Germany Civil Registration: Difference between revisions

'''If you are looking for civil registration records online:'''

Research your town name in [http://www.meyersgaz.org '''MeyersGaz.org'''] to find the location of the registry office (''Standesamt'') at the time of the German Empire. The civil office is indicated by the abbreviation "'''StdA'''." This is the Standesamt location you will use when searching for civil registration records anywhere in the FamilySearch Catalog, FamilySearch Images, and other websites like Ancestry.com. Records in archives will use this location prior to the consolidation of registration offices in the 1970s.

 

 

Many civil registration offices were merged in the 1970s, so the modern record location might be different than that listed in MeyersGaz. When writing for records, you must first find the modern civil registration office for your town.

:*To find the '''current Standesamt''', go to the [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Hauptseite '''German Wikipedia'''] and enter the name of the town in the search box. An article about the town will likely start with a first line similar to this: "Besse with about 3200 inhabitants is the largest district of the '''''municipality Edermünde'''''..."  It is probable that the Standesamt is now located in the larger '''municipality''' (in this example Edermünde). The word ''Gemeinde'' may also  be listed in an infobox at the top right; the location listed with the word ''Gemeinde'' is likely the current civil registration office location.

:*If your town is a larger town, its German Wikipedia page may not state that the town belongs to another municipality because it is itself a municipality. If that is the case, use the town itself as your civil registration office location.

:*To find the '''email address''' of the current Standesamt, google the location along with the word '''Standesamt''' (for example, '''Altgernsdorf Standesamt''') and click on the civil registration office or municipality (''Gemeinde'') website, which should be one of the first results. Then look for the word '''Kontakt''' (contact), which is likely to list an email address. Alternatively, it may lead you to an online form you can fill out to submit a request, especially in the case of larger cities.

You may also want to go to [https://standesamt.com/ '''Standesamt.com'''] and enter the name of the town the Standesamt is located in today into the '''Ort''' search box at the top right. This will pull up contact information; however, the contact info may be outdated, so it must be confirmed by locating the contact information on the official municipality website.