German Empire prior to 1918
Germany in 1990
Q1: What and where was Germany? A1: The answer depends on the time frame: If Germany is merely a geographic region, then this term is ageless. If you mean a political country with definite boundaries, then we have to divide recent German history for genealogical purposes into three periods: 1) pre-1806 2) 1806-1871 3) 1871-1918 and later. === 1) The Holy Roman Empire of German Nation, as the medieval Germany was called, had its capital in more recent periods in Wien (Vienna) and perceived itself as the successor of the Imperium Romanum of ancient Rome. Its link to Rome for a long time in the middle ages was the Pope who claimed for himself the right to crown and approve the Caesars (Kaisers). This resulted in a power struggle between Pope and Kaiser about who was lord of whom. The Kaiser perceived himself also as the head of "the" church who was to uphold and preserve the true doctrine and reserved for himself the right to approve the appointments of bishops (and of the pope). The last great struggle in Germany between Catholicism and the new wave of change was the 30-Years-War (1618-1648) which was a disaster for all Germany. For practical purposes, genealogy starts after 1648 due to the destruction of most records during this unfortunate war. By that time the title of Kaiser had been vested firmly in the Catholic Habsburg dynasty of Austria who was elected by the collegium of Kurfürsten (electors). In 1800 the electors (of the Kaiser) were the 3 archbishops of Köln (Cologne), Mainz and Trier and the 4 secular electors of Rhine-Pfalz, Brandenburg, Sachsen(Saxony), and Böhmen(Bohemia). The Kaiser was also German King and Elector of Böhmen. The boundaries of Germany as an empire were as follows: (I suggest that you consult the Encyclopedia Britanica historic maps for details) In the East -Austria including Bohemia,Moravia excluding Hungary,Galicia; Pommern,Schlesien,Brandenburg excluding the later East and West Prussia; In the South-Triest,Tirol, excluding Switzerland In the West-some areas in today's France,Belgium excluding the Netherlands. (The Western boudaries were constantly challenged by France) In the North- Holstein excluding Schleswig and Denmark. === 2) In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Europe and abolished the German empire and the title of Kaiser for Germany (capital:Wien or Vienna). The Kaiser in Wien-Vienna was demoted to Kaiser of Austria with no power in the rest of Germany. After Napoleon's final defeat, the Wiener Kongress (Congress of Vienna) in 1815 redrew the maps of Europe. The title of German Kaiser was not restored. Austria with Böhmen and Mähren remained outside the German states. The big loser was the Catholic church which had lost her wordly possessions and vast land holdings in the secularisation of 1803 (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss). The big land grab and exchange and reshuffle at that time involved many of these Catholic lands. The German kingdoms, grandduchies, duchies and various principalities were loosely united by various federations with no capital of Germany. Terms like German government or German army have no meaning for this time period until 1871. === 3) In 1871 Germany as an empire with a Kaiser was revived with Berlin as the capital of Germany and Prussia and with the Prussian king also having the title of German Kaiser. Austria remained excluded from Germany. The three Kaisers were: Wilhelm I (1871-1888) Friedrich III (99 days emperor of 1888, who died of cancer) Wilhelm II (1888-1918). All monarchies in Germany were abolished in 1918, Prussia was declared defunct in 1947 by the Allied victors. Democratic ideals which should have called for a referendum in the eastern areas of Germany after World War I before handing them over to the new Poland were even more violated after World War II: Eastern Germany was cleansed of its ethnic German population and given to Poland and Russia. The Western powers, especially the USA, promoted this ethnic cleansing of original Prussia and Eastern Germany resulting in 12 millions of German refugees. The only countries which notably agreed to a