Online German Gazetteers and Parish Register Inventories

Definitions
Gazetteer: a list of all localities within a given jurisdictions, such as a county, duchy, state, province, or empire. Information provided may vary depending on the original purpose of the publication and may include different government jurisdictions, church parish(es), population-, area,-and tax information, post office, description, history, and more.

Parish register inventory: A listing of parishes within a given jurisdiction. It usually includes information about extant parish registers by type, time period covered, and accessibility.

German Empire

 * Meyers Gazetteer, see the explanation on the " Germany Gazetteers" page
 * The Genealogisches Ortsverzeichnis (GOV)
 * For areas east of the Oder-Neisse rivers, Kartenmeister provides church- and civil jurisdictions
 * For phonetic searches in the area covered by today’s Germany, use the “fuzzy gazetteer”
 * JewishGen gazetteer has several search options, including “contains”. Be sure to change the country and choose a search option.
 * Deutsch-Fremdsprachiges Ortsnamenverzeichnis place name changes for formerly German localities as of June 1919,
 * Orbis Latinus (1909 edition - English interface) – Latinized place names. Several volumes/editions are available on multiple websites: 1972 four-volume combined set version

Prussia (Preußen)

 * "Prussia, Municipality Gazetteer" - A complete set of the Gemeindelexikon Preußen (1905) volumes. Browse images by volume. Find this set on the Ancestry website by going to "search"; then enter "Gemeindelexikon" in the "keyword search" field. (Hint: A search in the "title" field brings up only the "Gemeindelexikon der im Reichsrate vertretenen Königreiche und Länder", a gazetteer for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.)
 * Various volumes of the Gemeindelexikon Preußen (1885, 1895, or 1905 editions) are also available on GoogleBooks and the DigiBib (Genealogy.net)

Regional gazetteers and parish register inventories
A number of gazetteers and parish register inventories are available in the Digital Library-Geographie, Kartographie, Topographie of the German Society for Computer Genealogy. . New titles are added regularly.

Alsace-Lorraine (Elsass-Lothringen)

 * Ortschaft-Verzeichnis von Elsass-Lotharingen (1880) - locality listing for Alsace-Lorraine
 * Die Orte des Elsass (List) - Alsace locality list
 * Deutsch-französisches Ortsnamenverzeichnis - German-French place name list (place names only)
 * German-French place name list for Alsace (includes higher-level jurisdictions: arrondissement, department, and canton)

Baden

 * Das Grossherzogtum Baden in geographischer, naturwissenschaftlicher, geschichtlicher, wirtschaftlicher und staatlicher Hinsicht dargestellt - Explanation of symbols and abbreviations see p. 768; alphabetical place name list follows.
 * Die Kirchenbücher in Baden (1957) - parish register invntory
 * LeoBW Ortslexikon- Historical gazetteer of Baden-Wuerttemberg; does not list parishes for every locality, but provides helpful historical background. Click on "hier" to access place name search.

Bavaria (Bayern)

 * Amtliche Ortsverzeichnisse” (official gazetteers) Download versions available. Several editions, beginning with 1877.
 * Ortsdatenbank (place name database) - entries include links to articles and nice maps
 * Bayernatlas regional atlas - modern regional atlas

Berlin

 * Berlin Street maps City maps for different years from 1738 to 1989
 * Directory of historic and current Berlin street names

Brandenburg

 * Quellen zur Bevölkerungsgeschichte in der Mark Brandenburg bis 1945 (2012) - Sources for social history in Brandenburg up to 1945 by Stefan Rückling

Bremen

 * Geschichte und Landesbeschreibung der Herzogthümer Bremen und Verden (1824), Volume 1
 * Geschichte und Landesbeschreibung der Herzogthümer Bremen und Verden (1824), Volume 2 - the table of contents at the end of volume 2.

Brunswick (Braunschweig)

 * Place list of the former Duchy of Braunschweig in the Kingdom of Westphalia (1806-1813) - Lists boundary changes that had happened under Napoleon

East Prussia (Ostpreussen)

 * Gemeindelexikon Ostpreussen (1905)
 * Inventory of extant genealogical sources - arranged by Kreis

Hamburg

 * Ausführliche Nachrichten über die sämmtlichen evangelisch-protestantischen Kirchen und Geistlichen der freyen und Hansestadt Hamburg (1826) – History of Hamburg parishes with lists of pastors. Click on „Inhalt“for a table of contents linked to images.
 * Topographie des Herzogtums Holstein (1908) - includes a chapter on Hamburg; read online or download

Hannover

 * Historische Ortsdatenbank - historical place name database
 * For Ostfriesland, see Topographie des Herzogtums Holstein (1908); includes a chapter on Hamburg; read online or download
 * Gemeindelexikon (1908) - digitized together with Westfalen and Pyrmont; Hannover on images 1-274

