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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt)

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

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.

Modern and Historic Schleswig-Holstein

Lübeck (Former City/State) Annexed

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Thuringia (Thüringen)

From these historic areas
now in Thuringia (Thüringen),
click below
on the related
article for
the region.

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