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

• Baden
• Württemberg
• Hohenzollern
• the Württemberg part of Swabia.

Bavaria

• Bavaria
• parts of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha

Bremen (independent city)

• Bremen
• Bremerhaven

Hessen

• Hessen
• Hessen-Nassau
• Waldeck

Lower Saxony

• Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)
• Hannover
• Brunswick
• Schaumburg-Lippe

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

• Mecklenburg-Schwerin
• Mecklenburg-Strelitz
• Western Pomerania

North Rhine-Westphalia

• Northern Rhineland
• Westphalia
• Lippe

Rhineland-Palatinate

• 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

• 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.

Saxony-Anhalt

• Anhalt
• Province of Saxony (Prussia)

Schleswig-Holstein

• Schleswig-Holstein
• Lübeck

Thüringen (Thuringia)

• 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