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. For example, if the town your ancestor came from is in Baden-Württemberg today, the records in 1890 might be found in a library catalog under just Baden. If you learn that your ancestor lived in Baden in 1890, and you want to write to the local church to enquire about records, use Baden-Württemberg in the address.

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 Refers to Several Different Localities

When your ancestors reported their homeland as Hessen, it could have meant Hessen and Hessen-Nassau is the maps above. It also could refer to one of these territories. Basically, these are areas that went by other names prior to the unification of Germany in 1871. Then they were merged into Hessen and Hessen Nassau.

These areas combined to make up Hessen-Nassau in 1871. _________________________________________ Hessen-Kassel (a.k.a. Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, 1567-1803; Electorate of Hessen or Electoral Hessen, 1803-1866; Hessen-Nassau, 1866-1945; Province of Kurhessen, 1945-46) Hessen-Homburg, 1668-1806 (a.k.a. part of Hesse-Darmstadt, 1806-1815) Free City of Wetzlar Hessen-Kassel 1871 Kreis Biedenkopf City of Hanau City of Kassel City of Marburg Eschwege Fritzlar Gelnhausen Hanau Hersfeld Höchst Homberg Kassel Kreis Marburg Melsungen Rotenburg Schlüchtern Wiesbaden Witzenhausen Ziegenhain Homburg 1871 Kreis Oberlahnkreis, now Limburg-Weilburg Meisenheim (kreis), Rheinland, now Rheinland-Palatinate Wetzlar 1871 Kreis Wetzlar, exclave of Rhein Province This area became Hessen in 1971. ___________________________________________ Hessen-Darmstadt (a.k.a. Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt; Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (1816-1867); Hessen, 1867-1919; People's State of Hesse, 1919-1945; Greater Hesse (Groß-Hessen), 1945-1946) It consisted of three areas: Rhenish-Hessen or Rhein-Hessen, Oberhessen, and Starkenberg. Rhein-Hessen 1871 Kreis Worms Bingen Alzey Mainz City of Worms City of Mainz Oberhessen 1871 Kreis Giessen Volgelsbergkreis Wetteraukreis Starkenburg 1871 Kreis Bensheim Darmstadt Dieburg Erbach Hepperheim Gross-Gerau Offenbach 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-Westfalen 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 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)