German Civil Registrations
Written by GFSSusanne
The second source for records in Germany are the Civil Registration (Zivilstandsregister or Personenstandsregister) kept by the government, and Civil Transcripts. These began mostly from the separation of state and church. Some religions did not keep records, such as the Jews and the Mennonites. Many German provinces decided they wanted responsibility for the record keeping of its citizens so they ordered them with Civil Transcripts.
Civil Transcripts were mostly just duplicate church records (Kirchenbuchduplikat). By 1805 most of the States (Lander) told the church they would have to keep a transcript, on a special form, for the government. So the church continued to keep the records; they just made two copies of the form and gave one to the state. These records were still kept at the town and county level. Some states went even further such as in Baden and Wurttemberg. They kept population registers by household. These records were called Family Books (Familienbucher). If you're lucky enough to have family from these two states, and you can find the parish, you just might find your whole family history in one of these books! Jewish records were kept in separate civil registers.
Civil Registration was required in the German Empire on January 1, 1876, In the Prussian provinces it was started on October 1, 1974. It had actually been introduced by the French in the areas they had conquered. Some of these French records can be found as early as 1792 during the time of Napoleon. Rheinland and Pfalz had French records from 1792 to 1805. In Switzerland, records began in 1876, but in Austria, they were not required until 1939. Most of the German states were doing civil records by 1874.
The separation of church and state caused the need for civil records. The other reasons were because the government needed population records for taxation and military service. Civil records will be found at local town offices (Standesamt) kept by the mayor, older records will be in city (Stadtarchiv), county (Kreisarchive), or state (Staatsarchive) archives. Write to the local office first, and ask where you can write if they do not have the records. *Archive records will probably need a private researcher to obtain them.
You can call the Family History Center Library in Salt Lake City for information on the Civil Registration Office for the area in Germany you are researching. Call (801) 240-3433. The LDS has microfilmed many of the civil registration records.
Look in their Library Catalog (fiche or on computer) under each of the following:
Germany>Civil RegistrationCivil records from Prussia (Pomerania, East Prussia, and Lower Silesia, can be found in local civil offices in Poland, with duplicates in some of the archives in Germany. The LDS also has many of these records on microfilm.
Germany>County>Civil Registration
Germany>County>City>Civil Registration
The area of Alsace-Lorraine, western parts of Germany, were occupied by the French from the revolution. Here civil registration was done from about 1792. The records would have been in French or German, and sometimes mixed. There are gaps after the French left the area, but they began again in 1876. This can be a big problem for many with ancestors from this area because there will be no way to connect your ancestor to the next generation if gaps occurred in your town.
There were census records (Volkszahlungen) taken but not nationally. Each state again kept its own records. Most are not available to public researchers, and there is no index or Soundex. Some have been microfilmed by the LDS such as:
Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1819Other records are available in the various states; land, wills and probates, schools, citizenship's, but are very difficult to access.
Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia 1769, 1801, 1803, 1834, 1835, 1840, 1845,1850, 1855 1860.
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