served as the basis for its government until 1918. In the 1860's a war broke out called the Austro-Prussian war. Prussian troops overran Saxony without resistance and then invaded Austrian Bohemia. After the, Saxony was forced to pay an indemnity and to join the North German Confederation in 1867. In 1871, Saxony joined the newly formed German Empire. In October 1923 the federal government overthrew the the legally elected Communist coalition government of Saxony. As World War II drew to a close American troops occupied the western part of Saxony in April 1945, while Soviet troops occupied the eastern part. That summer, the entire state was handed over to Soviet forces as agreed in the London Protocol of September 1944. Britain, the USA, and the USSR then negotiated Germany's future at the Potsdam Conference. The German Democratic Republic East Germany, including Saxony, was established in 1949 out of the Soviet zone of Occupied Germany, becoming a constitutionally socialist state. In 1952 the government abolished the Free State of Saxony. The Free State of Saxony was reconstituted with slightly altered borders in 1990, following German reunification. 

Culture[edit] Religion[edit] Religion in Saxony - 2011 religion			percent EKD Protestants 21.4% Roman Catholics 3.8% Evangelische Freikirchen 0.9% Orthodox churches 0.3% Other religions 1.0% Unaffiliated 72.6% Since the Protestant Reformation, Saxony has historically been predominantly Lutheran Protestant. Its rulers were traditionally Lutheran, although—beginning with Augustus II the Strong who was required to convert to Roman Catholicism in 1697 in order to become King of Poland—its monarchs were exclusively Roman Catholic. In 1925, 90.3% of the Saxon population was Protestant, 3.6% was Roman Catholic, 0.4% was Jewish and 5.7% was placed in other religious categories.[19] After World War II Saxony was incorporated into East Germany which pursued a policy of state atheism. After 45 years of Communist rule, the majority of the population has become unaffiliated. As of 2011, the Evangelical Church in Germany represented the largest faith in the state, adhered to by 21.4% of the population. Members of the Roman Catholic Church formed a minority of 3.8%. About 0.9% of the Saxons belonged to an Evangelical free church (Evangelische Freikirche, i.e. various Protestants outside the EKD), 0.3% to Orthodox churches and 1% to other religious communities, while 72.6% did not belong to any public-law religious society.[20]

Languages[edit]

Boundary sign of Bautzen / Budyšin in German and Upper Sorbian; many place names in eastern Saxony are derived from Sorbian. The most common patois spoken in Saxony are combined in the group of "Thuringian and Upper Saxon dialects". Due to the inexact use of the term "Saxon dialects" in colloquial language, the Upper Saxon attribute has been added to distinguish it from Old Saxon and Low Saxon. Other German dialects spoken in Saxony are the dialects of the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), which have been affected by Upper Saxon dialects, and the dialects of the Vogtland, which are more affected by the East Franconian languages.

Upper Sorbian (a Slavic language) is still actively spoken in the parts of Upper Lusatia that are inhabited by the Sorbian minority. The Germans in Upper Lusatia speak distinct dialects of their own (Lusatian dialects).

Education[edit] Saxony has four large universities and five Fachhochschulen or Universities of Applied Sciences. The Dresden University of Technology, founded in 1828, is one of Germany's oldest universities and University of Applied Sciences, Zwickau founded in 1897 With 36,066 students as of 2010, it is the largest university in Saxony and one of the ten largest universities in Germany. It is a member of TU9, a consortium of nine leading German Institutes of Technology. Leipzig University is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany, founded in 1409. Famous alumni include Leibniz, Goethe, Ranke, Nietzsche, Wagner, Angela Merkel, Raila Odinga, Tycho Brahe, and nine Nobel laureates are associated with this university.

How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for Saxony

 * How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
 * Civil Registration
 * Church Records
 * '''Town Genealogies

For German Research, You Must Know Your Ancestors' Town

 * To begin using the records of Germany, knowing that your family came from Saxony will not be enough to use the records of Germany. Records are kept on the local level, so you will have to know the town they lived in.
 * Details about the town will also help:
 * the county or "Bezirkamt or Kreis" of that town,
 * where the closest Evangelical Lutheran or Catholic parish church was (depending on their religion),
 * where the civil registration office ("Standesamt") was, and
 * if you have only a village name, you will need the name of the larger town it was part of.

Research to Find the Town
If you do not yet know the name of the town of your ancestor's birth, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt for it. **Also search the German Emigration Database at Bremerhaven.
 * Use Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin as a guide in exhausting every possible record to find what you need.
 * Or watch this webinar: Online Class: Finding German Places of Origin

If You Know the Town, Next Use Meyers Gazetteer
Once you know the town name you need, the other facts you need are contained in Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, the gazetteer on which the FamilySearch catalog for Germany is based. The most important facts here are:
 * Use MeyersGaz, the digital gazetteer, to find the details you need, particularly the Bezirksamt it belonged to, found after (BA) and the Regierungsbezirk (Administrative District) Niederbayern (RB).
 * MeyersGaz Help Guide
 * Abbreviation Table
 * Here is part of an entry from MeyersGaz.org. 
 * 1) Wellheim is in Eichstätt Bezirksamt (BA).
 * 2) It is in Regierungsbezirk (Administrative District) Middle Franconia (MFranken) (RB)
 * 3) It has its own Standesamt (StdA) or civil registration office.
 * 4) It has one Catholic parish church (kath. K.).
 * 5) By clicking on the "Ecclesiastical" option, we learn that the Protest church for Wellheim is in Eichstätt. We also find other nearby churches.

Maps
For town and city maps in Sachsen click here and then click on "Zur Kartendarstellung". You can use a specific street address if you know it.

Another online map showing towns and administrations (Amtsgerichte = Lower Courts) can be found here

This site will give you parish jurisdictions and other interesting and helpful information regarding towns and cities in Sachsen.

Saxony

The 1871 Kingdom of Saxony became part of the Modern State of Saxony (Sachsen). Location of Modern Saxony Within the German Empire, 1871 Modern State of Saxony Former Kingdom of Saxony with Annexed Areas (See List Below.)

Areas of Modern Saxony Annexed from Other 1871 States Bautzen Kreis, Saxony: Görlitz Kreis, Saxony Nordsachsen Kreis, Saxony
 * Most of this Kreis was originally in Saxony, except for:
 * City of Hoyerswerda, Silesia (no records in library at this time)
 * Görlitz City, Silesia
 * Görlitz Kreis, Silesia
 * Rothenburg Kreis, Silesia
 * Delitzch Kreis, Province of Saxony
 * Torgau Kreis, Province of Saxony
 * Municipalities of Bitterfeld Kreis, Province of Saxony
 * Authausen
 * Durchwehna
 * Görschlitz
 * Kossa
 * Municipalities from Liebenwerda Kreis, Province of Saxony
 * Blumberg
 * Stehla
 * Municipalities from Wittenberg Kreis, Province of Saxony
 * Korgau
 * Wörlitz
 * Dahlenberg'''