How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records for Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire

Most of your genealogical research for Schleswig-Holstein will be in three main record types: civil registration, church records, and, when available, a compiled town genealogy ("Ortssippenbuch" or "Ortsfamilienbuch" in German). This article will teach you how to use these records
 * on digital databases,
 * as microfilms,
 * or by writing for them.

Lübeck
A separate series of articles are available on the wiki for Lübeck, a region of Schleswig-Holstein which was a different state of the German Empire until 1945. However, this article will also give research guidance for Lübeck.

Maps and Gazetteers

 * Meyers 1871 Gazetteer Online
 * Schleswig-Holstein Place Names

Town Compilation of Records (Ortssippenbuch or Ortsfamilienbuch)
See class Online Ortsfamilienbücher at Genealogy.net.
 * An Ortssippenbuch (town lineage book) or Ortsfamilienbuch (town family book) generally includes birth, marriage, and death data for all persons found in the local records during a specified time period, compiled into families. If one is available, it can act as an index or guide to finding the original records. However, they may contain errors, so it is best to verify their information in original records.
 * Sources may include the local parish registers, civil registration records, court and land records, and sometimes published material. In the printed book, this information is then arranged in a standardized format, usually alphabetically by surname and chronologically by marriage date.

Finding an OFB

 * Click here to see OFBs at GenWiki. These are indexed and searchable. OFB Instructions.
 * A bibliography of OFBs held by the Central Office for Person and Family History, and available in their archive in Frankfurt am Main-Höchst, is listed here. You can arrange for copied pages to be sent to you for a fee or donation. Use the "Find" function on your keyboard to search the bibliographies, as they are not alphabetical.

Civil Registration (Standesamtsregister, Zivilstandsregister, or Personenstandsregister)
Civil registers are government-kept records of births, marriages, and deaths. In Lübeck, civil registration began in 1811. In the now-Danish counties of Schleswig-Holstein, civil registration began in 1874. Civil registry offices were introduced through out Germany on 1 January 1876. Civil registers can now be found in the local Standesamt, which is either in the registry office or town hall. Copies of civil registers have to be sent to the district registry offices. Records before 110 years ago for birth registers, 80 years ago for marriage registers, 30 years ago for death registers are preserved with the state archives.

1. Online Records

 * Lübeck Birth Records (Lübeck, Deutschland, Geburtsregister), ($). 1811-1875. Index and images.
 * Lübeck Deaths (Sterbefälle), ($). 1811-1875. Index and images.

2. Microfilm Copies of Civil Registration From FamilySearch
A few, not many, civil registration records will be in the microfilm collection of the Family History Library. The number should increase gradually. These microfilms may be ordered for viewing at Family History Centers around the world. To find a microfilm:


 * a. Click on the records of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
 * For localities in Lübeck, click here to select your town.
 * b. Click on Places within and a list of towns will appear.
 * c. Click on your town. If the town or village is not listed, find the town in Meyer's Gazetteer. See where the Standesamt (StdA.) was. It may have been in different place, because of the size of the town.
 * b. Click on the "Civil registration" topic, if available. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * c. Choose the correct record type and time period for your ancestor. "Geburten" are births. Heiraten are marriages.  "Verstorbene" are deaths.
 * d. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm. Clicking on the microfilm reel will lead to information on how to rent the film. Family History Center staff will assist you in ordering the film.

3. Writing for Civil Registration Certificates
Civil registration records for Germany can be obtained by writing to the local civil registry (Standesamt) or the district archives. Records may have been lost at one location of the other, so you might end up checking both. The first office you contact might choose to forward your request to the other location if necessary. Write to the district archives if you wish to inquire about more than one town--for example, if you think a couple were married at either the groom's hometown or the bride's, and you want both places searched.

GenWiki Address List
For list telling which civil registration office is responsible for a town in Schlesiwg-Holstein, see Standesämter.

Another Method
Research your town name in MeyersGaz.org to find the location of the Standesamt. It is indicated by the abbreviation "StdA". However, some of the offices were merged in 1970's, so the record location might be different than that listed in MeyersGaz.
 * For a municipality:
 * To find the current Standesamt, go to the German Wikipedia, and enter the name of the town in the search box. An article about the town will start with a first line such as: "Besse with about 3200 inhabitants is the largest district of the municipality Edermünde in Hessian Schwalm-Eder-Kreis ." It is probable that the Standesamt is now located in the municipality (in this example Edermünde).
 * Email the municipality to verify that the civil registry for your town is there. From the town article, click on the name of the municipality that links to that article. There will usually be an infobox on the page that lists the address and the website of the municipality. From the website, look for Kontakt (Contact) information with an email address.


