Schleswig-Holstein Vital Records

Das Standesamt (Vital Record Office)
On October 1, 1874 Prussia established civil registration in its territories and in 1876, January 1, all of Germany followed suit. Each city and county had a Standesamt, big cities have several according to subdivisions. The Standesämter took over from parishes which recorded baptisms, marriages and burials as recorded by the parish clerk or the pastor himself. When the Standesamt took over, the clerk represented the state. For instance, he recorded before witnesses the start of the marriage ans so gave the union more legitimacy which also extended to the legitimacy and rights of the children. Today a marriage has to be recorded before the civil registrar first and then a couple can proceed with a church wedding.

Civil registration officers were at first the mayor of the town or the school teacher. Besides recording births, marriages and deaths the administrator of a Standesamt today deals among others with of fatherhood issues, overlooks the indexes of testaments, deals with removals membership from the church and takes part in population statistics.

A list of which civil registration office is responsible for a town in Schlesiwg-Holstein, see

http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/SHFam//StA-SH.pdf