Anhalt Gazetteers

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Gazetteer of the Duchy of Anhalt
Ort/locality listings: An alphabetical listing of all localities in Anhalt with description and information about the district or Kreis, Evangelical parish and civil records office. Catholic parishes and synagogues are listed separately in section 2.

In this gazetteer the letters Ä, Ö, and Ü are alphabetized respectively as AE, OE and UE.

Column headings:
Locality

District

Description

Parish (Evangelical)

Civil Records Office as of 1879

Districts:
BA = Ballenstedt

BE = Bernburg

CO = Cöthen

DS = Dessau

ZE = Zerbst

Descriptions:
Estab (Establishment) = Any commercial enterprise including inns, workhouses, factories, mines, etc.

Dorf = Village

F.Ort = Forstort = any forest locality including hunting lodges, groups of cottages, etc.

F.Rev. = Forstrevier = Forest District

Gut = Estate, manor farm

Kdorf = Krichdorf= Village with a church building

Kolon = Colony

Schlo = Palace

Stadt = City

Vrwrk= Vorwerk = Dependent Estate, Outowork

Symbols used in connection with Parishes:
It should be noted that the parish and civil registration jurisdictions indicated in this gazetteer are based on an 1879 gazetteer. Where Meyers gazetteer (published in 1912) indicates parish infomation different from what is indicated in the earlier gazetteer, this is indicated by the following symbols.


 * indicates that by 1912 the parish was in the individual locality

+ indicates that by 1912 the parish was in a different place. The newer parish follows.

When there is more than one Evangelical parish in a locality, the number of parishes is indicated in the Parish column following the name of the town. When it could be determined which of the several parishes had jurisdiction, the name of the parish is given in parentheses.

Background
The Duchy of Anhalt was established on 19 Oct. 1863 by the union of the duchies of Anhalt-Dessau-Cöthen and Anhalt Bernburg. Until 1918 and the establishment of the German Republic, Anhalt was governed by one of the most ancient ruling houses of Germany, descending from a son of Albert the Bear, Margrave of Saxony in the 13th century. The rulers of Anhalt took the title of prince in 1218. In the 16th century Anhalt accepted the reformation. Thus the area is almost entirely Evangelical Lutheran as reflected in the parish listings of this gazetteer. The area was divided over the years into four principalities; Dessau, Bernburg, Cöthen and Zerbst, each ruled by various branches of the family. In 1793, on the extinction of the Zerbst line, the territory was divided into three principalities. On the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the three princes of Anhalt each took the title of Duke. The Cöthen line died out and that territory joined Dessau in 1847 and finally in 1863, with the extinction of the Bernburg line, all Anhalt was united under Leopold IV of Anhalt-Dessau. In 1871 the Duchy of Anhalt joined the German Empire. After 1918, Anhalt became a free state of the republican German Reich. After 1945, Anhalt was part of the German Democratic Republic.

Anhalt was bordered mainly by the Prussian Province of Sachsen, by which it was nearly surrounded. It also shared its northeast border with the province of Brandenburg. On the west it was bordered by the province of Hannover and the Duchy of Braunschweig. Its territory included 2347.33 square kilometers. In 1875, the population was 213,565.

Click here for the Gazetteer of Anhalt: Here is a link to the holdings(December 2010) of the Landesarchiv Magdeburg. The records pertain to the State of Sachsen-Anhalt formerly part of Prussian Province Sachsen and other states. Click on the link Beständeübersicht.