Guide to East and West Prussia research
tells all you ever wanted to know and then some
By Horst A. Reschke
(in the fall issue of the German Genealogical Digest,2002)
If your family history ties are in East and (or) West Prussia, and
you weren't quite sure how or where to start., cheer up. More help than
you ever thought possible is on the way. Dr. Edward R. Brandt, well-known
author and genealogist, teamed up with Dr. Adalbert Goertz, the most
prolific writer on the subject of East German, as well as Mennonite
family history, to assemble under one cover an astounding reference work.
Titled "Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia," and subtitled
"Records, Sources, Publications & Events," the compilation is comprised
of 424 pages. of text, including an eight-page table of contents, 17
appendices [totaling 115 pages], 31 maps and a 24-page index.
The original plan had been to expand a three-part magazine article
into a 70-page book. When all was said and done, the modest and do-able
project had mushroomed into nearly ten times the original volume.
For one whose family roots were in West Prussian soil for nearly 300
years, prior to being cast out at the end of World War II, and who had
fancied himself a fairly good judge of what one must know and do to
conduct West Prussian genealogical research, this writer stands in awe at
the sheer magnitude of information listed as being available and
described and identified in detail in this research guide.
When looking at this much information, one might ask, how would I
have organized and structured the raw material to permit use to best
advantage? Viewing the various sections, subsections, chapters,
paragraphs and points, one would be inclined to start with the
time-honored parish registers, followed by the non-ecclesiastical
documents, the vital records, the court and land records and so on, from
the easiest to use to the most complex.
But the authors and compilers, of course, have the latitude to
arrange the contents of the book according to their own best judgment,
thus this book begins with a sweeping overview of genealogical sources
worldwide, gradually reduced to ever smaller denominations: North
America, Germany and its various sub-groups etc.
It is clear that a certain amount of redundancy, such as a recurrent
theme or a previously-treated topic could not always be avoided. Careful
editing and the willingness not to insist on every golden word appearing
in print, will spell "improvement."
A detailed description of the entire book would exceed the purpose of
this review. Suffice it to say it contains by far more reference
material, details regarding migration and emigration, printed and obscure
sources, military records, historical accounts, as well as aids, such as
gazetteers, atlases and maps than this writer has ever seen assembled in
one place for one particular genealogical topic.
Not to overlook the 17 appendices. They contain enough information
to be a separate, freestanding reference work. Those numbered from 1
through 9 were compiled by Adalbert Goertz. They include (in Appendix 4.)
a five-page bibliography of Dr. Goertz's genealogical publications, in
both English and German-language publications. In the opinion of this
writer they place him among the finest writers and scholars Germanic and
Mennonite genealogical research has ever been blessed to call its own.
(They even absolve him of blame for an occasional acerbic or irritated
remark he is wont to shoot in the direction of some hapless mailing list
participant, whose question seemed too basic or too naive).
If anyone wants to characterize "great detail" as "overkill" that
perception is in the eyes of the beholder. Most beginning, as well as
seasoned family history researchers will regard it as an advantage to
have such a splendid tool so close by, rather than having to look in
diverse places or, what is worse, suffering the ignominy of remaining in
ignorance of the existence of such materials or aids.
Although a book of this genre would normally be considered a
"reference work," i.e. with a permanent slot on an easy-to-access book
shelf, taken down infrequently, when a pressing question arises, this
particular volume could just as well be read like a novel, from cover to
cover. It contains enough breathtaking information to hold a reader with
East or West Prussian genealogy spellbound for hours. But that is the
(unbiased?) opinion of one to whom this topic will forever remain dear.
Review by Duncan Gardiner:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia (Ost- und Westpreussen):
Records, Sources, Publications & Events. By Edward R. Brandt, Ph.D. and
Adalbert Goertz, Ph.D. Published by Edward R. Brandt, 13-27th Ave. S.E.,
Minneapolis, MN 55414-3101; 2002.