 * For a town:
 * Follow the same instructions as for a municipality. However, in this case, the first line will read, for example: "Borken is a town in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis with about 13,000 residents.
 * The infobox with the website will appear directly on a town page.

Writing the Letter
Using this address as guide, replace the information in parentheses:


 * An das Standesamt
 * (Insert street address, if known.)
 * (Postal Code) (Name of Locality)
 * GERMANY


 * Click herefor postal code help for Germany.

Detailed instruction for what to include in the letter, plus German translations of the questions and sentences most frequently used are in the Germany Letter Writing Guide.

Church Records (Kirchenbuch or Kirchenbuchduplikate)
See Germany Church Records to learn more.
 * Entries for baptisms/christenings, marriages, and burials in the local church records are the main source to use prior to 1876, when civil registration began. Often two and sometimes three generations are indicated in the registers, with personal information on the family. Also after 1876, these records might be intact when the civil registers were destroyed, or vice versa. In addition, either the church records and civil records might contain information not it the other record.
 * You should try to determine whether your ancestors were Catholic or Lutheran (Evangelical).

1. Church Records on the Internet

 * Archion: Land Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany Contains only a few military parishes.
 * For these counties now in Denmark, click on the link to find instructions for using online church records of Denmark.
 * Apenrade
 * Hadersleben
 * Sonderburg
 * Tondern
 * Lübeck, Germany, Marriage Banns (Lübeck, Hochzeitsankündigungen--Aufgebot), ($). 1811-1871. Index and images.
 * Lübeck, Germany, Marriage Banns (Lübeck, Hochzeitsankündigungen-Aufgebot), ($). 1871-1875. Index and images.
 * Lübeck, Germany, Personal Index Cards (Lübeck, Deutschland, Personenkartei), 1300-1850. Index.

2. Records at the Family History Library
The Family History Library has many German church records on microfilm.


 * a. Click on the Places within Germany, Preussen, Schleswig-Holstein drop-down menu and select your town.
 * For localities in Lübeck, click here to select your town.
 * b. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * c. Choose the correct record type and time period for your ancestor. "Taufen" are baptisms/christenings. Heiraten are marriages.  "Toten" are deaths.
 * d. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm. Clicking on the microfilm reel will lead to information on how to rent the film. Family History Center staff will assist you in ordering the film.

3. Local Parishes
Most church registers are still maintained by the parish. You might obtain information by writing to the parish. Parish employees will usually answer correspondence written in German. Your request may be forwarded if the records have been sent to a central repository.

Evangelical-Lutheran

 * North Germany parish search engine
 * Or alphabetical list Do not search in English because the parish names will be translated. Click "Show original" or "German" in the translation options.
 * Church of Denmark addresses for Åbenrå (Apenrade), Haderslev (Hadersleben), Sønderborg (Sonderborg), and Tønder (Tondern)

Catholic

 * Contact links for Catholic Parishes Click on "Parishes and communities."
 * Catholic church locations in Denmark

Writing the Letter
Write a brief request in German to the proper church using this address as a guide, replacing the information in parentheses: For a Protestant Parish:


 * An das evangelische Pfarramt
 * (Insert street address, if known.)
 * (Postal Code) (Name of Locality)
 * GERMANY

For a Catholic Parish:


 * An das katholische Pfarramt
 * (Insert street address, if known.)
 * (Postal Code) (Name of Locality)
 * GERMANY


 * Click herefor postal code help for Germany.

How to write a letter: Detailed instruction for what to include in the letter, plus German translations of the questions and sentences most frequently used are in the Germany Letter Writing Guide.

