Records and Genealogical Information

For further information:

• German Genealogy
• German Genealogy Beginners and General Help
• German Genealogy Brandenburg (German)
• Adalbert Goertz's FAQ

• Civil registers of births, marriages, and deaths were introduced in October 1874. The Civil registry office is called Standesamt. Before this time, the Lutheran church records (1815-1874) or special Dissidenten-Register (1847-1874) served as official registers, and a duplicate copy was deposited at the local court (Amtsgericht).

• Most Standesamt (Polish: Urzed Stanu Cywilnego) records remained in the old offices and were taken over by the Polish authorities in the areas annexed by Poland in 1945. They are listed in the Gazetteer of Polish People's Republic Localities. The full title is SPIS MIEJSCOWOSCI POLSKIEJ RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ LUDOWEJ, published in Warsaw 1968, and on LDS microfilm #844,922. However some Standesamt records may be available at the Brandenburgische Landeshauptarchiv, An der Orangerie 3, D-14469 Potsdam, Germany. A few pre-WWII civil registry records can also be found at Standesamt I, Rückerstr. 9, D-10119 Berlin, Germany. Standesamt records less then 100 years old can be found in their current Polish adminstration offices.  Records over 100 years old are archived in Polish State Archives (please see Polish Archives below).

• Census records from the Neumark/Brandenburg can be found under the title of 'Statistischen Jahrbücher für Preussen' in the Geheimen Staatsarchiv Preussischen Kulturbesitzes, Archivstr. 12/14, D-14195 Berlin (Dahlem). Records before 1903 are listed under the title 'Statistisches Handbuch für den Preussischen Staat'. These do not give birth, marraige, or death dates. The censuses contain information on a individuals address, profession, family members etc. They only exist for cities and communities with populations of 10,000 or more.

• Prior to 1874, the church records (Kirchenbücher) of the official churches (Evangelic and Catholic) served as recognized documents for the purpose of proving one's birth, marriage, and death and had to meet certain standards of accuracy and completeness. Members of minor (unrecognised) churches had to record their vital statistics with the pastor of the official churches. Some of the Kirchenbücher can be found at the Evangelisches Zentralarchiv in Berlin, Kirchenbuchstelle, Jebenstr. 3, D-10623 Berlin. However many Kirchenbücher still remain in Poland (see Polish Archives below) and are archived at State Archives. A partial list of 20,000 locations from the former eastern provinces exists at Church & Civil Registries.

• The church register for the town of Dobersaul (also known as Schönrode) in Kreis Crossen, from 1811-1870, is availalbe as a computer file from Rene Kalaene.

• Please see German Genealogy's General Help for information on Military records.

• Please see the Mennonite Genealogical Resources site.
• For a list of Mennonite settlers in the Neumark, see Adalbert Goertz's Mennonite Page .
• Please direct further questions to Adalbert Goertz.

• Other possible genealogical sources are German Lineage Books (Deutsch Geschlechterbücher) and the materials of the Deutsche Zentralstelle für Genealogie archive in Leipzig, which contains thousands of family pedigrees and histories. Details on both of these sources can be found on the www.genealogy.net site. German Lineage Books can be found in the LDS Family History Centers microfilm.

• Also of consideration are Ortssippenbücher which contain the genealogies of many families from a locality.  For a list of most of the localities please see http://www.genealogy.net/gene/misc/ofb/ofind.html. Please note that locations and existence of Ortssippenbücher from the Neumark are unknown. A possible means of determining the existense would be to contact the Polish National Library in Warsaw. For relevent information see the Polish Archives below.

• Researchers with more recent roots in the Neumark and Germany may find the Ahnennachweiss or Ahnenpass (Certifcate of aryan ancestory) useful.  During the Third Reich this certified that the family/individual was of pure German/Germanic descent. It traced the family's/individual's pedigree back to 1800 (1750 for SS members). The information contained in the documents were: names, religion, profession, birth, marraige, and death dates of the individuals in the pedigree. Certain professions and organizations requirred this of their members, notably farmers (a suitable breeding stock for Nazi racial policy), NSDAP (Nazi Party) members, members of the Allgemeine and Waffen SS, and various other professions during the Third Reich.  Ahnennachweisse can only be found in the personal possesion of the families and are not availble in archives.

• Heimatort Kartei, Auf Dem Kreuz 41, D-86150 Augsburg, Germany, is a church suported organization which collects former addresses and whereabouts of German expellees from former areas in Germany that are now part of Poland or Russia.

• For information on contacting Polish archives please see http://www.man.poznan.pl/~bielecki/genpolen.htm.

• For those seeking professional genealogical research, the firm Schröder & Fülling are recommend. The company has a Polish researcher who has accsess to relevent archives in Poland.