German Genealogical Research in Eastern Europe: Difference between revisions

Many German settlements were begun in the 1100s and succeeding centuries. These earlier settlements were joined by the Danube Swabian communities of the 1700s and 1800s.

Microfilms of Danube Swabian parish registers in Hungary were made by the Germans during World War II. Most only extend to about 1850. A complete set of these can be found on the [https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/search FamilySearch Catalog].

Parish registers, covering the period up to 1895 or so (when Hungarian civil records began), area in seven Slovak regional archives. Religious denomiations are: Roman Catholic, Reform, Lutheran, Byzantine Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and Jewish. Languages are Latin, Hungarian, German, SLovak, and Russian (from 1850 to 1855 in Byzantine Catholic registers).

=== Germany ===

The most significant sources of genealogical research in Russia and Poland are birth, marriage, and death records. Imperial Russia entrusted the keeping of such records to the churches, which recorded christenings, births, deaths, and burials. In Russia the Orthodox church was required to keep records by imperial decree in 1722; Roman Catholics were required in 1826, Muslims in 1828, Lutherans and other Protestants in 1832, and Jews in 1835. The decree required that a copy of the record be kept locally and a copy (transcript) be sent to the consistory office (called civil transcripts). Most of the German colonies had already been keeping records before the decree. However, these registers and transcripts were not always consistently maintained. Austria required civil transcripts of vital records starting in 1784. Catholics were responsible for recording people of other faiths until the 1820s. Some helpful books include:

*Brendle, Johannes. ''Aus deutschen Kolonien in Kutschurganer Gebier'' [From the German Colonies in the Kuchurgan district] Stuttgart: Ausland und Heimat Verlags-Aktiengesellschaft, 1930.

*Unruh, Benjamin Heinrich. ''Die niederlandisch-Niederdeutschen Hintergrunde der Mennonitischen Oswanderungen im 16, 17, und 19. Jahrhunder'' [The Netherlands-Low German background of the Mennonite Migration to the East in the 16th, 18th, and 19th centuries]. Karlsruhe: Self-published, 1955.

== Gazetteers ==

A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary with information on place names and jurisdictions. The following is a list of some of the best gazetteers of Eastern Europe. Some of these gazetteers are available in public libraries, but all can be found at the FamilySearch Library.  

::Towns are listed alphabetically. Written in old Gothic script. Gives 1871-1918 political jurisdictions and indicates whether locality had its own parish or synagogue. Abbreviations: Evangelical parish - EvPfk; Catholic parish - KPfk; Jewish synagogue - Syn.

::Each volume has an index at the end listing in alphabetical order all localities in the province. In each index, there are two numbers given after each place-name. The first number refers to "Kreis" (district) to which the locality belonged. These numbers can be found at the top in the body of the book. The second number refers to the town.

::Based on the 1900 census. The volume for each province is arranged by district with an index to both German and local place names. If you do not find the town on the page listed in the index check the footnotes. The parish or synagogue location is listed in the appendix (located between the main text and the index of each volume). The appendix is arranged alphabetically by district and sub-district.

::This is a gazetteer of the early republic of Poland as it existed from 1918 to 1939. This is the most accurate gazetteer available for that territory. It is arranged alphabetically with information in columns. Localities are listed alphabetically down the page in the first column. Township, district, province (voivodship), post office, railway station, bus station, local and regional courts, and Christian parish for the locality are listed in successive columns to the right. The nearest synagogue is not listed.

*''Heimatbuch der Ostumsiedler Kalender'', 1955. Stuttgart: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Ostumsiedler. Published as "German Settlers in the Volga Region" - p. 147-161 of Armand Bauer's "Place Names of German Colonies in Russia and the Romanian Dobrudja" in ''German-Russian Settlements in the United States'' by Richard Sallet. Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1974. (FS Library call no. [httpsww.familysearch.org/search/catalog/15095 973 F2rs]).

== Societies ==