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From: [email protected] (Jim Eggert)
Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.german,soc.answers,news.answers
Subject: soc.genealogy.german Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 3/4
Followup-To: soc.genealogy.german
Summary: This posting is a list of frequently asked questions.
         It should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the
         soc.genealogy.german newsgroup.
Organization: German Genealogy Group
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Archive-name: genealogy/german-faq/part3
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 2005/01/01
Version: 2.9
URL: http://www.genealogy.net/faqs/sgg.html

    soc.genealogy.german Frequently Asked Questions List, Part 3/4
    Copyright (c) 2005 by Jim Eggert,  [email protected]
    Version 2.9, 1 Jan 2005.  All Rights Reserved.

------------------------------

Subject: 16.  Where can I find German military records?

    All personnel rosters and card indices (Stammrollen und
    Karteimittel) of the Prussian Army, the transition army
    ("Ubergangsheeres), the Army (Reichswehr), and the Imperial
    Navy (Kaiserlichen Marine) were burned in an air raid on Berlin
    in February 1945.

    Preserved are medical records of those soldiers who were being
    treated in military hospitals (Lazarett).  The records, most with
    personnel roster extracts (Stammrollenausz"ugen), for those born
    from 1890 on are stored at
        Krankenbuchlager Berlin
        Wattstrasse 11-13
        13355 Berlin
    and for those born before 1890 are stored at
        Bundesarchiv - Milit"ararchiv
        Wiesentalstrasse 10
        79115 Freiburg/Breisgau
        =20
<http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aufgaben_organisation/dienstorte/freiburg/>

    Lists of Prussian and other German officers are generally
    available in book series with titles like _Rangliste der
    K"oniglich Preussischen Armee_.  These books were published
    roughly annually since at least 1796; some have been reprinted.

    An overview of the Prussian army and its military church records
    can be found in Lyncker, _Die Altpreussische Armee 1714-1806
    und ihre Milit"arkirchenb"ucher_, and _Die preussische Armee
    1807-1867 und ihre sippenkundlichen Quellen_, and also in Eger,
    _Verzeichnis der Milit"arkirchenb"ucher in der Bundesrepublik
    Deutschland_.

    A list of pre-1914 Imperial German military units can be found at
        <http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~maampo/militaer/milindex.html>

    Many German state military records are available at their
    respective state archives.  These generally cover up to 1920.

    World War II German military personnel may have service records at
        Bundesarchiv - Zentralnachweisstelle
        Abteigarten 6
        52076 Aachen
        =20
<http://www.bundesarchiv.de/aufgaben_organisation/dienstorte/=20
aachen_kornelimuenster/>
    or at
        Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)
        Eichborndamm 179
        13403 Berlin
        <http://www.com-de.com/wast/>
    WASt holdings center on those reported to be prisoners of war
    (POW), missing in action (MIA), or killed in action (KIA), and
    also on members of the navy, though other records are also held.
    The Bundesarchiv has no records for navy personnel.  Requests
    for information may be sent to either office; they will be
    forwarded as needed to the appropriate office.

    German military cemetery listings for World Wars I and II can be
    found online at
      <http://www.volksbund.de/>

    For civilian records, one must write to the appropriate agency or
    ministry archives (e.g., justice, finance, railroad, post).  Those
    who had relatives in NSDAP positions can request information from
    the Bundesarchiv or, soon, the US National Archives.

------------------------------

Subject: 17.  How do I write to a German Standesamt, parish, or archive?

    For archive addresses, see the question on archive addresses.
    For most towns, the Standesamt or parish address would be simply

      Standesamt _or_ ev. Pfarramt _or_ kath. Pfarramt
      ????? Town-name
      Germany

    where the second choice indicates Protestant, the third choice
    Catholic. The five question marks need to be replaced by the
    correct postal code.  For larger towns, there are likely to be
    several churches, but the above address will often work anyway.
    For cities, you will need to know the section of the city to
    find the correct Standesamt or church; inquiries at a main
    office are sometimes forwarded correctly.

    You should write in German and include 10 Euros to cover postage
    and basic fees.  There may be further expenses billable to you;
    extensive research will not usually be performed for a small fee.
    Make sure you indicate how you are related to the sought persons.
    Sample letters are available from the German genealogy server at
      <http://www.genealogy.net/misc/letters/>
    or make use of the German genealogy volunteer translation service
    (see below in subject 19).  There is also an excellent letter-
    writing guide on the LDS site.

