Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany Genealogy

Geography and History


Oberammergau, or Upper Ammer Vale, is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in Upper Bavaria (Oberbayern), Germany. The small town on the Ammer River is known for its woodcarvers and woodcarvings, for its NATO School, and across the world for its 380-year tradition of mounting Passion Plays. The town has a total area of 30.06 km2 (11.61 sq mi) and is at an elevation of 837 m (2,746 ft).


 * The Conrad von Hötzendorf Kaserne was built just east of the village in 1935–37 as a base for the signals detachment (Gebirgs-Nachrichten-Abteilung 54) of the Mountain Brigade.
 * In October 1943, the barracks were taken over by the Messerschmitt company as a research and development site; 37 km (23 mi) of tunnels were bored into the neighboring Laber mountain for engine production facilities, and a winter sports hotel was also taken over. In all, Messerschmitt had 500 employees in the design department and about 1,300 more in the factory.
 * At the end of the Second World War, the Messerschmitt design department was visited by both U.S. and British scientific missions, as well as by teams from Bell (who stayed for five weeks) and de Havilland. Among the German staff interviewed by the Fedden Mission were Waldemar Voigt, Messerschmitt's chief designer, Hans Hornung, and Joseph Helmschrott.
 * After the war, the Americans occupied the barracks, renaming it Hawkins Barracks and making it the primary facility of U.S. Army School Europe;over the next three decades schools in specialties ranging from military police to nuclear weapons handling were located there. The base reverted to German Army control and its original name in 1974. See Wikipedia/Oberammergau

Online Records

 * WWI Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918 on Ancestry.com has information on Oberammergau Ancestry.com and there is also quite a bit on soldiers from Garmisch, Partenkirchen District which might be worth checking.
 * Find A Grave has information on 2 cemeteries that serve Oberammergau.
 * This is a link to the FamilySearch Catalog which lists what information is on microfilm for this town. It might be available at a Family History Center, but there are plans to digitize everything eventually.
 * Various records can be found through the Meta-search tool on the website of the German Society for Computer Genealogy.

Civil Registration
Standesamt and Rathaus Schnitzlergasse 5 82487 Oberammergau Germany email: info@gemeinde-oberammergua.de Webseite: Oberammergau

Civil records in most of Bavaria only go back to the late 1800's. This is a great place to start, but to find family records before that time it is necessary to use church records.

Pfarramt St. Peter und Paul
Herkulan-Schwaiger-Gasse 5 82487 Oberammergau Germany

Oberammergau is in the Munich and Freising Diocese. The archdiocese is divided into forty deaneries with 758 parishes. Its suffragan bishops are the Bishop of Augsburg, the Bishop of Passau, and the Bishop of Regensburg.

Munich And Freising Diocese
Archiv Karmeliterstr. 1 80333 München Germany Telefon: 089 2137-1346 Fax: 089 2137-1702 E-Mail: archiv@eomuc.de

Oberammergau parish records are still kept at the local level, rather than in an archive, as in the larger Bavarian cities. It still may be helpful to contact the archive with any questions you have about the records of this parish.

Lutheran Church Records
Bavaria was and is predominantly Catholic. If your ancestors lived in Oberammergau, there is a chance they affiliated with the Catholic Church. However, if you do not find them in the Catholic records, you should search the Lutheran records. Partenkirchen
 * According to Meyer's Gazetteer, the closest Lutheran church in 1871 was in Partenkirchen, 7 miles from Oberammergau. Today this area is still served by the parish in

Cemeteries
If you want to find information on your ancestors in a cemetery, keep in mind that in most Bavarian cemeteries the grave plots are re-used as often as every 25 years. (sometimes 50 -100 years). There is an old cemetery around the Catholic Church.

Friedhofskapelle Malensteinweg 22 82487 Oberammergau Germany

There is also a newer cemetery within walking distance of the church. Aussegnungshalle CemeteryTiroler G. 3A 82487 Oberammergau Germany

Nearby Cemeteries