ISBN 0-9717312-0-9. ca 355 pp. + Appendices, maps (31 pp.) ,
index (24 pp.). Softback. $49.95 (shipping: $4.25 in USA).
Extraordinarily rich in detail, this book deals with information sources
relevant to what is now northern Poland from the Lithuanian border to a
point west of the city of Gdansk. As the book title hints, the emphasis is
on sources about the former German population, but the authors also
describe genealogical sources for Jewish, Catholic, Mennonite, Baptist,
and other religious groups in addition to Polish and other national groups.
For the reader unfamiliar with the geography and history of the area,
Part IX, "Historical Dateline," provides a 37-page outline of the two
Prussias beginning with the foundation of the Kingdom of Poland in 992,
continuing with the early German settlements and arrival of the Teutonic
Knights in the thirteenth century, to the 1800s when German speakers
constituted up to 70% of West Prussia's population, and concluding with
the 1990s. This section also contains such key pieces of information as
the fact that about 1,200,000 people, including many Germans, emigrated
from the two Prussias between 1840 and 1910. Many of these ended their
peregrinations in the United States. The 24-page map appendix makes clear
which areas of today's Poland were formerly German East and West Prussia
and which areas of North America received groups of these pilgrims. In
1944-1945, much of the German population fled from this area to Germany
before the advancing Soviet Army, some taking with them valuable
information sources such as parish registers.
Research sources are thus scattered and this book's great value is its
very comprehensive listing of relevant repositories, their addresses, and
descriptions of their collections. Separate chapters deal with
institutions (church and governmental archives and the like); registers of
vital events (both civil and religious); tax, court and migration records;
compiled and abstracted genealogies and indexes; migrations of various
religious and national groups; other sources (such as great estate records,
lists of professional, fraternal, governmental and other organizations);
historical, cartographic and surname sources.
This guide has 17 appendices treating, among other subjects, the Family
History Library collection (names of Prussian communities represented in
the collection); emigration records; school records, and bibliographies of
articles in 4 important German genealogical publications (Ostdeutsche
Familienkunde, Altpreussische Familienkunde-Familienarchiv, Archiv
ostdeutscher Familienforscher, Verein fuer Familienforschung Ost- und
Westpreussen); German, Polish, Lithuanian, Russian names of selected
localities; the Scots and English in East and West Prussia.
Because of changing borders, large-scale population migrations, and the
postwar change from German to Polish administration, East and West Prussia
is one of the most complicated regions of Europe in which to conduct
genealogical research. Brandt and Goertz, both authors of numerous
publications on Germanic genealogy and leading American experts in the
field, have produced the definitive, comprehensive guide to sources in
this very difficult area of ancestry research.
---
Duncan Gardiner, PhD, Certified Genealogist, Accredited Genealogist
Lakewood, Ohio (duncan@en.com)
Specializing in Czech, Slovak, and German Ancestries
http://feefhs.org/pg/dg/gardiner.html
Review by Margaret Brughera
Genealogical Society of Victoria (Australia)
BOOK REVIEW - October 1 2002
Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia (Ost- und Westpreussen):
Records, Sources, Publications and Events, by Edward R. Brandt, and
Adalbert Goertz; published in Minneapolis, MN, USA, c2002. There are 409
pages including appendices.
The author now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but grew up in Manitoba,
Canada, and studied political science and international affairs at the
University of Minnesota, and George Washington University. A co-founder of
the Germanic Genealogy Society and the Polish Genealogical Society of
Minnesota, Brandt is a genealogical consultant and deciphers and translates
old Gothic German handwriting. He admits to having a good reading knowledge
of the German language. He has also lectured in many universities and
colleges, mostly in the U.S.A.
Edward Brandt has produced six other books, the titles of which show the
depth of his genealogical interests, namely: Germanic Genealogy -
Resources for Polish-American and Polish-Canadian Genealogical Research -
Contents and addresses of Hungarian Archives with some German Sources -
Where to Look for Hard-to find German-speaking Ancestors in Eastern Europe -
A Lecture Series on Researching German Ancestors - and, Where Once They
Toiled: a visit to the former Mennonite Homelands in the Vistula River Valley.