Hessen

 * Kirchenbücher und Standesregister für alle Wohnplätze im Land Hessen (1939) - Inventory of parish registers and civil registration records for all inhabited places in the State of Hessen, in the DigiBib
 * Historisches Ortslexikon - Database for today’s Hessen
 * Rheinhessen and Kurpfalz gazetteer/parish register inventory -Table that includes parish jurisdiction, religion, time period covered, and location of the records

Hessen-Nassau

 * Historisches Ortslexikon - database for today’s Hessen
 * Kassel Church Book Archive – list of parish registers already filmed

Hohenzollern

 * Gemeindelexikon Hohenzollern’sche Lande 1887

Lippe-Detmold

 * Bilingual (German/English) gazetteer - includes parish, civil registration office, post office and more

Lübeck

 * Topographie des Herzogtums Holstein (1908) - includes a chapter on the Fürstentum Lübeck; read online or download

Mecklenburg-Schwerin

 * Gazetteer for Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz

 * Gazetteer for Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Oldenburg

 * Oldenburg Gazetteer - table
 * Oldenburg Parishes - list of parishes for the 1814 area of Oldenburg, with beginning date for records and expert to contact for help

Palatinate (Pfalz)

 * Die Kirchenbücher der Bayrischen Pfalz (1925) - parish register inventory
 * Rheinhessen and Kurpfalz gazetteer and parish register inventory

Pommern

 * Pommern Gemeindelexikon 1885
 * Pommern Gemeindelexikon 1905

Posen

 * Posen Gemeindelexikon (1908)
 * Posen Vital records Inventory of extant records by county and parish

Rheinland

 * Gemeindelexikon 1885 - PDF that can be downloaded in sections
 * Gemeindelexikon 1885 - DigiBib version

Saxon Duchies

 * Das Historische Ortsverzeichnis von Sachsen (Digital Historical Gazetteer of Saxony) - Covers some areas; in German; project is based on the “Staats-, Post- und Zeitungslexikon” published beginning in 1813 (13 main volumes plus 5 supplemental volumes), and other regional historical gazetteers.
 * To determine districts included: Ämterverzeichnis
 * Staats-, Post- und Zeitungslexikon - all original volumes; read online or download.


 * Anhalt
 * Saxe-Altenburg (Sachsen-Altenburg)
 * Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha)
 * Saxe-Meiningen (Sachsen-Meiningen)
 * Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach)
 * Reuss-Gera (Junior Line)
 * Reuss-Greiz (Senior Line)
 * Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
 * Sondershausen

Saxony [Kingdom] (Königreich Sachsen)

 * Das Historische Ortsverzeichnis von Sachsen (Digital Historical Gazetteer of Saxony) - in German, project is based on the “Staats-, Post- und Zeitungslexikon” published beginning in 1813 (13 main volumes plus 5 supplemental volumes).
 * To determine districts included: Ämterverzeichnis
 * Staats-, Post- und Zeitungslexikon - all original volumes; read online or download
 * Die Kirchenbücher im Königreich Sachsen - parish register inventory

Saxony [Prussian province] (Provinz Sachsen)

 * Parish register database - can be searched by localities and parishes
 * Digital historical gazetteer of Saxony(some areas)

Schaumburg-Lippe

 * Ortsverzeichnis Schaumburg-Lippe - Schauburg-Lippe gazetteer; parish listings include links to 19th Century emigrants, census records, pictures, maps, websites.
 * Ortsverzeichnis Schaumburg-Lippe - Schauburg-Lippe gazetteer; parish listings include links to 19th Century emigrants, census records, pictures, maps, websites.

Schleswig-Holstein

 * Topographie Holstein (1841) - descriptive gazetteer
 * Gemeindelexikon (1897)
 * Topographie des Herzogtums Holstein (1908) - read online or download

Silesia (Schlesien)

 * Die Kirchenbücher Schlesiens beider Confessionen (1902) - parish register inventory for the Catholic and Lutheran churches in Silesia
 * Schlesische Kirchenbücher wo finden - Finding church books from Silesia (alphabetical listing with notes about the whereabouts of the records)

Waldeck-Pyrmont

 * Gemeindelexikon (1905) - included with Westfalen, see the addendum beginning on page 131

Westfalen

 * Gemeindelexikon (1905) - digitized together with Hannover and Pyrmont; Westfalen begins with image 245

Westpreussen

 * Westpreussen gazetteer and record inventory- in German; links to maps; can search partial place names (at least 4 letters required)

Württemberg

 * Evangelical parish database - includes links to other related databases
 * Hof- und Staatshandbuch für Württemberg (1901) – government directory, several editions can be viewed or downloaded
 * Hof- und Staatshandbuch für Württemberg (1907)- government directory
 * Staatshandbuch (1936) - government directory
 * LeoBW Ortslexikon - historical gazetteer of Baden-Wuerttemberg does not give parishes for all localities, but includes history