referendum after World War II was France who tried to claim the Saarland and Denmark who tried to claim more of Schleswig. Q2: What were the administrative areas of Germany in 1895? A2: In 1895 Germany consisted of the kingdoms of Preußen (Prussia)-see faq.preussen capital:Berlin Bayern (Bavaria) capital:München Sachsen (Saxony) -not the Prussian province capital:Dresden Württemberg capital:Stuttgart the grandduchies of Baden -see faq.baden capital:Karlsruhe Hessen -not the Prussian province capital:Darmstadt Mecklenburg-Schwerin capital:Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz capital:Neu-Strelitz Oldenburg capital:Oldenburg Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (in Thüringen *) capital:Weimar the duchies of Braunschweig (Brunswick) capital:Braunschweig Sachsen-Meiningen (in Thüringen *) capital:Meiningen Sachsen-Altenburg (in Thüringen *) capital:Altenburg Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (in Thüringen *) capital:Coburg Anhalt capital:Dessau the principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolfstadt (in Thüringen *) capital:Rudolfstadt Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen (in Thüringen *) capital:Sonderhausen Waldeck capital:Arolsen Reuß older lineage (in Thüringen *) capital:Greiz Reuß younger lineage (in Thüringen *) capital:Gera Schaumburg-Lippe capital:Bückeburg Lippe capital:Detmold the free Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg and the Reichsland of Elsaß-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine) capital:Straßburg NOTE: * Thüringen was a geographical, NOT a political region. In 1890 the population figures were for Germany: 49 millions, and Preußen: 31 millions, amounting to about 63% of the total German population. Q3: Where do I write for birth certificate for someone born in Germany? A3: If I ask you: where do I write for birth certificate for someone born in the USA in 1772 or 1840 or 1895, what would you answer? If all you know is Germany as a birth "place", nobody would be able to help you. Q4: How do I find locations and maps for Germany? A4: An atlas is usually not the best tool to locate small towns or villages. Maps of scales 1:25,000 (Messtischblatt) or 1:100,000 (Karte des Deutschen Reiches and Kreiskarten) and gazetteers (Ortsverzeichnis) are. The best German gazetteer is Meyers Orts- and Verkehrslexikon des Deutschen Reiches,1912 edition, which is available on microfiche in the LDS Family History Centers. It lists the places and the jurisdictions of the churches,and courts (A.G = Amtsgericht). The Family History Library has only a few court records. They are listed in the Locality Search of the catalog under: * GERMANY - COURT RECORDS * GERMANY, [STATE] - COURT RECORDS * GERMANY, [STATE], [TOWN] - COURT RECORDS There is LDS microfilm #068814 available of Karte des Deutschen Reiches, scale 1:100000, 1km = 1cm which may be loaned thru the LDS Family History Centers. It covers Germany for 1914-1917. Topographical Maps (Messtischblätter 1:25000) may also be purchased from Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie Richard-Strauss-Allee 1 60958 Frankfut am Main E-mail: mailbox@bkg.bund.de http://www.bkg.bund.de/BKG/Kontakte/Anschriften_bkg.htm http://www.bkg.bund.de/GI/Shop/index.html For maps for sale in the US see also http://www.genealogyunlimited.com http://www.ifag.de or from some regional institutes. One US source of maps is the American Geographical Society Collection of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Library P.O. Box 399 Milwaukee, WI 53201 Telephone: 414-229-6282 WATS: 800-558-8993 FAX: 414-229-3624 If you are not able to visit the library yourself, they will photocopy maps in their collection for a minimum fee. http://www.calle.com/world/germany/index.html Maps of 83342 towns and cities in Germany: http://www.augusta.de/~jb/Daten/index.html Q5: When were civil registers introduced in Germany? A5: Civil registers of births,marriages,deaths were introduced in 1876. The Civil registry office is called Standesamt. In some areas civil registers were introduced by the French before 1876: Baden, Elsass-Lothringen and Rheinland in 1792, Hessen and Hessen-Nassau