Germany Research Strategies

Germany  Research Strategies

Below are links to different research strategy pages to help you locate your ancestors in Germany:


 * Germany Online Genealogy Records
 * How to Find German Birth, Marriage, and Death Records in Civil Registration
 * How to Find German Birth, Marriage, and Death Records in Church Records

Germany Research Tips

 * Almost all of your research can be accomplished in two record sources: civil registration and church records.
 * All records are kept on a local basis. You must find the town of origin in Germany. See Germany Gathering Information to Locate Place of Origin.
 * All German records are organized in the Family History Library catalog according to their place name in 1871 when the German Empire was formed from many small principalities.
 * After WW II, many areas of east Germany were given to other countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic. Finding parish registers for formerly eastern Germany areas now in other countries announces searchable digitized parish registers in archives of those countries.
 * Research the entire family as a unit. Document at least the births of all children. Many people have identical or similar names, sometimes even in the same family. You may need to follow each child through from birth to death in order to confirm which one is your ancestor.

Germany Record Finder
This Record Finder is designed to help you determine the best record to search for the type of information you are looking for.

To look for more Germany records, go here.