Brandenburg, Germany Genealogy

Europe Germany  Brandenburg (Brandenburg)

Guide to Brandenburg (Brandenburg), Germany ancestry, family history, and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Welcome to the Brandenburg (Brandenburg) page! FamilySearch Wiki is a community website dedicated to helping people throughout the world learn how to find their ancestors. Through this page you can learn how to find, use, and analyze records of genealogical value. The content is variously targeted to beginners, intermediate, and expert researchers. This is a work in progress, your contributions and feedback are essential!

Brandenburg

The capital, Potsdam,

Getting started in Brandenburg research
Before starting your research in Brandenburg, you need to know the name of your ancestor in its original or Germanic form, an approximate date when he or she was born, and the village or parish where he or she may have lived in Brandenburg.

Civil registration began in Brandenburg in xxxx. If your research in Brandenburg begins after xxxx, then you should begin with the records kept by the local authorities of your ancestor's residence. If your research begins before xxxx, you should begin with the parish registers for baptisms, marriages and burials kept in the church archives.

Once you have this information, you can search in the local archives for more information about your ancestor.

Jurisdictions and Records
Villages and families from Brandenburg historically have experienced many jurisdictional changes. In searching for a place in Brandenburg the researcher may have to consider localities outside of Brandenburg, since affiliation to county, church, administration etc. was placed with Pomerania, Saxony, Silesia, Bohemia-Czech territories, Poland, Sachsen-Anhalt or Mecklenburg. If archival materials cannot be located, these references should be kept in mind.

See also: FamilySearch Catalog: Historisches Ortsverzeichnis für Brandenburg or Historisches Ortslexikon für die Niederlausitz, call number 943.15 E3Lr

Familienforschung in Mitteldeutschland call number 943.B2mf, Jahrgang 47 Heft 2, Apr/Jun 2006, "Brandenburgs wechselnde Grenzen als Forschungshindernis"

Administrative Districts
Brandenburg is divided into 14 rural districts (Kreise), and 23 four districts (Kreisfreie Städte).

Rural Districts (Kreise):

Barnim, Dahme-Spreewald, Elbe-Elster, Havelland, Märkisch-Oderland, Oberhavel, Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Oder-Spree, Ostprignitz-Ruppin, Potsdam-Mittelmark, Prignitz, Spree-Neiße, Teltow-Fläming, Uckermark

Urban Districts (Kreisfreie Städte):

Stadt Brandenburg an der Havel, Stadt Cottbus, Stadt Frankfurt, Stadt Potsdam

Research Tools

 * German Word List
 * Latin Word List
 * Handwriting
 * Handwriting Guide
 * German Handwriting Tutorial
 * http://www.kurrentschrift.net/index.php5?s=schreiben (enter German genealogical word, click on "umwandeln", view your word in Kurrentschrift (Gothic handwriting)
 * German Chronological Jurisdictions
 * Websites
 * Online Church book duplicates for Brandenburg parishes
 * Address Books for Berlin 1799-1934
 * Website for Neumark Ostbrandenburg
 * Site for Brandenburg research mail server
 * Research Strategies for Brandenburg
 * Site for Brandenburg research mail server
 * Research Strategies for Brandenburg