in 1803, Westfalen in 1808, Hannover in 1809,Oldenburg in 1811. Anhalt introduced them in 1850, Prussia in October 1874, Bayern, Sachsen, Lippe,Mecklenburg,Württemberg and the Thüringen mini-states in 1876. Other genealogical sources are church records which list births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, burials. One source which is widely overlooked are court records at the Amtsgericht. Of special interest are the land deed records with no published survey known. Other court records are Erbrezesse, Erbvergleiche (probates), Pupillenakten (orphan records), last testaments and wills, Erbscheine. A remarriage of a widower/widow was always documented in the Amtsgericht stating in detail the estate rights of surviving children as well as rights and duties of parents and step parents. This is a source at the Amtsgericht which is widely unknown and untapped (and unfilmed by the LDS). If you are looking for records which describe the life and tribulations of your ancestors, you cannot miss looking at the court records. See Georg K.Schweitzer:German Genealogical Research, 1992 p.154-156: Andere Gerichtsakten. Q6: Where can I get more information on Germany? A6: Do not overlook the obvious place to do your homework: A general encyclopedia in your local library. The Encyclopedia Britannica may just do fine for general questions and maps. Try some of the web sites like http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/regio-d.htm http://www.adnc.com/web3/lynnd/gfaq.html http://www.CyndisList.com/germany.htm http://home.t-online.de/home/thomas.scharnowski/germanzp.gif http://www.jura.uni-sb.de/laenderberichte/ http://www.bawue.de/~hanacek/info/edatbase.htm http://www.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/german/mformger.html For diseases in church books: http://home.t-online.de/home/naujocks/krank.htm For keyword searches in soc.genealogy.german: http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/searches/ For German postal codes and locations consult: http://plz.postconsult.de/Suche/DPLZzuO.HTM http://www.orte.de/orte/index.htm http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/plz/plzrequest.uk.html http://www.nads.de/WWW/PLZ.html For listing of Archives, Nobility Archives, and Special Archives try: http://www.bawue.de/~hanacek/ http://www.uni-marburg.de/archivschule/deuarch1.html http://www.fh-potsdam.de/%7EABD/links/deutsc.htm http://www.archivnet.de/nogr/nogrlinks.htm http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~german/research/archives.html http://www.bawue.de/~hanacek/info/earchive.htm Bundesarchiv: http://www.bundesarchiv.de/bestaende/index.html For search of missing persons after WWII, contact: DRK-Suchdienst Chiemgaustr. 109 81549 Muenchen Telefon: 089 6807730 Fax: 089 68074592 Internet: http://www.rotkreuz.de/suchdienst/ email: DRK-Suchdienst-Muenchen@t-online.de Zentralstelle der Heimatortskarteien, Kirchlicher Suchdienst, Lessingstr. 3, D - 80336 Muenchen The best web search engine for German genealogy is: http://google.stanford.edu/ If you have no access to the Web (www), you can direct web files to your email box by sending a request to www4mail@unganisha.idrc.ca OR www4mail@web.bellanet.org with the message HELP or get http://..... Consult also Germanic Genealogy (by Edward R.Brandt et alii), 2nd edition. 1997, St.Paul MN, 517 pp.,1st edition, 1995. published by Germanic Genealogy Society, PO Box 16312 Saint Paul, Minnesota 55116-0312 http://www.mtn.org/mgs/german/ If you are looking for a certain family names in Germany, consult the International Genealogical Index (IGI) for Germany at your local LDS Family History Center. This will give you some idea of the past geographical distribution of family names in Germany. A good way to ask fellow researchers for information is to subscribe to (free) electronic mailing lists which specialize in certain German regions. Send the message LISTS (in the body) to majordomo@retsys.eics.com or to majordomo@genealogy.net and you will get a listing of what is available. For mailing lists see also: http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/europe/index.