German Research Division
Jewish Genealogical Research in German-speaking Regions
German RD Search
   

JewishGen German Research Division
Introduction to the German RD

Introduction

Welcome to the German Research Division. We are one of 16 country-specific Research Divisions on JewishGen. Our objective is to connect you to information that will further your Jewish family history research in current and former German-speaking regions of Europe.

Our Research Division has several ways of interacting with you: through this website, through messages on the JewishGen Mailing List and by posting data in the JewishGen Germany Database. This All-Germany Database is meant to be a searchable repository for all JewishGen information about Jews in Germany. Our mailing list is the primary way we communicate with each other. Click on the hyperlinks above to subscribe to the mailing list or to bring up a search form for the Database.

What geographic areas does the German Research Division cover?

The German Research Division covers all areas that were part of Germany in 1900. This includes today's modern Germany, Alsace and Lorraine, today in France, and Prussian, Posen, and Silesian territory today in Poland. Although Austria is German-Speaking it is covered by the Austria-Czech SIG

German RD focus on towns and districts

Our website and our research have a towns and district focus because most of us think of towns when we seek information about our ancestral homes. You will find a browsable list of the towns that we cover on our website. Our website also lists contact information for our town leaders and for 'owners' of KehilaLinks websites for German towns.

German RD Projects

We list current projects, and the status of each, under Research on the top menu bar. The list is alphabetical by town name. You can re-alphabetize it by any column simply by clicking on the column heading. The projects we have are managed by Project Leaders. This list is a 'work-in-progress'. We constantly add new projects to the list, so check back frequently. A search form at the top of the page allows you to search for any town that has a project or for any project by using the keyword search. The form contains dropdown lists of provinces, districts, and towns.

How you can help

What we accomplish depends on you and on others doing German research. We need volunteers with various skills, and we need project leaders to manage our projects. Project leaders may be focused on specific towns, or they may be focused on specific tasks that cover many towns. Check out some of our volunteer opportunities here.

An organization like JewishGen and its SIGs cannot operate only with volunteers. The organization needs funding to acquire documents, pay professional translators who supplement our volunteers, and improve computer systems. That's where 'JewishGen‑erosity' comes in. If you are unable to serve as a volunteer you can help by making a tax-deductible donation to the SIG and its projects. You can designate your donation for general use or for use by a specific SIG.

If you need help or have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me or any of our Board Members. Our contact information is here. We will try our best to assist you.

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