Germany Empire and Current States

Germany Historic and Current States

Current States of Germany and Their Territory From Historic States

After East Germany and West Germany were reunited, these jurisdictions of the government were put in place. Generally, when researching genealogical records, it is important to discern what government entity would have jurisdiction over the records of that locality at the time the record was made. So, if the town your ancestor came from is in Baden-Württemberg today, the records in 1890 might be found under just Baden.

Baden-Württemberg

From these historic areas now in Baden-Württemberg, click below on the related article for the region. Baden Württemberg Hohenzollern

Former States Now in Baden-Württemberg

Modern Baden-Württemberg

Bavaria

From these historic areas now in Bavaria, click below on the related article for the region. Bavaria Upper Palatinate, see Rhineland parts of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha Franconia Swabia

Former States Now in Bavaria

Modern Bavaria

Hessen

From these historic areas now in Hessen, click below on the related article for the region. Hessen Hessen-Darmstadt Hessen-Kassel Hessen-Nassau Waldeck

Former States Now in Hessen

Modern Hessen

Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)

From these historic areas now in Lower Saxony, click below on the related article for the region. Brunswick (Braunschweig) Hannover Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) Schaumburg-Lippe (S-L on map)

Former States Now in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)

Modern Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

From these historic areas now in Mecklen-Vorpommern click below on the related article for the region. Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Western Pomerania

Former States Now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)

Modern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen)

From these historic areas now in Nordrhein-Westfalen click below on the related article for the region. Lippe North Rhine Westphalia

Former States Now in Nordrhein-Westfalen

Modern Nordrhein-Westphalia

Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)

From these historic areas now in Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), click below on the related article for the region. parts of Bavaria (the Rhenish Palatinate) parts of Hessen-Darmstadt the southern parts of the Prussian Rhine Province Rhineland parts of the Prussian Province of Nassau the District of Birkenfeld, formerly part of Oldenburg

Former States Now in Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)

Modern Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz)

Saarland

From these historic areas now in Saarland, click below on the related article for the region, (created after World War I.) the Saar-Pfalz (kreis or county) was from Bavaria all the other counties were from Prussia

Modern Saarland and Former Areas Now in Saarland Saar-Pfalz-(kreis or county) Was Bavarian All Other Counties Were Prussian

Saxony

The Kingdom of Saxony became modern Saxony (Sachsen). Click here for Wiki articles.

Kingdom of Saxony German Empire, 1871

Modern State of Saxony Former Kingdom of Saxony

"Old Saxony"' is the original homeland of the Saxons in the northwest corner of modern Germany and corresponds approximately to the modern German states of: Lower Saxony Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt) Westphalia (Westfalen)

Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)

From these historic areas now in Saxony-Anhalt click below on the related article for the region. Anhalt Province of Saxony

Former States Now in Saxony-Anhalt

Modern Saxony-Anhalt

Schleswig-Holstein

From these historic areas now in Schleswig-Holstein, click below on the related article for the region. Lübeck Schleswig-Holstein

Modern and Historic Schleswig-Holstein Lübeck (Former City/State) Annexed |}

Thuringia (Thüringen)

From these historic areas now in Thuringia (Thüringen), click below on the related article for the region. Reuss Older Line Reuss Younger Line Saxony-Altenburg parts of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha Saxony-Meiningen Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach Saxony-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg Sondershausen

Former States Now in Thuringia (Thüringen)

Modern Thuringia (Thüringen)

Historic States of Germany and Their Modern State

Conversely, if you know which state your ancestor was from prior to the World Wars, you might need to know where that historic German state is administered today. This list is inverted from the above list. An excellent example of a situation like this is that Elsass-Lothringen, Germany, is today Alsace-Lorraine in France. You would be looking in the Family History Library catalog under France to find the records.

Historic State:Current Jurisdiction

• Alsace-Lorraine (Elsass-Lothringen): France
• Anhalt: Saxony-Anhalt
• Baden: Baden-Württemberg
• Bavaria: Bavaria
• Brandenburg: Brandenburg
• Bremen: Bremen
• Brunswick: Lower Saxony
• East Prussia:
  

In 1945, East Prussia was partitioned between Poland and the Soviet Union. Southern East Prussia became part of Poland. Northern East Prussia was divided between Russia (the Kaliningrad Oblast) and Lithuania (the constituent counties of the Klaipėda Region).

• Hamburg: Hamburg
• Hannover: Lower Saxony
• Hessen: Hessen
• Hessen - Nassau: Hessen
• Hohenzollern (Prussia): Baden-Württemberg
• Lippe: North Rhine-Westphalia
• Lübeck: Schleswig-Holstein
• Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Mecklenburg-Strelitz: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Oldenburg: Oldenburg
• Pomerania:

split between Poland and Germany

western Pomerania is in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

see map

• Posen: Wielkie Księstwo Poznańskie, Poland
• Province of Saxony:Saxony-Anhalt
• Reuss Older Line: Thuringia
• Reuss Younger Line: Thuringia
• Rhineland:

In 1946, Rhineland was divided into the states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

• Saxony: Saxony
• Sachsen-Altenburg:Thuringia
• Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha:

part in Thuringia, part in Bavaria

• Sachsen-Meiningen: Thuringia
• Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach: Thuringia
• Schaumburg-Lippe: Lower Saxony
• Schleswig-Holstein: Schleswig-Holstein
• Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt: Thuringia
• Schwarzburg Sondershausen: Thuringia
• Silesia:

mostly in Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany

• Waldeck: Hessen
• West Prussia: Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland
• Westphalia: North Rhine-Westphalia