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German Empire

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Online Resources

• Historic Addressbooks at GenWiki - index
• 1832-1835 Westfalenlexikon 1832-1835(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1888 Telephon-Adressbuch für nachbenannte Städte des Deutschen Reiches, 1888(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1898-1939 Deutsches Reichs-Adreßbuch für Industrie, Gewerbe und Handel(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1924-1942 Reichs-Telefonbuch, Telephon-Adressbuch für das Deutsche Reich: 1924-1942(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1926-1927 Reichsadressbuch für das Baugewerbe(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1927-1928 Offizielles Industrie- und Handelsadressbuch des Mitteldeutschen Wirtschaftsgebietes(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1927 Germany, Reichs-Bäder-Adressbuch, Handbuch der deutschen Heilbäder, Seebäder, Luftkurorte, Sommer- und Winterfrischen: 1927(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1928-1943 Germany, Deutsches Reichs-Adressbücher, 1928-1943(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1928 Der jüdische Einfluß auf den Deutschen Hohen Schulen, ein familienkundlicher Nachweis über die jüdischen und verjudeten Universitäts- und Hochschulprofessoren:(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1930 Berliner Handels-Register, Verzeichnis der in den Amtsgerichtsbezirken...wohnenden Einzelfirmen, Gesellschaften und Genossenschaften:(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1931-1937 Reichs-Branchenadressbuch mit Telefonangabe für Industrie, Handel und Gewerbe(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1938 Reichs-Branchenfernsprechbuch(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1940 Germany, Branchen Adreßbuch mit Telefonangabe füf Mitteldeutschland, 1940(*) at FamilySearch - images
• 1941-1957 Deutsches Reichsadreßbuch(*) at FamilySearch - images
• Before 1945 Deutsches Bibliotheksadressbuch, Verzeichnis von Bibliotheken in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ein- schließlich Berlin (West):(*) at FamilySearch - images

Background

Address Books

Address books can be a very helpful aide in research. Some of these books go back to the early 1800s. One the one hand, they can confirm the existence of a person in city. They can also be used to identify a parish that a person attended. You can locate the address on a map and look for churches in the near vicinity. Also, you can perhaps determine a death date from address books, as odd as that might sound. If the address books from one city cover a long time and your person appears for many years and suddenly disappears, it could be that the person died. Shortly after the last time he appears would be a good time to start looking for death records.

Most address books have two parts—one for businesses and one for residents. Entries for residents will be more of less like this: surname, given name, occupation, address. You will notice that the vast majority of entries are of men. Women are often listed only if they are professionals or widowed. If widowed, they are sometimes listed under their late husband’s name with the note as being a widow.