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~maillist/europe/index.html#germany Q7: Are there emigration records available? A7: The state archives have many emigration records which were filmed by the LDS FHL. For details see: Learned, Marion Dexter, 1857-1917: Guide to the manuscript materials relating to American history in the German state archives, Washington, D.C., Carnegie Institution of Washington. Publication no. 150 , 1912, 352 p.: -also Kraus reprints NY 1965- (there are a number of updates in two volumes done by the LOC Manuscript Division,call no.L173.L4 Suppl. 1929-1932). Most of the material listed by Marion D.Learned relates to Prussian and Bavarian archives. I am listing the archives which M.Learned tried to evaluate as to emigration records: PRUSSIA: Berlin Breslau Danzig Düsseldorf Hannover Koblenz Königsberg Magdeburg Münster Osnabrück Posen Schleswig Sigmaringen Stettin Wetzlar Wiesbaden BAVARIA München-Munich Amberg Bamberg Landshut Neuburg Nürnberg Speyer Würzburg ALSACE-LORRAINE Colmar Metz Strassburg ANHALT-ZERBST Ducal House and State Archives BADEN Karlsruhe BREMEN State Archives BRAUNSCHWEIG Wolfenbüttel HAMBURG State Archives Hauptmeldeamt der Polizei HESSEN-DARMSTADT House and State Archives LIPPE-DETMOLD House and State Archives LÜBECK State Archives MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN Privy and Central Archives MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ Central Archives OLDENBURG House and Central Archives REUß-GREITZ (Elder Line) State Archives REUß-GERA (Younger Line) State Archives SACHSEN-ALTENBURG Ducal Archives SACHSEN-COBURG-GOTHA House and State Archives SACHSEN-MEININGEN State Archives SACHSEN-WEIMAR-EISENACH State Archives SACHSEN Central State Archives in Dresden SCHAUMBURG-LIPPE Ministerial Archives in Bückeburg SCHWARZBURG-RUDOLFSTADT Archives of the Principality SCHWARZBURG-SONDERHAUSEN Archives of the Principality WALDECK Archives in Arolsen WÜRTTEMBERG Archives in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg CITY AND LOCAL ARCHIVES Köln-Cologne Frankfurt am Main Herrnhut Karlsruhe Mannheim Neuwied The 19th century saw three periods of emigration from Germany: 1852-1854 caused by the gold rushes, famines in Europe (100,000 annually); 1865-1873 caused by the post-wars of 1866 and 1870-1871 (100,000 annually) 1880-1881 caused by a depression with 220,000 German emigrants via the ports of Antwerp,Rotterdam and LeHavre. 1880-1884 saw figures of 160,000 German emigrants annually. 1886 saw a minimum of 83,000 emigrants. The cholera outbreak of 1892 reduced the numbers slightly. Here are some figures of emigrants from Germany via German,Belgian, Dutch, and French ports: Year to USA to Brazil to Canada ----------------------------------------------------------- 1885 102,224 1,713 692 1886 75,591 2,045 330 1887 95,976 1,152 270 1888 84,424 2,412 88 1890 85,112 4,096 307 1891 108,611 3,710 976 1892 107,803 779 1,577 During the same period the breakdown according to ports were French ports (mostly LeHavre): 32,491 Bremen: 417,438 Hamburg: 216,622 Antwerp: 118,016 other German ports, (mostly Stettin): 13,880 (1,735) The South German areas had more emigrants of trained tradesmen than Prussia and notably Mecklenburg. The number of non-German migrants, notably from Russia and Austria-Hungary, via German ports is considerable: 1891: Germans non-Germans Bremen 59,673 80,148 Hamburg 31,581 112,658 Stettin 1,891 3,271 total 93,145 196,080 1892: Bremen 59,897 69,521 Hamburg 28,072 80,676 Stettin 2,214 1,215 total 90,183 151,412 (Ref.:Meyers Konversations=Lexikon, 5th ed.,vol.4,Leipzig-Wien 1897, pages 856,867-868) Prior to the 1830's, most German immigrants went to LeHavre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, or Amsterdam as embarkation points. However, this changed in the 1830's when the senates of the strategically located port cities of Bremen (1832) and Hamburg (1836) passed laws organizing the "emigrant trade," making the trip quicker and safer and generating a profit at the same time. Consequently, these two ports dominated emigration traffic for the subsequent era of mass emigration after the 1830's. Other suggested records for research in Germany are: applications for release of citizenship and the actual releases from citizenship, various kinds of passports, applications for consens (permission) to emigrate, police permits, settlement of estate and tax matters including expropriation of property for debt payment and lists of debts that emigrants had incurred, records of emigrant property was sold at auction, and payment of departure taxes (up to 10% of property in Prussia). Also records of expulsion and the church records (Kirchenbuecher). Records of minor children who were transported at public expense. And many newspapers at the time also printed extensive passenger lists as well as samples of immigrant correspondence and search notices for relatives who had immigrated earlier and had since been lost. For later years emigrant numbers and destinations from Germany are: Jahr Europe America Africa Asia Australia Jahr 1900 1388 20541 183 1 196 Jahr 1901 1199 20596 55 6 217 Jahr 1902 1183 30564 114 2 235 Jahr 1903 857 35074 226 --- 153 Jahr 1904 719 27088 78 2 97 Jahr 1905 672 27262 57 --- 84 Jahr 1906 310 30645 33 --- 86 Jahr 1907 153 31343 37 --- 163 Jahr 1908 157 19517 33 1 175 Jahr 1909 164 24553 26 --- 178 Jahr 1910 77 25310 16 --- 128 Jahr 1911 98 22328 18 --- 246 Jahr 1912 90 18129 4 --- 322 Jahr 1913 68 25384 32 --- 359 See also: http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/immigration/immigrat.html http://www.hamburg.de/LinkToYourRoots/welcome.htm http://www.germanmigration.com http://www.ancestry.com http://iigs.rootsweb.com/immships/index.html http://istg.rootsweb.com/index2.html http://www.genealogy.net/gene/www/emig/emigr.html Q8: How can I find information on ships and immigrants? A8: Lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports have been maintained by the Federal government since 1820. U.S. Passenger Arrival Lists generally provide the name, age, and country of origin for each arriving person. Relatively few U.S. lists prior to 1890 show the town or city of origin; later lists provide the specific place of last residence and/or birthplace, and much more. Passenger lists are arranged by port, and then chronologically by date of arrival. The National Archives in Washington (see Q#8 above) has custody of these lists, which have been microfilmed. Indexes to most ports were prepared by the WPA, but they are not complete. The following chart shows the five major U.S. ports of entry on the Atlantic coast: Port Passengers Lists Indexes New York 24.0 M 1820-1957 1820-1846, 1897-1948 Boston 2.0 M 1820-1943 1848-1891, 1902-1920 Baltimore 1.5 M 1820-1948 1820-1952 Philadelphia 1.2 M 1800-1945 1800-1948 New Orleans 0.7 M 1820-1945 1853-1952 The second column shows the number of passengers, in millions, that arrived at each port between 1820 and 1920. There are also lists for several minor ports, as well as the Canadian border. British passenger ship records for transatlantic departures only, and only beginning about 1895, are in the Public Record Office in Kew. They are on paper, in boxes organized by port of departure, and (roughly) by date of departure. They have not been microfilmed. The only way to see them is to go there, or to send someone there to make photocopies. The lists themselves contain less information than the equivalent US arrival lists. http://www.pro.gov.uk THESHIPSLIST-L -- is a mailing list for anyone interested in the ships our ancestors migrated on. Subjects include emigration/immigration, ports of entry, ports of departure, ship descriptions and history, passenger lists and other related information. To help with your questions, there are many regular members of the list, with a wide range of expertise and resources, who are ready and willing to assist and guide you on your search. For a free subscription, send message subscribe to theshipslist-l-request@rootsweb.com There is a mailing list: emigration-ships@listserv.northwest.com _theshipslist-l_ THESHIPSLIST-L -- A mailing list for anyone interested in the ships our ancestors migrated on. Subjects include emigration/immigration, ports of entry, ports of departure, ship descriptions and history, passenger lists and other related information. To help with your