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The map above, of Germany in 1871 can be found at The earliest known documentation of a Jewish presence from Wuerzburg to Fuessen exists from just a millennium ago. The phenomenon of the 'landjudentum', or countryside Jews, peaked between the 16th and early 19th century when, in 1818, almost 85 percent of Jewry in south-central Germany lived in places with populations under 2,000. There were more than a dozen emigrant control stations established by Germany along its Russian border. In "Fame, Fortune and Sweet Liberty," an excellent book on the "Great European Emigration" published in Bremen (in both English and German editions), the authors write: "Health inspection stations) were set up at points where the Russian and Prussian railroad lines met, and all emigrants were required to use the special trains or cars, which were now often uncomfortable." In 1933, when Hitler came to power, there were around 500,000 Jews in Germany and approximately 185,000 immigrated to Shanghai. Over 180,000 German Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. With the influx of tens of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union, German's Jewish community has grown from 35,000 to 120,000 in the last decade, making it the only growing Jewish population in Europe today. There is a more descriptive detail in Bernard Horwich's "My First Eighty Years" (excerpts available at: German Jews, contrary to the pervasive view that most Jews were city folks, they were also cattle raisers and traders, vintners, backwoods peddlers and moneylenders in off-the-beaten track areas. And in these places, they left many traces in some of the least expected places. There is a wonderful story, written by Phyllis Ellen Funke in the June/July 2002 issue of Hadassah Magazine that describes many of these 'places' that documentation can be found today. Note: "A lot of the records are held, not in the local Standesaemter, but in various Polish State Archives. Many of the records are missing or have been destroyed." From a posting by Anita Springer on JewishGen on 3/23/02
"A Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Germany & Austria" - published in January, 2001by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Great Britain - ISBN: 0-9537669-1-8. This guide gives an insight into researching your family roots both in these countries and in Britain. This is an informative guide to the archives of available records and explains how to obtain the records you thought no longer existed. In addition, the guide has sections on registration, the Holocaust, vital records, Kindertransport, alien registration, useful addresses, census and cemeteries. The guide is price at £4.50 (UK) - £6.00/US $10 (Overseas includes postage) Payment with orders and is available from The JGSGB Membership Secretary, PO Box 27061, London, N2 OGT "BriefeMeiner Erinnerung: Mein Uberleben in Judischen Ghetto von Minsk 1941-1942" Roughly translated to "My Letter Living Through the Jewish Ghetto in Minsk". This book, written in German by Ana Krasnaperko, is available from the publisher Haus Villigst, 5840 Schwerte, Germany Telephone: 02304/755230. The Holocaust Museum has a copy and discusses the story of the many German Jews from Bremen and Hanover deported to Minsk and includes photos and text, but does not list names. And, along with her mother, who was a doctor, escaped into the woods and lived with the partisans. "Die Familie BENIES; in: Adler - Zeitschrift fuer Genealogie und Heraldik," 21. Band, Heft 3 page 81 - 86. Other families mentioned are David, Benedikt, Eisler Von Terramare, Egger Von Moelwald, Mercy and Stern. The family is originally from Kolomyia and Brody, but moved in 1860 to Vienna and later to Prague. The publication is available at: Heraldisch-genealogische Gesellschaft Adler, Universitaetsstrasze 6/9b, A-1096 Wien. $10.00 US cash only per Georg Gaugusch at e952666@student.tuwien.ac.at "The German Research Companion" - authored by Shirley J. Riemer, this a big volume of facts and references to aid German family history researchers and it is written in clear English.. Subjects included are Books/Films/Fiche Numbers, Library Holdings, Jurisdictions, Military resources, Migrations, Resource Lists and much more "The Goldapple Guide to Jewish Berlin" - authored by Andrew Roth and Michael Frajman and published by Goldapple in 1998. Reviews Berlin's Jewish history and describes its present Jewish character. Catalogs the city's memorials, museums, and cultural sites, and list synagogues, cemeteries, organizations, services and restaurants. There is a chapter on researching Jewish genealogy and property claims in Berlin. Provides maps, numerous photographs and an index. "In Search of Your German Roots: A Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors in the Germanic Areas of Europe". Fourth edition. Authored by Angus Baxter and published by Genealogical Publishing Co. 1001 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202-3897. Cost for the 114 page paperback is $11.95 Helps trace your German ancestry, not only in Germany, but also in all German-speaking areas of Europe. "Juedisches Leben in Alme, Altenbueren, Brilon, Madfeld, Messinghausen, "Library Resources for German-Jewish Genealogy" - authored by Angelika G. Ellmann-Kruger & Edward David Luft - Buy from Amazon.com "Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835" - authored by Edward D. Luft - Buy from Amazon.com "Not of This Time, Not of This Place" - authored by Yehuda Amichai who was born in Wuerzburg and published by Vallentine Mitchell "The Pity of It All: A History of Jews in Germany 1743-1933" - authored by Amos Elon and published by Metropolitan "Portraits of Our Past: Jews of the German Countryside" - authored by Emily C. Rose is a family history and published by Jewish Publication Society "Stammbuch der Frankfurter Juden" - authored by Alexander Dietz and published in 1988 by Vanderher Publications in Cornwall, UK. ISBN 0-95141580-8 The Cercle de Genealogie Juive "Traveler's Guide to Jewish Germany" - authored by Billie Ann Lopez and Peter Hirsch and published by Pelican in 1998. A guide to Jewish sites in 186 towns and cities in Germany. Provides for each entry its geographic location, significant cultural or historical sites, and an overview of its history Includes practical travel tips, a chronology of German Jewish history, a glossary, an introduction to Hebrew letters and numbers, regional maps, color photographs and an index. General German Genealogy
An excellent site to find information about most European countries is at http://searcheurope.com Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country. Moving from one town to another - in the past, as it is now, one is required to register with the authorities when moving into town and to inform the authorities that one is moving when leaving for another place. Records of moving are normally stored in the local Stadtarchives. Unfortunately, many documents were lost during the war. Archives - List of archives in former German or German occupied territories. The list includes:
General request or uncertain cases can be directed to the Phone (0042-2) 57 32 03 38 Bundesarchiv - Note: one of the problems is the frequent name changes, not just of families, but of towns in which they lived. Check out this site that Miriam Margolyes wrote about which contains a list showing most of the hundreds of town name changes from German to Polish in 19th Century Posen Province Aufbau Newspaper Database - this German-language newspaper that was published in New York from September, 1944 through September 27, 1946, printed numerous lists of Jewish Holocaust survivors located in Europe. There are 33,357 names that have been computerized http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/aufbau.htm Aufbau Searchable Database - "Austrian, Czech and German Jews in Riga" - Bavaria - this is Germany's largest and oldest state and have more than 900 museums. Berlin Death Records - You should be able to obtain the death certificate for the person through Cemeteries
Nearly 2,000 Jewish cemeteries exist today in the Federal Republic of Germany. The total number of Jewish gravestones have been estimated at 600,000. Photographs of about 54,000 Jewish tombstones in Baden-Wurttemberg are now in possession of the Central Archives. Additionally, the Central Archives stores photographs of more than 5,000 Jewish gravestones of Lower Saxony. The oldest Jewish cemetery in Hamburg area is located in Konigstrabe in Altona and dates back to 1611. There are approximately 2,500 Sephardic and 6,000 Ashkenazi graves. The Sephardic Jews preferred gravestones lying flat on the ground with rich ornamentation whereas Ashkenazi Jews usually placed them standing upright. Hamburg Jewish cemeteries date back to 1663. Although no gravestone information is offered on-line, the write-up on each cemetery details the number of graves, whether any graves have been relocated, whether the cemetery is still open and the district it is located in. Central Archives for Research on the History of the Jews in Germany - a very interesting site There is a list of records available from 1945 to 1995 and papers of the Cantor Edmund Capell from 1905 - 1937, plus various family papers. Central Council of Jews - Salomon Korn replaced Michel Friedman as a vice president. The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany is Paul Spiegel. Disease - old disease terminology and symbols, professions terminology and genealogical symbols (much in German, but the same site offers a translation service) plus more at Europages - business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds
States within the area of the German Empire as created in 1871, according to the administrative boundaries of 1815-1866 German and European Passenger Departure Records Links - http://sydaby.eget.net/swe/emi_ref.htm German Genealogy Group - genealogy/german-faq offers lots and lots of links and answers to questions about German genealogy. An excellent place to start. Resources for German Genealogy on the Internet - German Migration Information - this site encourages a worldwide exchange of genealogy information about German emigrants and immigrants from 1600 to 1950. German Migration Resource Center - research tools at this site include a selected list of books about German Genealogy and German migration and links to other sites Also France, Ireland, England, Italy and Spain links at German Roots - an especially helpful web site for the beginning or intermediate genealogist is this site which offers links to the 'best of' on-line resources for census records, emigration, databases, history and maps German Jewish Records - on-line information about microfilmed