East Prussia (Ostpreußen) Gazetteers

For a more comprehensive understanding of gazetteers, study the article Germany Gazetteers.

Gazetteer of East and West Prussia
Column 1. Town or village

Column 2. East (O) or West (W) Prussia

Column 3. Lutheran Parish

Column 4. Catholic Parish

Column 5. Civil Registration office

The files below are the alphabetically arranged towns and villages found in the gazetteer.

[[Media:A-B.pdf|Towns A-B]] [[Media:C-E.pdf|Towns C-E]] [[Media:F-G.pdf|Towns F-G]] [[Media:H-J.pdf|Towns H-J]] [[Media:K.pdf|Towns K]] [[Media:L-M.pdf|Towns L-M]] [[Media:N-0.pdf|Towns N-O]] [[Media:P-R.pdf|Towns P-R]] [[Media:S-T.pdf|Towns S-T]] [[Media:U-Z.pdf|Towns U-Z]]

The Gemeindelexikon für das Königreich Preussen is now also available online at Ancestry.com. You can find it by clicking on the Search Tab and choosing the Card Catalog option. Type in the title/or part of the title, and it will appear on the right sidebar. Choose the volume for the area of interest.

You can also locate Lutheran and Catholic parishes as well as civil registration offices in Ostpreussen by using the Gemeindelexikon Ostpreussen on film FHL call number 943 E5kp or FHL film number 1187921 Item 2.

Here is a diagram showing the column headings in the German and their English translations:



Germany Nationwide Gazetteers
The Family History Library uses one gazetteer as the standard guide for listing German places in the catalog. Regardless of the various jurisdictions a place may have been under at different times, all German places are listed by the jurisdictions used in the following reference:

Uetrecht, E. Meyer  s Orts- und Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs(Meyers Place- and Traffic directory of the German Empire). Fifth Edition. Leipzig, Germany: Bibliographisches Institute, 1912-3. (FHL book Ref 943 E5mo; films 496,640-1; fiche 6,000,001-29.)

Meyer's gazetteer (often referred to as Meyers Orts) lists the names of places as they existed in Germany from 1871 to 1912. It gives the name of the state or province where each town was located at that time. The gazetteer is written in Gothic print, which can be hard to read.

Meyer's gazetteer is available in digital form.