This book on East and West Prussian genealogy is presented in 13 parts, and
is a large one. The many ethnic groups which are identified, are linked with
their specific places of origin, whether in East or West Prussia, or other
parts of Europe, be it Germany or Russia or North America. A large
selection of published sources are noted throughout the book.
The narrative has a rambling style, but its scope is comprehensive. The
apparent complexity of the text is caused by the nature of the subject
matter. The author is concerned with examining the many vicissitudes, which
have occurred in the lives of East and West Prussians due to historical
changes and turmoil. One example could be when Germans migrated to Russia,
after 1890, they had to study Russian, but continued to speak German among themselves
Brandt has made a lifetime pursuit of unravelling the history of the many
ethnic groups he has traced in East and West Prussia. He has taken great
pains to explain historical, geographical, ethnic and religious changes.
It would appear that almost every possible ethnic group in Prussia could be
documented here.
In addition, Brandt has corresponded with other experts in the field, and
exchanged information with them, one of whom is Adalbert Goertz, the co-author.
There is a detailed List of Contents, which helps the searcher to find
desired information. This and a system of Indexes help to unlock the mine of
information contained in the book. The main Index of 24 pages includes
Surnames, Place Names, and Ethnic and Religious groups. Subsidiary indexes
are the Index of Addresses, and the Index of Surnames found in Appendices 7
nand 8, taken from Lineages.
The Introduction contains helpful notes on Variations in Spelling and
Terminology, notes on Sources, and a commentary listing specialist
publications in English and German.
The following list of headings for each of the 13 parts of the text and the
17 appendices will give an indication of the large volume of information
included in this publication:
PART I (24 pages) List of Repositories or Archives
PART II (26 pages) Parish, Jewish and Civil Registers (includes
Hospital & Military registers and Cemeteries)
PART III (31 pages) Land Tax, Court and Migration Records
PART IV (8 pages) Lineage Books, Card Collections and Indexes
PART V (29 pages) Religious Refugees and Non-Germanic Natives or
Settlers (i.e. Jews, Protestant refugees - Anabaptists, Mennonites,
Dutch/Flemish Lutherans, Moravian-Swiss, Schwenkfelders, Czech Brethren,
Waldensians, Huguenots, Salzburgers, Unitarians, or Polish Brethren, and
Russian Old Believers
NOTE: Non-Germanic Settlers include (Balto-Prussians, Lithuanians, Cours
(Latvians), Poles, Mazurians, Kashubes & East Slavs, Scots & English, Swedes)
PART VI (37 pages) Other = Residents of Members of particular groups,
e.g. Lists of peasants (Census-type returns or lists, Teutonic Order
records, biographies, military records, victims of wars, government & church
records, records of private organizations, etc such as guilds. In addition,
sources of reviews of bibliographies of genealogical literature
PART VII (26 pages) Histories, Gazetteers and Surname origins
PART VIII (7 pages) Differences in Regional Names, Changing (geographical)
Boundaries, Genealogical regions (=autonomous ethnic regions e.g. in the
south of East Prussia, Salzburger refugees settled in the listed areas)
PART IX (37 pages) Historic Dateline (from Middle Ages to post-World War II
period, 992 to 1950s)
PART X (15 pages) Frequently asked questions about East and West Prussia
(with detailed specific answers by Adalbert Goertz, co-author)
PART XI (114 pages) Appendices 1 - 17 See List below
PART XII (31 pages) Maps (24 maps)
PART XIII (24 pages) Indexes
APPENDICES
East Prussian localities for which the LDS Family History Library (Salt Lake
City, UT) has films
West Prussian localities for which the LDS Family History Library (Salt Lake
City, UT) has films
Emigration records from West Prussia
Genealogical publications of Adalbert Goertz
Secondary School Anniversary publications from the German Genealogy Society
Collection at Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota
7) 8) 9) Lists of Articles and other publications on East & West Prussia
10) Selected articles on metrical (parish) and civil registers
11) Scots and English in East and West Prussia
12) The Vistula-Nogat Delta Lowlands
13) Publications by Marianne Stanke, ed. By Ed Brandt
14) Polish Language & German-Polish publications
15) Former German & current Polish, Lithuanian or Russian names for
selected localities
16) The Kashubes in West Prussia and overseas
English language publications for special groups in East and West
Prussia, viz. Russian Mennonites, Volhynian and other Black Sea Germans
Margaret Brughera
International Settlers Group
Genealogical Society of Victoria (Australia)
http://www.gsv.org.au/isg.htm
adalbert's Guestbook
Info: 155 entries on 16 page(s) 7 Current page: 1
9981 hits since 2000-05-04 04:26:49
155 Date: 2002-12-08 17:14:40
Karl-Heinz Becker ( khbecker@farmerstel.com / no homepage) wrote:
GREAT WEBSITE, ADALBERT !!!