    Many local parishes have deposited their older church records in
    the corresponding church archives; in these cases communication
    with the local parish may be forwarded to the appropriate archive,
    answered with an indication of the appropriate archive, returned,
    or ignored, all at the option of the parish office.  Furthermore,
    strict privacy protection laws in Germany very often prohibit
    official release of personal information to individuals unless
    they can demonstrate direct descendance from the person to be
    researched or unless there is a legal entitlement to the
    information, for example for matters of inheritance.  Some
    archives may also have requirements on the age of the information
    before they allow release, even to direct descendants.

------------------------------

Subject: 18.  How do I find German postal codes?

    German postal codes (Postleitzahl or PLZ, equivalent to US ZIP
    codes) are available on the Internet from
      <http://www.deutschepost.de/> and
      <http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/plz/plzrequest.uk.html>
    They are also listed in German postal code books and in the various
    telephone listings.  For towns with only one postal code, you can
    also consult the Michelin red guide, a good autoatlas, or Arthur
    Teschler's geographical server.

------------------------------

Subject: 19.  I don't know German.  What should I do?

    The best overall solution is to learn German.  Often such a large
    investment offers rich rewards.  You might consider taking courses
    at your local college or Goethe Institute <http://www.goethe.de/>

    In the meantime, you can make use of the German genealogy
    volunteer translation service administered by Arthur Teschler.
    Send e-mail to [email protected].  The first line of the
    message body should read:
      #GER>ENG (for a German to English translation,)
      #ENG>GER (for an English to German translation, or)
      #S (for a snail mail/fax translation, fee by arrangement).
    The rest of your message should be the text to be translated,
    no more than 40 lines.  For the snail mail/fax service, you mail
    or fax a copy of the original document to the translator, and
    receive a translation by e-mail.  For translations to German,
    please tell the translator if you want a formal (Sie) or informal
    (Du) form of address.  For more information see
      <http://www.genealogy.net/misc/translation.html>
    For larger documents or for guaranteed precision, professional
    translation is recommended.

    Computer translation programs are normally not recommended;
    their clumsy translations usually require human correction.

    A good German-English dictionary, available in most libraries and
    bookstores, is usually needed for translations.  Sometimes a good
    German dictionary or encyclopedia is a better resource.  There is
    an online German-English dictionary at:
      <http://dict.leo.org/>

------------------------------

Subject: 20.  I can't read German handwriting.  What should I do?

    There is of course no one German handwriting, but often German
    documents are hard to read.  It takes practice to read handwritten
    documents, and each hand is different, often requiring some study
    even for the practiced eye.  Try to figure out words from context.
    Most genealogical documents have a limited vocabulary.  Look at
    other entries in the same hand to help you decipher the hardest
    parts.  Often the best approach is to ask another knowledgeable
    researcher at the library or archive where you encounter the
    difficult document.  There are also several books that can help
    teach you how to read German handwriting; these are available from
    genealogical supply firms or good bookstores.  Or use the German
    genealogy snail/fax translation service outlined above.

    The German genealogy server has examples of old German
    handwriting, Windows software for learning German handwriting,
    and a bibliography of texts on the subject at
      <http://www.genealogy.net/misc/scripts.html>

    The Transcribe Group transcribes from scanned originals for free:
      <http://www.rootsweb.com/~deutg/>

------------------------------

Subject: 21.  What is the basic German genealogical vocabulary?