questions, there are many regular members of the list, with a wide range of expertise and resources, who are ready and willing to assist and guide you on your search. theshipslist-l to theshipslist-l-request@rootsweb.com http://www.fortunecity.com/littleitaly/amalfi/13/ships.html http://www.cimorelli.com/pie/emigrate/emigmenu.htm http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow/ships.htm http://www.CyndisList.com/ships.htm See also TITLE(s): Germans to America : lists of passengers arriving at U.S. ports / edited by Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby. Wilmington, Del. : Scholarly Resources, c1988- v. : ill. ; 24 cm. Vols. 1-9 include dates "1850-1855" in subtitle. Includes bibliographies and indexes. ISBN: 0842023151 (vol. 1) The series contains abstracts from passenger arrival lists for the five major U.S. ports of arrival: Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. It does not include arrival records for any Canadian ports, although it may contain the names of some Germans who entered through one of the U.S. ports covered, and who later settled in Canada. Partial cont.: v. 1. January 1850-May 1851 -- v. 2. May 1851-June 1852 -- v. 3. June 1852-September 1852 -- v. 4. September 1852-May 1853 -- v. 5. May 1853-October 1853 -- v. 6. October 1853-May 1854 -- v. 7. May 1854-August 1854 -- v. 8. August 1854-December 1854 -- v. 9. December 1854-December 1855 -- v. 10. January 1856-April 1857 - - v. 11. April 1857-November 1857 -- v. 12. November 1857-July 1859 -- v. 13. August 1859-December 1860 -- v. 14. January 1861- May 1863 -- v. 15. June 1863-October 1864 -- v. 16. November 1864-November 1865 -- v. 17. Nov. 1865-June 1866 -- v. 18. June 1866-Dec. 1866 -- v. 19. Jan. 1867-Aug 1867 -- v. 20. Aug. 1867-May 1868 -- v. 21. May 1868-Sept. 1868 -- v. 22. Oct. 1868-May 1869 -- v. 23. June 1869- December 1869 -- v. 24. January 1870-December 1870 -- v. 25. January 1871-September 1871 -- v. 26. October 1871-April 1872 -- v. 27. May 1872-July 1872 -- v. 28. August 1872-December 1872 -- v. 29. January 1873-May 1873 -- v. 30. June 1873-November 1873 -- v. 31. December 1873- December 1874 -- v. 32. January 1875-Septe er 1876 -- v. 33. October 1876-September 1878 -- v. 34. October 1878-December 1879 -- v. 35. January 1880-June 1880 -- v. 36. July 1880-November 1880 -- v. 37. December 1880-April 1881 -- v. 38. April 1881-May 1881 -- v. 39. June 1881-Aug. 1881 -- v. 40. Aug. 1881-Oct. 1881 - - v. 41. November 1881-March 1882 -- v. 42. March 1882-May 1882. v. 43. May 1882-August 1882 -- v. 44. August 1882-November 1882 -- v. 45. November 1882-April 1883 -- v. 46. April 1883-June 1883 -- v. 47. July 1883-October 1883 -- v. 48. November 1883-April 1884 -- v. 49. April 1884-June 1884 -- v. 50. July 1884-November 1884 -- v. 51. December 1884-June 1885 -- v. 52. July 1885-April 1886 -- v. 53. May 1886-January 1887 -- v. 54. January 1887-June 1887 -- v. 55. July 1887-April 1888 -- v. 56. May 1888-November 1888 -- v. 57. December 1888-June 1889 -- v. 58. July 1889-April 1890 -- v. 59 May 1890 - November 1890.(ISBN 0-8420-2667-3). v. 60 December 1890- May 1891 -- v. 61 June 1891 - October 1891 -- v. 62 November 1891 - May 1892 -- v. 63 June 1892 - December 1892 -- v. 64 January 1893 - July 1893 -- v. 65 August 1893 - June 1894 -- v. 66 July 1894 - October 1895 -- v. 67 November 1895 - June 1897 -- http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/gtoa.html (to be continued) SUBJECT(s): German Americans Genealogy. Ships United States Passenger lists. Immigrants United States Registers. United States Emigration and immigration. Germany Emigration and immigration. OTHER ENTRIES: Glazier, Ira A. Filby, P. William, 1911- Call #: 929.273 G3735 For US list of holding libraries of the "Germans to America " series see http://www.genealogy.net/gene/www/emig/gta-holdings.html ----------------------- Walker, Mack.: Germany and the emigration, 1816-1885. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1964. 284 p. 21 cm. Harvard historical monographs, 56 Bibliography: p. [253]-275. OTHER ENTRIES: Germany--Emigration and immigration. Harvard historical monographs, v. 56. CALL #: JV8014.W25 1964 ISTG