Meine Mutter kam aus Ostpreussen und mein Vater aus Pommern. Ich
selbst bin gebuertiger Hamburger und 1951 nach Amerika ausgewandert.
I use your excellent "Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia"
quite often. Great reference !
TSCHUESS, and thanks for the memory !!
KARL-HEINZ BECKER
(American by choice, born in Germany by the grace of God)
Book Review
Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia (Ost- und Westpreussen)
Records, Sources, Publications & Events
by Edward R. Brandt, PhD and Adalbert Goertz, PhD
A second printing, revised, of Drs Brandt and Goertz Genealogical Guide has
recently been released. The first printing sold out almost immediately. The
Genealogical Guide is a valuable and comprehensive source of information
including a section on the Kashubians whose homeland is in the region. The
book is well indexed.
Available from Edward Brandt, 13-27th Ave SE; Minneapolis, MN
55414-31021.
The listed price of $49.95 US, plus S/H, is being discounted on orders
received before the first of the year. Contact Dr. Brandt for details
Przyjaciel ludu Kaszubskiego
(Kashubian: Przkjtcil ludu
Kaszkbsczigo`)
Newsletter of the Kashubian Association of North America, Fall, 2002
From Texas
There is a new book, Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia:
Records, Sources, Publications and Events by Dr. Edward R.Brandt and
Dr. Adalbert Goertz, which I have found very helpful. You can order a
copy from Dr. Brandt at #13 27^th Avenue SE, Minneapolis, MN
55414-3101 or send an e-mail to brandtfam@prodigy.net. Brandt has
published several books very helpful for Germany genealogy.
Liz Hicks, German Texas Historical Society
For anyone researching in East Prussia or West Prussia, this guide --
400 big pages -- is gold. It contains so much varied information that it
can best be described by listing the contents.
Perhaps best of all, the book contains detailed indexes of contents and
of addresses, in addition to a surname index.
Shirley J. Riemer, author of The German Researcher,
in Der Blumenbaum, Fall 2002
Date: 2003/02/12 01:44:01
From: "Thomas Reimer"
Mr. ??,
From your posting I feel (perhaps wrongly) that you are a man in a hurry.
But genealogy involves many strands. I bought Mr. Goertz' book, no it did
not list my ancestry, but it did explain the structure of the parishes,
where records might be found, what kind of records might still exist, etc.
Very useful in any case, probably also in identifying parish records from
Kreis Schwetz.
