Schleswig-Holstein, Germany Genealogy

Guide to Schleswig-Holstein ancestry, family history and genealogy:''' birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

See also, Lübeck
A separate series of articles are available on the wiki for Lübeck, a region of Schleswig-Holstein that was a different state of the German Empire until 1945.



For German Research, You Must Know Your Ancestors' Town

 * To begin using the records of Germany, knowing that your family came from Schleswig-Holstein 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 "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.
 * 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
 * Schleswig-Holstein Immigrants in New Amsterdam/New York,1636 - 1667.
 * Das Nordfriesische Auswanderer-Archiv (North Friesland Emigrants), Images and no index.
 * Emigration out of Schleswig-Holstein, 19th century, Index.
 * AGGSH
 * Dithmarschen Emigration

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.
 * Use MeyersGaz, the digital gazetteer, to find the details you need, particularly the Kreis (county) it belonged to, found after "Kr".
 * MeyersGaz Help Guide
 * Abbreviation Table

Here is part of an entry from MeyersGaz.org. (The whole entry can be studied at Heusenstamm, MeyersGaz.)

Figure Out the Parish for Your Town
Your town might be too small to have its own parish church. Or it might have a Catholic church, but the Lutheran church is in a neighboring town. You might have to do a little reference work to determine where the church (and therefore the church records) was for your ancestors' town. Methods for doing this are described in:
 * Finding Aids for German Records.

Schleswig-Holstein
{| Modern Schleswig-Holstein State in Germany From these historic areas now in Schleswig-Holstein, click below on the related article for the region.
 * [[File:Kreise Schleswig-Holstein.svg.png]]
 * Screen Shot 2017-03-17 at 4.20.11 PM.png
 * style="vertical-align:top; width:40%; padding-right:50px"|
 * style="vertical-align:top; width:40%; padding-right:50px"|
 * Lübeck
 * Schleswig-Holstein
 * areas annexed from Hamburg in 1937-8
 * the city Geesthacht
 * the municipalities Großhansdorf and Schmalenbeck

Lost Areas
From the province of Schleswig-Holstein, these areas were annexed to Hamburg in 1937-8
 * The municipality of Altona
 * The district of Wandsbek
 * From the district of Stormarn the municipalities Bergstedt, Billstedt, Bramfeld, Duvenstedt, Hummelsbüttel, Lemsahl-Mellingstedt, Lohbrügge, Poppenbüttel, Rahlstedt, Sasel, Steilshoop and Wellingsbüttel
 * From the district Pinneberg the municipality Lokstedt with Niendorf and Schnelsen
 * From the administrative district Herzogtum Lauenburg the place Kurslack in the Achterschlag of the municipality Börnsen
 * (The northern part of Schleswig became part of Denmark.)
 * }
 * }

Areas Now in Denmark, By Kreis

 * Apenrade
 * Hadersleben
 * Sonderburg
 * Tondern

Research Tools

 * German Word List
 * Latin Word List
 * German Handwriting Tutorial