State Archives
Duplicate records from some parishes are in the state archives. Many of these records have been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library. However, for records that are not microfilmed, you can sometimes write to the state archives to request brief searches of the duplicates. Landesarchiv Schleswig-Holstein Prinzenpalais 24837 Schleswig Germany E-mail: landesarchiv@la.landsh.de Phone: 04621 8618-00 Fax: 04621 8618-01 Website: http://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/Landesregierung/LASH/lash_node.html The State Archive in Hamburg has civil registration books for Prussian territories, i.e., Altona. available. District Office Hamburg-Nord Headquarters Robert-Koch-Straße 17 20249 Hamburg Germany Phone: (040) 428 28-0 E-Mail (all departments): Standamt@hamburg-nord.hamburg.de E-mail (birth place): Geburten @ hamburg -nord.hamburg.de E-Mail (sterbefaelle): Sterbefaelle@hamburg-nord.hamburg.de
 * List of church records in the archives

Church Archives
Older church records or duplicates have been gathered from the local parishes into central archives. Some gaps in the church records of local parishes could be filled using these records. Church archives are often unable to handle genealogical requests, but they can determine whether they have specific records you need, or they may recommend a researcher who can search the records for you. There are no church records or family genealogical registers at the Landeskirchliches Archiv der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche Norddeutschlands. Original and copied parish registers are kept in the respective 'Kirchenkreis-Archive" (church district archives). This list gives a link to each archive with its contact information. Short e-mail requests to verify that the church records you are seeking are in the collection are generally honored. Following are the links for districts in Schleswig-Holstein.

Church Archive Addresses

 * Addresses of the church district archives.
 * Pdf listing of addresses and contact information for each archive
 * Church District Archives Altholstein (Neumünster area)
 * Church District Archives Dithmarschen
 * Church District Archives Hamburg-Ost (Holds records for Schleswig-Holstein areas annexed to Hamburg)
 * Church Circle Archives Lübeck-Lauenburg
 * Church District Archives North Friesland
 * Church District Archives Ostholstein
 * Church District Archives Plön-Segeber
 * Church District Archives Rantzau-Münsterdorf
 * Church District Archives Rendsburg-Eckernförde
 * Church District Archives Schleswig-Flensburg
 * Nordschleswig municipality

Archive Holdings in Pdf Form
Links to pdf listings of church books, organized by each Kirchenkreis are given here: (Scroll down through the German introductory information for several pages to get to the parish listings.)
 * Flensburg
 * Lübeck
 * Neumünster
 * Norderdithmarschen
 * Plön
 * Rendsburg
 * Schleswig
 * Stormarn
 * Süderdithmarschen
 * Südtondern

Visitation Information
If you want to visit one of the Kirchenbuchämter, be beware of time restrictions (1 session = 3 hours). The research facilities are small and have only one reader on which to read microfiches. The equipment might be worn out which limits research time even more. It is expected to work independently for the staff cannot/will not assist with research. You must be knowledgeable about their archival records, jurisdictions and of course, have the ability to read old German script. Some archives provide indexes of names, which of course, facilitates a search for ancestors immensely. You will be charged a fee of 5 Euros (2010) for using the facility.

Hiring a Researcher
For help with hiring another researcher to visit the archives for you, contact: Schleswig-Holstein Genealogical Society Schleswig-Holsteinische Familienforschung e.V. c/ o Landesarchiv Schleswig-Holstein Prinzenpalais D-24837 Schleswig Germany Germany Website:http://www.genealogy.net/vereine/SHFam

Reading the Records

 * It's easier than you think! You do not have to be fluent in French and German to use these records, as there is only a limited vocabulary used in them. By learning a few key phrases, you will be able to read them adequately.  Here are some resources for learning to read German records.
 * German Genealogical Word List
 * German Handwriting


 * These video webinars will teach you to read German handwriting:
 * Old German Script Part 1
 * Old German Script Part 2
 * Old German Script (German Church and Civil Records) Part 3


 * Also online interactive slideshow lessons are available to help you learn to read these records:
 * Reading German Handwritten Records Lesson 1: Kurrent Letters
 * Reading German Handwritten Records Lesson 2: Making Words in Kurrent
 * Reading German Handwritten Records Lesson 3: Reading Kurrent Documents. In this lesson, you will explore several types of German genealogical records, including birth, baptismal, marriage, and death records.
 * German Script Tutorial

This converter will show you how any phrase or name might look in German script:
 * Kurrentschrift Converter (enter German genealogical word, click on "convert", view your word in Kurrentschrift (Gothic handwriting)

Search Strategy

 * Search for the relative or ancestor you selected. When you find his birth record, search for the births of his brothers and sisters.
 * Next, search for the marriage of his parents. The marriage record will have information that will often help you find the birth records of the parents.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records.
 * Search the death registers for all known family members.
 * Repeat this process for both the father and the mother, starting with their birth records, then their siblings' births, then their parents' marriages, and so on.
 * If earlier generations (parents, grandparents, etc.) do not appear in the records, search neighboring parishes.