reels and what they contain including lists of Jews deported from Germany and extensive material from concentration camp records, primarily from camps located in the US occupied zone of Germany, though there are records from other camps, as well. The microfilmed copies are now housed at the US National Archives (NARA) and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM, Washington, DC) has a catalog of the 189 reels (about 189,000 frames or pages). Deportation lists from various cities are included, varying by city. Until Arolsen International Red Cross Records are made public, or until Israel permits the filmed collection of these records (prepared in the 1950s and held in Yad Vashem) to be copied and made available outside of Yad Vashem, this is the largest available collection. It can be seen at NARA in College Park, Maryland, or at the USHMM. The bulk, however, are concentration camp records, including arrival and 'departure' (releases, transfers and death) lists. Given the enormity of the collection, it would be impossible for NARA staff to search for family names or even individuals unless very specific information on the person being sought is provided. If you have such information available, you can send an inquiry via e-mail to james.kelling@nara.gov or you may request searches at the Holocaust Museum at registry@ushmm.org Remember to make any requests as specific as possible and the USHMM staff will search this and other collections. More information is available at my ' 'Holocaust Page' and at www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/CapturedGermanRecords.html German Jewish Newspapers Der Israelit - published from 1860 to 1938 in Frankfurt and was a major newspaper for observant Jews. the Leo Baeck Institute may have copies lbil@interport.net and their address was 123 East 73rd St., New York 10021. It is now part of the Center for Jewish History in New York. German Night Club Movie in Berlin 1930 German Professions - names including Kaufmann, Handelsmann, and Handler. Because of the 'skewed' societies, from a modern view, in which the Jews lived in Central Europe, these commercial terms are almost meaningless, for the following reasons. The area at the time was divided into social classes which were: Nobility, German Jewish Refugees, 1933-1939 to Shanghai German, Swiss and Austrians Deported From France Germany (The Country) - The Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland (Confederation of Jews in Germany) http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
1882/1883 wurde die Gunzenhäuser Synagogue. Photo taken from this web site Holzminden, Germany - a web site, in French, offers information about this German WW I POW camp Holzminden How did the Nazis know who was Jewish? "Thus, the German government today still determines the structure and nature of local Jewish communal authorities (known as Israelitische Kultusgemeinde), the qualifications of rabbis, teachers and other officials--and pays their salary." "In about 1830/1840, in Wurttemberg (Germany) the State passed a law that only university graduates or similar could be a rabbi. They also had to be able to deliver a sermon in German. This I found in this following very interesting book: International Tracing Service of the Red Cross - located in Arolsen Jewish Community of Germany - Judische Gemeinde Dusseldorf Jewish Festival in Germany - (in German) Homepage der Tage dere judischen Kultur Chemnitz Seit 1992, Theater, Literatur, Ausstellungen, Kinderprogramme Jewish Life in Germany - A site about Jewish life in Germany, with resources, addresses and many other things. Site is in German "Judische Geschichte in Berlin" - in German, about German life in Berlin from 1300 to 1994. Published in 1995 Jewish Museum of Berlin will house the largest Jewish Museum/Holocaust memorial in Europe. Exhibitions are planned that will shed light on the lives and fates of German speaking Jews. There is a virtual tour of the building at Jewish Records in Germany Juedisches Museum Franken, Fuerth und Schnaittach Leo Baeck Institute - The institute is a research, study and lecture center whose library and archives offer the most comprehensive documentation for the study of German Jewish history. Located at the Center for Jewish History at 15 West 16th St., New York, NY 10011 lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org Telephone: 212 744 6400 Fax 212 988 1305. There is also two Branches: LBI, London at 4 Devonshire Street, London and LBI, Jerusalem at 33 Bustanai Street 91082 Jerusalem. Library of the Central Archives - is a reference library. The Director is Dr. Peter Honigmann; Zentralarchiv Bienenstr.5, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany Telephone: +49 0 6221/164141 Fax: +49 0 6221/181049 E-mail: Zentralarchiv@urz.uni-heidelberg.de Maps Former German area maps now in Poland, Russia, Czech Republic - a commercial site offering maps of Western Pomerania, East Brandenburg - Lower Silesia, Trans Pomerania, Southern Pomerania Middle Silesia, Upper Silesia, Southern East Prussia, West and East Prussia, Northern East Prussia including the Memel (Klapedia) area, Eger and Northern Bohemia, Eastern Bohemia and more Alsace-Lorraine-German Empire West 1882 - http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html German Map Posen-Prussia-German Empire East 1882 - http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html