Hamburg, Germany Genealogy

Guide to Hamburg ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History
The Vienna Congress of 1815 confirmed Hamburg's independence and it became one of 39 sovereign states of the German Confederation 1815–1866. After periodic political unrest, particularly in 1848, Hamburg adopted in 1860 a democratic constitution that provided for the election of the Senate, the governing body of the city-state, by adult taxpaying males. Other innovations included the separation of powers, the separation of Church and State, freedom of the press, of assembly and association. Hamburg became a member of the North German Confederation from 1866 to 1871 and of the German Empire from 1871to 1918, and maintained its self-ruling status during the Weimar Republic from 1919 to 1933. Hamburg acceded to the German Customs Union in 1888, the last of the German states to join. Hamburg had the greatest concentration of Jews in Germany. Systematic deportations of Jewish Germans and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent started on 18 October 1941. Hamburg surrendered without a fight to British Forces on 3 May 1945. After the Second World War, Hamburg formed part of the British Zone of Occupation; it became a state of the then Federal Republic of Germany in 1949. 

Information about Hamburg: parts of Hamburg, parts of Schleswig-Holstein, parts of Hannover
Today's state of Hamburg was created in 1937-38 by uniting parts of the city of Hamburg with parts of Schleswig-Holstein and parts of Hannover. For exact localities included see 1937-1938 Boundary Changes of Hamburg Regional Gains and Territories Given Away.

How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records in Hamburg
Most of your genealogical research for Hamburg 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.
 * How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
 * Civil Registration
 * Church Records
 * Town Genealogies

For German Research, You Must Know Your Ancestors' Town, Village, and Parish in Hamburg

 * To begin using the records of Germany, knowing that your family came from Hamburg might not be enough to use the records of Germany. There are many different parish churches in Hamburg, and many different civil registry offices. Any information you can find in greater detail about their exact origins in Hamburg will help, such as
 * the street address
 * whether they were Evangelical Lutheran or Catholic
 * a parish or village name

Research to Find the Town
To hopefully find more detail, there are well-known strategies for a thorough hunt:
 * Use Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin as a guide in exhausting every possible record to find what you need.
 * Or watch this webinar: Online Class: Finding German Places of Origin

Important Emigration Records for Hamburg

 * Hamburg Passenger Lists (Hamburger Passagierlisten), {$). 1850-1934.Index and images. In German.
 * Hamburg Passenger Lists, Handwritten Indexes (Hamburger Passagierlisten, handschriftliche Indizes), ($). 1855-1934. Index and images. In German.
 * Emigrants from Hamburg to Australasia, 1850 - 1879, ($). Index. Incomplete.
 * Mennonite Immigrants to Canada Departing from Hamburg, Germany, 1890-1898]: Compiled by Richard D. Thiesse

If You Know the Town, Next Use Meyers Gazetteer
Once you know the town name you need, the other facts you need are contained in Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-lexikon des deutschen Reichs, the gazetteer on which the FamilySearch catalog for Germany is based.
 * Use MeyersGaz, the digital gazetteer, to find the details you need, particularly the Kreis (county) it belonged to, found after "Kr".
 * MeyersGaz Help Guide
 * Abbreviation Table

Here is part of an entry from MeyersGaz.org. (The whole entry can be studied at Heusenstamm, MeyersGaz.)

Boundary Change Maps
In 1937-38, several municipalities from neighboring Schleswig-Holstein and Hannover were annexed to Hamburg. These boundary changes will have an impact on where you will find records. These maps show the original areas of Hamburg during the time of the German Empire and the annexed areas which are part of Hamburg today. '''Alt-Hamburg, the city center. All of these areas were in the city-state of Hamburg during the time of the German Empire. This is a blowup of the central part of the following map.'''  The green areas from Kreise 3 and 7 came from Hannover
 * Kreis 8: The municipalities of Gut Moor, Kirchwerder, Langenbeck, Marmstorf, Neuland, Rönneburg, Sinstorf came from Hannover
 * Kreis 8: Moorwärder should not be green.  It originally belonged to Hamburg.
 * Kreis 9 came from Schleswig-Holstein.
 * The green areas from Kreis 1 and 10 came from Schleswig-Holstein.



Regional Gains of Hamburg
The country of Hamburg was in detail: All the above mentioned cities and municipalities were merged with the city of Hamburg and the municipalities remaining with the Land of Hamburg as of April 1, 1938, into a unitary community, which was called Hansestadt Hamburg.
 * From the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein
 * The municipality of Altona
 * The district of Wandsbek
 * From the district of Stormarn the municipalities Bergstedt, Billstedt, Bramfeld, Duvenstedt, Hummelsbüttel, Lemsahl-Mellingstedt, Lohbrügge, Poppenbüttel, Rahlstedt, Sasel, Steilshoop and Wellingsbüttel
 * From the district Pinneberg the municipality Lokstedt with Niendorf and Schnelsen
 * From the administrative district Herzogtum Lauenburg the place Kurslack in the Achterschlag of the municipality Börnsen
 * From the Lüneburg district of the Prussian province of Hanover
 * Of the administrative district Harburg-Wilhelmsburg
 * from the district of Harburg, the municipalities Altenwerder, Finkenwerder, Fischbek, Francop, Gut Moor, Kirchwerder, Langenbeck, Marmstorf, Neuenfelde, Neugraben, Neuland, Rönneburg, Sinstorf and the town Over Hook the municipality Over
 * From the government district Stade of the Prussian province of Hanover
 * from the district of Stade, the municipality Cranz

Territories of Hamburg Given Away
In exchange for this, the Hamburg enclaves went to Prussia With this exception in the fourth implementing regulation to the Hamburg Act of March 22, 1937, Hamburg secured the America port in the city of Cuxhaven as an exclave. --Source: Greater Hamburg Act
 * To the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein
 * To the administrative district Herzogtum Lauenburg the city Geesthacht
 * To the Landkreis Stormarn the municipalities Großhansdorf and Schmalenbeck
 * To the administrative district Land Hadeln in the government district Stade of the Prussian province of Hannover
 * The city of Cuxhaven with Neuwerk and Scharhörn as well as the municipalities Berensch and Arensch, Gudendorf , Holte-Spangen, Oxstedt and Sahlenburg , with the exception of the Amerika-Hafen.

How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records in Hamburg
Most of your genealogical research for Hamburg 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.
 * How to Find Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
 * Civil Registration
 * Church Records
 * Town Genealogies

Research Tools

 * German Word List
 * Latin Word List
 * Handwriting
 * Handwriting Guide
 * German Handwriting Tutorial
 * Kurrentschrift Converter (enter German genealogical word, click on "convert", view your word in Kurrentschrift (Gothic handwriting)

Latin Records
Records of the Catholic church will usually be written in Latin:
 * Latin Genealogical Word List


 * Passenger List Terminology
 * Hamburg Notarial Records


 * Websites