    birth; born         Geburt; geboren, geb"urtig, geb.
    (il)legitimate      (un,ausser)ehelich, (un)eheleiblich
    baptism; baptized   Taufe; getauft, get.
    marriage            Ehe, Heirat, Hochzeit, Eheschliessung, =20
Verm"ahlung,
                        Trauung, Verheiratung, Verehelichung, =
Kopulation
      marry             heiraten, verheiraten, verh., verm"ahlen, =
verm.,
                        trauen, getr., verehelichen, verehel., =20
kopulieren
    death               Tod, Sterbefall, Todesfall, Ableben
      died              gestorben, verstorben, gest.
    burial              Beerdigung, Begr"abnis, Beisetzung, =20
(Erd)bestattung,
                        Leichenbeg"angnis
      buried            beerdigt, beerd., begraben, begr., beigesetzt
    widow; -ed          Witwe, Wwe.; verwitwet, verw.
    divorce; -ed        (Ehe)scheidung; geschieden
    father; mother      Vater, V.; Mutter, M.
    parents             Eltern
    husband             Mann, Ehemann, (Ehe)gatte, Gemahl
    wife                Frau, Ehefrau, (Ehe)gattin, (Ehe)weib, Gemahlin
    married couple      Ehepaar, Eheleute
    son; daughter       Sohn, S"ohnlein, S.; Tochter, T"ochterlein, T.
    child; -ren         Kind, K.; -er
    male; female        m"annlich; weiblich
    brother; sister     Bruder; Schwester
    siblings            Geschwister
    uncle; aunt         Onkel, Oheim; Tante, Muhme
    (great-)grandfather (Ur)grossvater
    grandson; -daughter Enkel; Enkelin
    grandchild          Enkelkind, Grosskind
    nephew; niece       Neffe; Nichte
    cousin (m;f)        Vetter, Cousin; Kusine, Cousine, Base
    cousins             Geschwisterkinder
    sponsor, godparent  Gevatter, Gev., (Tauf)pate, Taufzeuge
    day of the week     Wochentag
    days of the week    Sonntag, Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch,
                        Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag (Sonnabend)
    month               Monat
    months              Januar (J"anner), Februar (Feber), M"arz,
                        April, Mai, Juni, Juli, August,
                        September, Oktober, November, Dezember
    year                Jahr, Jahreszahl
    date                Datum
    place               Ort
    residence           Wohnort, Aufenthaltsort, Wohnst"atte
    village             Dorf
    town                (Land/Samt/Gross)gemeinde
    city                Stadt
    county              (Land)kreis (modern), Grafschaft (noble)
    (grand) duchy       (Gross)herzogtum
    principality        F"urstentum
    kingdom             K"onigreich

    A more complete vocabulary guide can be found on the LDS website.

------------------------------

Subject: 22.  What are the German umlauts and genealogical symbols?

    Umlauts, etc.:

    German vowel umlauts (the two dots over an a, o, or u) represent
    a different vowel sound than the un-umlauted letters.  A umlaut
    is pronounced like a long a in English (weigh).  O umlaut makes
    a sound where the lips are pursed as to make a long o (nose), but
    the tongue is forming a long a.  U umlaut has the lips making a
    long o, but the tongue is forming a long e (cheese).  Eszet is
    a regular English s sound.

    Any German should be able to understand the ae, oe, ue, and ss
    equivalents for the umlauts.  For family names and place names,
    however, these equivalents are often not considered identical.

    ASCII     TeX  850  8859  Mac  HTML     Postscript   Name
    _____     ___  ___  ____  ___  ____     __________   ____
    "A,Ae     \"A  142  0196  128  &Auml;   Adieresis    A umlaut
    "O,Oe     \"O  153  0214  133  &Ouml;   Odieresis    O umlaut
    "U,Ue     \"U  154  0220  134  &Uuml;   Udieresis    U umlaut
    "a,ae     \"a  132  0228  138  &auml;   adieresis    a umlaut
    "o,oe     \"o  148  0246  154  &ouml;   odieresis    o umlaut
    "u,ue     \"u  129  0252  159  &uuml;   udieresis    u umlaut
    "s,ss,sz  \ss  225  0223  167  &szlig;  germandbls   eszet
    "y,y,ij   \"y  152  0255  216  &yuml;   ydieresis    y dieresis
    "e        \"e  137  0235  145  &euml;   edieresis    e dieresis

    850 refers to the IBM code page.  IBM code page 437 is identical
    for these characters, except it lacks the eszet.  IBM code page
    819 is ISO 8859-1 compliant, while Windows code page 1252 is a
    ISO 8859-1 superset.  All numerical codes shown are decimal.
    The y dieresis is really a keyboard shortcut for an ij ligature.

    To type these characters on a PC, hold down the alt key and
    enter the 850 or 8859 keycode on the numeric keypad.
    On a Mac, for umlauts type option-u and then the letter to be
    umlauted.  For eszet, type option-s.

    Genealogical symbols:

    ASCII  Typeset                          Meaning
    _____  _______                          _______
    *      asterisk                         Born
    (*)    asterisk in parentheses          Born illegitimately
    +*     cross and asterisk               Stillborn
    ~,=3D    single or multiple water waves   Baptized
    Y      communion cup                    Confirmed
    o      ring                             Engaged
    oo,&   linked or touching rings         Married
    o|o    separated rings                  Divorced
    o-o    separated rings                  Illegitimate union
    !!     two exclamation marks            Pastor
    +      cross or vertical dagger         Died
    X      crossed swords                   Died in battle
    +X     cross and crossed swords         Died from battle wounds
    [],=B1,# box                              Buried
    ++     two crosses                      This line extinct

------------------------------

    Suggestions for additions or improvements should be sent to
    the author, Jim Eggert  [email protected].