Good luck with search
Thomas Reimer
Albany, NY
Dr. Andreas Kossert
Deutsches Historisches Institut Warschau
Palac Karnickich
Aleje Ujazdowskie 39
PL 00-540 Warszawa
Tel. 0048-22-525 83 16 (dienstlich)
Tel. 0048-22-849 8461 (privat)
email:KOSSERT@dhi.waw.pl
Warschau, den 19. Mdrz 2003
Lieber Herr Brandt,
letzte Woche erhielt ich Ihr grosses Werk
# Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia# , 2002 revised edition,
für das ich Ihnen und Herrn Goertz ganz herzlich danken möchte. Was
für eine fantastische Arbeit, ein wahres Kompendium nicht nur
für Familienforscher,
sondern auch für Historiker, die sich mit der ost- und westpreussischen
Landesgeschichte auseinandersetzen wollen. Herzlichen Glückwunsch zu diesem
Werk. Es besticht durch seine Objektivität und die neuerschlossenen
Quellen, die Sie fantastisch aufbereitet haben.
Nochmals meine herzliche Glückwünsche. Soweit es in meinen
Möglichkeiten
steht, werde ich für Ihr Werk eifrig die Werbetrommel rühren. Wir
erhalten auch viele familienkundliche Anfragen und nun kann ich für
Ost- und Westpreussen eine zuverlässige Quelle nennen.
Ganz herzliche Grüsse aus Warschau nach Minneapolis,
Ihr
/s/
(Dr. Andreas Kossert)
Review in National Genealogical Society Quarterly,
Vol. 91, No. 2, June 2003, p.153
International Guide
Genealogical Guide to East and West Prussia
(Ost- und West Westpreussen)
Records, Sources, Publications & Events
By Edward R, Brasndt and Adalbert Goertz
Extraordinarily rich in in detail, this book covers sources relevant
to what is now northern Poland from the Lithuanian border to a point
west of the city of Gdansk. As the book title hints, the emphasis is
on sources about the former German population, but the authors also
describe genealogical sources for Jewish, Catholic, Mennonite, Baptist,
amd other religious groups in addition to Polish and other national-
ities.
For readers unfamiliar with the geography and history of the area,
Part IX, "Historical Dateline" provides a thirty-seven-page outline
of the two Prussias. It begins with the foundation of the Kingdom of
Poland in 992, continues through the early German settlements and
arrival of the Teutonic Knights in the 1400s and the 1800s when
German speakers constituted up to 70 percent of West Prussia's
population, and concludes with the 1990s. This section also provides
such key pieces of information as the fact that about 1.2 million
people, including many Germans, emigrated from the two Prussias
between 1840 and 1910. Many ended their peregrinations in the
United States. The twenty-four-page map appendix makes clear which
areas of today's Poland were formerly German East and West Prussia
and which areas of North America received groups of these pilgrims.
In 1944-45, much of the German population fled from this area to
Germany ahead of the advancing Soviet Army, some taking with them
such valuable sources as parish registers.
Research sources are thus scattered, and this book's great value is
its comprehensive listing of relevant repositories, thier addresses,
and descriptions of their collections. Separate chapters deal with
institutions (church and government archives, etc.); registers of
vital events (both civil and religious); tax, court, and migration
records; compiled and abstracted genealogies and indexes, migrations
of various religious and national groups; other sopurces (such as
great estate records, lists of professional, fraternal, governmental,
and other organizations); and historical, cartographic, and surname
sources.
This guide has seventeen appendixes treating, among other subjects,
the Family History Library collection (names of the Prussian
communities represented in the collection); emigration records, school
records, and bibliographies of articles in four important German
genealogical publications (Ostdeutsche Familienkunde, Altpreussische
Geschlechterkunde-Familienarchiv, Archiv ostdeutscher Familienforscher,
Verein fuer Familienforschung in Ost- und Westpreussen); German, Polish,
Lithuanian, and Russian names of selected localities; and the Scots and
English in East and West Prussia.
Because of changing borders, large-scale population migrations, and
the postwar change from German to Polish administration, East and West
Prussia comprise one of the most complicated regions of Europe for
genealogical research. Brandt and Goertz, both authors of numerous
publications on Germanic genealogy and leading American experts in the
field, have produced the definitive, comprehensive guide to sources in
this very difficult area of ancestral research.