Silesia-Prussia-German Empire East 1882 - http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html Military Feldrabbiner Dr. Siegfried Klein WW I and WW II - a site that has some of the names of men who served and were either wounded or died during the two World Wars. It is not complete and is in German Moving Here - trace your roots from Germany to Britain and help in finding the relevant records in your search Names - Family Names From West Prussia - Old German Script Lettering - at the web site, you can download Gothic 1 Regular for Macintosh and Gothic Zip for Windows and there is additional links to more information about German fonts that maybe of help in your translation of old German scripts According to an e-mail I received from Michael Bernet, "The 'gothic' alphabet won't be of much use to any researcher into Jewish genealogy -- it's a face created by Bishop Ulfilas (A.D.c311-c382), Christian bishop to the Goths who translated the Christian Bible into the Gothic language." "I doubt that a dozen Jews at that time even understood Gothic, and I'm pretty sure none left any records written in Gothic." Rheinpfalz (Region) - Reminiscences of Jacob Greenbaum, Sr. written for his children in 1859 - Stammbaum - the Journal of German-Jewish Genealogical Research - Werner L. Frank, Editor. The Stammbaum website is located at Synagogues - the Architecture Department of the technical University at Darmstadt has opened a digital 3-D architectural museum at This site includes a walk-through several pre-Holocaust German synagogues. One is the synagogue on Oranienburgerstrasse in Berlin and another is one in Frankfurt/Main. Telephone Directories on the Web - http://www.teleauskunft.de/ Translating Click here to search my German Language page Translation Service - a commercial site offering many language translating programs TravLang is another commercial site that offers a number of translating services - some for free Cities and Towns To find where your ancestors came from, try this site Many towns have websites. It would be something like Affaltrach - has a well kept Jewish cemetery Augsburg - one of Germany's oldest cities, it was founded by Augustus Caesar's stepsons in 15 B.C.E. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, it was one of Europe's highest finance centers, attracting medieval Jews from all over Central Europe. The first known mention of Jews was Joseph von Augsburg in 1212. By 1259, a teaching academy existed, and in 1298 and in 1336, city authorities stopped potential massacres. Vintners, cattle dealers and moneylenders lived below Judenberg and near Karlstrasse. By the 20th century, there were 1,156 Jews who were also involved in textiles and commerce, and a book business - The Shocken Press. More information about this area can be found in an article "The Romantic Road" - authored by Phyllis Ellen Funke, and published in the June/July 2002 issue of Hadassah Magazine. See the archives at Bad Hornburg - a suburb only a few miles north of Frankfurt Baden/Wurttemberg - had a Jewish community with a synagogue Bamberg - this city's architecture dates from the 15th through the 17th centuries and is a city of 70,700. The city's industries include beer as well as textiles and leather goods. It was ruled by prince-bishops from the 13th century until 1801 and annexed by Bavaria in 1802.there is a Jewish cemetery visited by Michael Bernet mbernet@aol.com in 2000. Barnstorf - a village near Cornau Battenberg - Bergen-Belsen - (See also my Holocaust page ) "Various Lists of Czechoslovak Inmates at Bergen-Belsen" Berlin - there was a large Jewish presence here before WW II "Jews Who Died in Berlin 1943-45" The elected president of Berlin's Jewish community is Alexander Brenner, replacing Andreas Nachama on May 2, 2001. The Berlin Jewish community, Germany's largest, has increased from about 6,000 to about 12,000 during the last 10 years with the arrival of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Joel Levy is the founding Chair of the Ronald S. lauder Foundation in Berlin. Berlin - Stiftung "Neue Synagogue Centrum Judaicum", apparently holds civil records . For your information, they state that they hold includes files from almost 400 German Jewish Communities, including more than 1000 files from Berlin (1827-1945), and inventories of Jewish organizations, smaller estates, and collections. This inventory has been microfilmed and digitized, and can thus be viewed on reader-printer or computer. Reinickendorf - a district in northern Berlin and includes: Tegel, Wittenau, Dalldorf, Hermsdorf, Frohnau, Waidmannslust, Luebars, Borsigwalde, Tegelort, Konradshoehe, Joersfeld, Heiligensee, Freie Scholle and Schulzendorf. Few, if any Jews lived in this area. Walking Tour of Berlin - in English Weissensee Cemetery - the Centrum Judaicum does have records from the Weissensee Cemetery on microfilm, you can get a copy of burial cards, burial permits, and other information by writing to the cemetery in German, preferably, directly. The Centrum Judaicum does not have copies of death certificates or any other information that is not at the cemetery. Judischer Friedhof Weissensee For copies of death certificates, you need to know the neighborhood in Berlin where the death occurred and was registered. That information should be on the burial permit you get from the cemetery |
Books
German Provinces in 1914
