Germany Empire 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 on the former state for your locality and click on the related article.

Baden Württemberg Hohenzollern the Württemberg part of Swabia.

Bavaria

From these historic areas now in Bavaria, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article.

Bavaria parts of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha Franconia, see Bavaria Swabia, see Bavaria Upper Palatinate, see Rhineland

Hessen From these historic areas now in Hessen, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Hessen Hessen-Nassau Waldeck Lower Saxony From these historic areas now in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) Hannover Brunswick Schaumburg-Lippe Mecklenburg-Vorpommern From these historic areas now in Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Western Pomerania North Rhine-Westphalia From these historic areas now in Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Northern Rhineland Westphalia Lippe Rhineland-Palatinate From these historic areas now in Rhineland-Palatinate, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Rhineland parts of Bavaria (the Rhenish Palatinate) the southern parts of the Prussian Rhine Province (including the District of Birkenfeld, which formerly belonged to Oldenburg) parts of the Prussian Province of Nassau (see Hessen-Nassau) parts of Hesse-Darmstadt (Rhenish Hesse on the western bank of the Rhine). Saarland From these historic areas now in Saarland, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Prior to its creation as the Territory of the Saar Basin by the League of Nations after World War I, the Saarland (or simply "the Saar", as it is frequently referred to) did not exist as a unified entity. Until then, some parts of it had been Prussian while others belonged to Bavaria. Saxony The modern state of Saxony should not be confused with Old Saxony. Old Saxony corresponds approximately to the modern German states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. From these historic areas now in Saxony, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Saxony-Anhalt From these historic areas now in Saxony-Anhalt, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Anhalt Province of Saxony (Prussia) Schleswig-Holstein From these historic areas now in Schleswig-Holstein, click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Schleswig-Holstein Lübeck Thüringen (Thuringia) From these historic areas now in Thüringen (Thuringia), click on the former state for your locality and click on the related article. Sachsen-Meiningen Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Schwarzburg Sondershausen Reuss Older Line Reuss Younger Line Sachsen-Altenburg parts of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha 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