Duncan Gardiner, Ph.D, CG, AG
Lakewood, Ohio
Review of the Modified 2003 Revised Edition
by Greg Kishel in the Polish Genealogy Society of Minnesota Newsletter
(Volume 11, No.4; Winter 2003-04)
Between 1850 and 1914, thousands of people of Polish and German ethnicity
emigrated from the provinces of Ostpreussen and Westpreussen, in the German
Partition of Poland, to the United States and Canada. The authors of this book
have roots in East and West Prussia; Edward R. Brandt and Adalbert Goertz are
both retired university professors, and Ed is a founding board member of both
PGS-MN and the Germanic Genealogy Society. They have written and compiled this
huge, multi-focused, and extensively detailed genealogical guide to their
ancestral territories.
The books' subject areas include the complex history and ethnicity of the
region; those aspects of its peoples' languages that are relevant to
genealogical research; the identity, content, and availability of
primary-source records and secondary-source materials for family history
research in the several most prominent ethnic groups; the geography of the
provinces,and the changing nomenclature of places in them; the origin,
organization, and fates of the many religious denominations that have been
present there over the last millennium; and the places in the New World where
East- and West-Prussian emigrants to Anglophone North America tended to
cluster in settlement.
I would not call this a beginner's guide at all. Its coverage is so
sprawling and detailed that it simply could not serve as one. However,
beginning genealogists with roots in the provinces would be wise to acquire it,
and to make progressive use of selected sections as their research gets more
sophisticated. Goertz's compilation of #Frequently Asked Questions# in Part X
would be a good place for a beginner or intermediate-level genealogist to
start. The jointly-penned discussion of institutional sources in Part I could
come next. The lists of parish and village localities for which the LDS Church
has filmed records, in Appendices 1 and 2, would be a fine time-saver for
anyone who has a German-form place name of origin already documented; it will
enable quicker access to the Family History Catalog on familysearch.org.
More-experienced researchers will appreciate the toponymic (place-name)
content of Part VIII and the thousand-year historical dateline of political,
military, and social events in Part IX. Part II traces the whereabouts of
metrical and civil registers, an immensely complicated subject, due to the
multiple and large-scale shifts of political boundaries in the region. This
section might be extremely valuable to the researcher whose subject locale is
not yet LDS-filmed. The authors' huge digest of articles, reviews,
compilations, and other secondary sources published in the German language
since 1950 is really nothing short of astounding.
Given the authors' own ethnicity, and the long-term intense German
colonization of the Prussian provinces, it is no wonder that the bulk of the
coverage is devoted to the Germanic peoples and German-language resources.
However, there is a fair bit of material dealing with other ethnic groups--the
Poles, the Jews, and the Lithuanians most prominently. And the coverage of the
Prussian presence of more surprising ethnic groups--Scottish and English,
Flemish, and French Huguenot among them--is rare indeed in an
English-language publication.,
This heavy book is of most utility to persons of German extraction with
roots in these Baltic borderlands. Other-descended genealogists can get much
help from it as well. As a whole, its content will have maximum value to those
who are fluent enough in German to recognize pay dirt in the titles of the
cited secondary sources and to read and exploit the articles and books
themselves.2
For any of these constituencies, this is not a quick read or a particularly
easy one. The authors are very adept at condensing large amounts of content
into lesser numbers of words, but their sentence structure is sometimes
cumbersome. This Genealogical Guide is best consumed in pieces, in order of the
user's interests and in light of the user's experience, and then digested
slowly and applied in sequence. For those committed to a long haul in tracing
their roots in East and West Prussia, though, it is worth more than its weight
or price.
2.One minor fault with the hundreds of leads to German sources is that the
authors don't identify specific places where the magazines and books can be
found in the U.S. Of course, this is just what the Inter-Library Loan system
and its search function are for. Too, genealogists living in the Twin Cities of
Minnesota will probably find most of the identified material in the GGS's
library collection, maintained at Concordia University in St. Paul.
I invite your comment and suggestions on this page:
goertz@cyberspace.org