German Genealogy Websites, Books and Archives

Websites

• Cyndi’s List: Germany/Deutschland
• Emigration from Southwest-Germany in Landesarchiv Baden-Wuerttemberg
• Evangelical (Protestant) Church in Germany Archive
• Evangelical Central Archive, Berlin
• FamilySearch: A Genealogical Handbook of German Research
• Find Your Roots in Germany
• Genealogy.net German Genealogy: Regional Research
• Genealogy in Pfalz
• German American Cultural Heritage: From castles to Goethe to German folk songs.
• German-American Corner: Shopping, chat, online magazine and heritage.
• German-American History & Heritage: Famous German-Americans, commemorative stamps and teaching resources.
• German Emigrants Database
• German Genealogical Word List: The FamilySearch guide to German words you are likely to find in genealogical sources. Includes language characteristics, additional resources, key words, general word list, numbers, dates, time and symbols.
• German Genealogy: Articles on German genealogy, research services, records, surname studies, newsletters, history and culture, maps and more. Search a coat of arms registry and an index of New England Naturalization Petitions covering 1791-1906 that includes mostly German nationals. Also includes a German travel center sponsored by Travelocity.com.
• Genealogy Resources on the Internet — Germany Mailing Lists: Guide to more than 60 regional-specific Internet mailing lists on German genealogy.
• German Letter-Writing Guide: Geared specifically to writing record requests in German. Addresses topics such as what to expect and how to write a letter.
• German Life: Magazine in English on German culture and travel.
• German Migration Resource Center: Worldwide exchange of genealogy information about German emigrants and immigrants. Here you can submit or search queries about German immigrants (more than 12,000 already have), find books for your personal library, link to other related sites and get information about German family reunions.
• German Roots: An extensive guide to online resources, including general and German genealogy directories, German search engines, finding people and places, emigration and immigration, history, culture and language, German genealogy bookstore, census clues and more.
• Germans from Russia Heritage Collection: From North Dakota’s State University Libraries comes this incredible online exhibit of its Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, which consists of resources on the culture, history, folklore, food, textiles and clothing of Germans from Russia. Focuses on Bessarabian, Black Sea, Crimean, Dobrud-scha and Volhynian Germans and their descendants in North Dakota and the Northern Plains.
• German Gen Web: WorldGenWeb’s site for Germany offers links to resources, states of Germany, maps, ship lists, Kingdom of Prussia, search engine and map of civil registration.
• LEO English-German Dictionary: Search 228,000 words in English or German for translation.
• Research Outline: Germany: Comprehensive guide to researching your German roots from the LDS FamilySearch site. Covers search strategies, records, handwriting, history, naturalization and citizenship, newspapers, societies and much more.

Books

• Address Book for Germanic Genealogy by Ernest Thode (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• Americans from Germany: A Study in Cultural Diversity by Robert H. Billigmeier (Wadsworth)
• Ancestors in German Archives by Saskia Schier Bunting, Mirjam J. Kirkham, Nathan S. Rives and Raymond S. Wright (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• The Atlantic Bridge to Germany by Charles M. Hall (Everton Publishers)
• Beginner’s Guide to Germanic Genealogy by Lois Hemmeter Edwards (Germanic Genealogy Society)
• Dictionary of German Names by Hans Bahlow, translated by Edda Gentry (University of Wisconsin Press)
• Eighteenth Century Register of Emigrants from Southwest Germany to America and Other Countries by Werner Hacker (Closson Press)
• Finding Your German Ancestors: A Practical Guide for Genealogists by John T. Humphrey (Pennsylvania Genealogy Books)
• A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering Your Germanic Ancestors by S. Chris Anderson and Ernest Thode (Betterway Books)
• The German-Americans by La Vern J. Rippley (University Press of America)
• Germanic Genealogy: A Guide to Worldwide Sources and Migration Patterns by Edward R. Brandt (Germanic Genealogy Society)
• German American Names by George F. Jones (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• German-English Genealogical Dictionary by Ernest Thode (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• Germany and the Emigration, 1816-1885 by Mack Walker (Harvard University Press)
• Guide to German Historical Sources in North American Libraries and Archives by Anne Hope and Joerg Nagler (available from German Historical Institute)
• Historische Lexikon der Deutschen Länder: die Deutschen Territorien vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, seventh edition by Gerhard Koebler (C.H. Beck)
• How to Read & Understand Meyers Orts- by Wendy K. Uncapher(Origins)
• If I Can, You Can: Decipher Germanic Records by Edna M. Bentz (from pages.prodigy.net/tjbentz/GERMANIC.HTM)
• In Search of Your German Roots: A Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors in the Germanic Areas of Europe by Angus Baxter (Genealogical Publishing Co.)
• Lands of the German Empire and Before by Wendy K. Uncapher (Origins)
• Westerwald to America: Some 18th Century German Immigrants by Henry Z. Jones Jr. and Annette Kunselman Burgert (Picton Press)
• Wuerttemberg Emigration Index CD by Trudy Schenk, Ruth Froelke and Inge Bork (Ancestry)

Organizations and Archives

• Austrian National Archives: Abteilung I: Haus-, Hof-und Staatsarchiv Minoritenplatz 1 A-1010 Wien Austria; Holdings include emigration records from 1861-1919.
• National Archives of the Federal Republic of Germany (since 1945): Bundesarchiv, Potsdamer Strasse 1, Postfach 320, D-56003 Koblenz, Germany
• Germanic Genealogical Society of America
• Germany Gen Web Project: Resources, maps, links by German state.
• Federation of East European Family History Societies
• German Historical Institute: 1607 New Hampshire Ave. NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 387-3355; Independent research institute dedicated to the promotion of historical research in the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States. Supports and advises German and American historians and political scientists, and encourages cooperation between them.
• Institut für Pfalzische Geschichte und Volkskunde (Palatine Institute for History and Customs): Benzinoring 6, 67657 Kaiserslautern, Germany
• Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society: Box 2642, Kensington, MD 20891
• Palatines to America: Box 141260, Columbus, OH 43214, (614) 267-4700
• Pennsylvania German Society: Box 244 Kutztown, PA 19530, (610) 894-9551
• National Archives of the Federal Republic of Germany: Bundesarchiv Potsdamer Strasse 1 Postfach 320, D-56075 Koblenz Germany; Holdings are all post-1945.
• Swiss National Archives: Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv Archivstrasse 24 CH-3003 Bern Switzerland
• Working Group for Central German Family Research
• Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe: Box 905 Station M, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2J6

A version of this article appeared in the December 2006 issue of Family Tree Magazine.