German family history from Poland

Significant numbers of Germans have been migrating to Australia since the 1830s. In 1838 some “Old Lutherans” landed in Adelaide seeking the right to worship the way that they believed in. The same year, the pioneer Presbyterian minister, John Dunmore Lang, brought a party of German missionaries from Berlin to Brisbane. As well, on 23 April 1838, the barque Kinnear arrived at Sydney carrying six German families, the first German vinedressers in Australia. They were from the Rheingau area of Hesse.

At the end of World Wars 1 and 2, large areas that had been under German control were lost to its neighbours. In the east, these became part of Poland, Russia and Lithuania. After World War 2 in particular, millions of people who were considered to be Germans were expelled from these areas.

One of the problems in researching family history from these areas involves name changes. Throughout this region some people considered themselves German while others considered themselves Polish. Naturally many places had both a German and a Polish name. For some, the German and Polish names were pronounced similarly but spelled differently. The town of Stuhm (German) or Sztum (Polish) is a case in point – some knowledge of German and Polish pronunciation helps here. For some, the names might be translations of each other. The village of Schönwiese (German) or Krasna Łąka (Polish) – describing a meadow – is an example. In others, the names were quite different – for example the city of Breslau (German) in Silesia is now Wrocław (Polish), and the former capital city of East Prussia, Königsberg (German), is now Kaliningrad (Russian). A further complication is that some of the places where the German name was too “Polish” were changed in the Nazi era. For example, Pachutken (German) or Pachutki (Polish) was changed to Tönigesdorf in the 1930s.

Most likely, for those of our ancestors who were born before the disruption of the World Wars, the names of the places of birth that were recorded would be the German names rather than the Polish names. This is a problem because the names to be found in today’s atlases and road maps are the Polish (or Russian or Lithuanian) ones.

Given such a problem, is it possible to research any family history from this area? As with all German research, it is necessary to identify the civil registry office (the Standesamt) that was responsible for registering births, marriages and deaths, and/or the church parish that was responsible for recording baptisms, marriages and burials. A number of websites are available to assist in this process:

·      Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs- lexicon … was a two-volume publication from the first decade of the 20^th century, listing almost every locality in the German Empire of the day. An easy way to use this invaluable resource is by the Meyersgaz website (see www.meyersgaz.com) which shows the relevant entry and provides an explanation in English of the significant abbreviations. The Standesamt at the time of publication is listed, and sometimes the Catholic or Protestant parish and Synagogue. As well, it is usually possible to view an historic map and overlay this on a modern map.

·      Kartenmeister (see www.kartenmeister.com) is a website set up by Uwe Krickhain which lists almost every location within the former German eastern territories, together with details of the Standesamt and the Catholic and Protestant parishes and Synagogue.

·      Ehemalige Ortsgebiete (Former Eastern Territories – see http://ehemalige-ostgebiete.de) is a website giving the names by which different towns and villages were known at key times over the past 100 or so years.

Putting this to use

A friend was interested in finding out about his mother’s birthplace. He had been told it was Escherlin in what is now northern Poland but had been in Pommern (Pomerania) and that the town had undergone a number of name changes. Furthermore the church records had been destroyed.

Unfortunately the Meyersgaz website had no entry for Escherlin and neither did the Kartenmeister site, but the Ehemalige Ortsgebiete site noted that it was known as Gryzlin in the district of Löbau before World War 1. 

The Meyersgaz site then showed that Gryzlin was a Rittergut (an estate) and that further details were available under Grischlin, Gryzlin being the former name. Grischlin was in the Kreis (county or shire) of Löbau in the Regierunsbezirk (government district) of Marienwerder Provinz Westpreussen (West Prussia); its Standesamt (civil registry office) was 4.7 km away at Jamielnik, it had a population of 279 and was the seat of a Protestant parish. 

Between the World Wars, Grischlin lay in the Polish Corridor, which gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea, and was named Gryźliny under Polish control. The Ehemalige Ortsgebiete site showed that in 1939 under German control, Grischlin was named Escherlin and after World War 2, once again under Polish administration, Gryźliny.

