Sturm und Drang
For years, a truism has loomed like a cloud over German genealogists: that effective research requires knowing your ancestor’s specific village of origin. But now the skies are clearing as large, searchable databases featuring German records come online. Even unindexed records previously beyond the digital grasp of researchers are now browsable, lessening reliance on German archivists or volunteers.
For example, church register books—considered the “heart and soul” of German genealogy because they’re often the only 16th- to 18th-century records of commoners—are now being digitized for both Protestant and Catholic congregations. Likewise, more and more civil vital registers are coming online, as are gazetteers that can help German researchers face the challenge of changing geographic borders.
The following list represents some of the best websites for those seeking German ancestors. Note that this isn’t a ranking—each site’s usefulness will depend, to some degree, on what particular family history Sturm und Drang you may be trying to overcome. Websites that require a paid subscription are indicated with ($).
Whether your ancestors came from Berlin, Baden or Bremen, the forecast for your online German genealogy research is sunny.
Even unindexed records previously beyond the digital grasp of researchers are now browsable.
1 Archion ($)
The major Protestant denomination of Germany—a loose union of more than a dozen state-based church organizations, collectively called —has undertaken a state-of-the-art digitization program. Since 2013, churches website, with millions of pages available as of 2020.