So my friend was correct, Escherlin had been renamed many times, although for at least some time it had been in the Prussian province of West Prussia not Pomerania.

Using Meyers Orts … has become easier!

Using Meyers Orts … has become easier!

For many years Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs- Lexikon … has been recommended as THE source to go to for information about the location of localities in the pre-World War 1 German Empire, and for details of their jurisdictions. In fact, the entries in the FamilySearch catalog are largely based on those jurisdictions.

Originally available on microfilm or microfiche through FamilySearch, more recently Meyers … has been available in digitised form through Ancestry. However, this valuable resource has remained difficult for many researchers to use because it was printed in the German language in the old German script (Fraktur font) with many abbreviations. 

A new website has become available that makes the use of Meyers Orts … much easier! This is the Meyers Gazetteer website www.meyersgaz.org

The name of the place that you are looking for should be entered. Note that it permits the use of wildcards so that it becomes possible to locate places for which only some of the letters are known. A list of place names that fit the supplied information is given and the correct one can be selected.

Let's look at the second Diedenshausen:

The site then shows the relevant extract from Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs- Lexikon … together with a small map showing the approximate location and the significant information extracted and explained.

Clicking on the “Map” tab (above the extract from Meyers…) displays a scalable, historical map.  “Toggle Historical Map” changes between the historical map and a modern Google map and allows the transparency of the historical map to be altered. Protestant and Catholic parishes and Jewish Synagogues can also be displayed on the map.

If a location is the seat of a Protestant or Catholic parish, or a Jewish synagogue, Meyers Orts … indicates that fact; but otherwise no indication of the relevant parish or synagogue is provided. However the Meyers Gazetteer website partly overcomes this problem through the “Ecclesiastical” tab which gives a list of Protestant and Catholic parishes and Jewish Synagogues within 20 miles of the chosen place along with their distance away.

An additional feature allows people to add their email address to those places with which their family was associated. 
The Meyers Gazetteer website www.meyersgaz.org is an excellent site to investigate to learn more about the towns and villages of your ancestors.

Birth, marriage and death certificates from Germany

Commonly, family historians commencing research into their German ancestors, want to obtain the relevant birth, marriage or death certificates. In Germany, such certificates are issued by the civil registry office (the Standesamt) from the area in which the event occurred. Each locality in Germany belongs to a specified Standesamt. In some cases, a number of smaller villages may belong to a Standesamt in a neighbouring town. In larger towns and cities, however, there may be multiple Standesämter each of which is responsible for a district of the town or city. Over the years, with the movement of people and the growth of some population centres and the decline of others, adjustments have been made to the location and jurisdictions of the Standesämter. Using the word Standesamt along with the name of the village or town in a search engine will usually find the address of the current Standesamt.

A search for the words 'Standesamt' and 'Bornstein' provides a link to the relevant Standesamt

The link leads to a page giving the location of the Standesamt in the neighbouring town of Gettorf

Some things to note:

1. Concern in Germany (and in many other countries) over privacy and identity fraud restricts the issue of 'recent' certificates – for births less than 110 years ago, marriages less than 80 years ago and deaths less than 30 years ago – to the subject of the certificate and his/her children and parents. To obtain such a certificate would require the production of some form of proof of identity.
2. In some cases, older registers have been transferred from the Standesamt to the local civil or state archive. A query to the Standesamt should reveal how to access such registers.
3. Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths commenced at different time in different parts of Germany. Civil registration was introduced by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic forces as they conquered the German states. After the defeat of the French, many of the German states did not continue with the system although copies (duplicates) of the church registers were often used instead. Civil registration commenced as early as 1792 in the western states of Baden, Alsace, Lorraine, and Rhineland, but it was not until 1 October 1874 that civil registration commenced in most of Prussia, and 1876 for areas such as Bavaria and Mecklenburg. Church records provide a good substitute in the years before civil registration.

More specific information and examples of German civil certificates of birth, marriage and death can be found in Researching in German Civil and Church Records published by Unlock the Past and available from Gould Genealogy & History.