German Research Division
Jewish Genealogical Research in German-speaking Regions
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Links to other online resources

Alemannia Judaica - Jewish CommunitiesArchivesAudio/Video ResourcesBibliographiesBooks, Newspapers & Newsletters
CemeteriesFamily WebsitesGenealogy SitesGerman State ArchivesHistoric Jewish Communities
How-ToJewishGenMaps & GazetteersMilitaryMiscellaneous
Modern Jewish CommunitiesModern Newspapers & MagazinesOnline DatabasesShoahTranslation and Handwriting
Travel ReportsYizkor (Memorial) Books

Archives

  • Centrum Judaicum
    The New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum Foundation contains records and collection material from Jewish communities, associations, organizations and private individuals. Among its records are microfiche copies of the Berlin-Weißensee cemetery records and the files of the former Gesamtarchiv der deutschen Juden (Central Archives of German Jewry). See the overview of their holdings.
    Geographical area: General
  • Das Bundesarchiv
    Web site of the German Federal Archives
    Geographical area: General
  • German Archives Portal (Archivportal-D)
    Contains archival information provided by German-based archives and is the central access point for users interested in Germany´s archival material.
    Geographical area: General
  • Leo Baeck Institute
    Leo Baeck Institute is devoted to the history and culture of German-speaking Jews. A large majority of its holdings are available through DigiBaeck, its digital collection portal.
    Geographical area: General
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Audio/Video Resources

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Bibliographies

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Books, Newspapers & Newsletters

  • Baden State Library Digital Collections
    Badische Landesbibliothek Digitale Sammlungen - Digitized historical books and newspapers, many of which are searchable by full text. Titles include Badische Landes-Zeitung (1871-1918), Badische Presse und Handelszeitung (1890-1944), Karlsruher Tagblatt (1843-1937), Karlsruher Zeitung (1784-1810,1817-1933),
    Geographical area: Baden (Province)
  • Compact Memory
    This databases holds about 170 important German-language Jewish periodicals published in Central Europe from 1806 – 1938. Included are Jewish communities newsletters from the 1920s and 1930s for Berlin, Bremen, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich among others
    Geographical area: General
  • Exilpresse digital - German Exile Journals 1933-1945
    A project of the German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) to digitize newspapers and other publications created by German Jews in exile in the 1933-1945 time period. Includes publications from New York, London, Paris, Shanghai, Montevideo, Buenos Aires and other cities.
    Geographical area: General
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Cemeteries

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Genealogy Sites

  • Cyndi's List - Germany
    A comprehensive collection of links on various German research topics
    Geographical area: General
  • GenWiki
    Wiki guide to German genealogy hosted by the Society for Computer Genealogy. The German version contains additional information.
    Geographical area: General
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German State Archives

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Historic Jewish Communities

  • Alemmania Judaica
    Website maintained by Joachim Hahn, with information on nearly all Jewish cemeteries and synagogues in Baden-Württemberg, Alsace, Switzerland, Vorarlberg, and Bavarian Swabia
    Geographical area: General
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How-To

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JewishGen

  • Communities Database
    A database of the myriad towns and cities where our ancestors came from, with geographic data, and links to more information. This is the first place to find your shtetl (small town) and learn about it.
    Geographical area: General
  • FTJP (Family Tree of the Jewish People)
    A database of family trees, individually uploaded by other researchers. Here you can search for specific people, not just surnames. Here you can match generations as well as individuals. If you find a match, you can contact that researcher. Don't forget to upload your own family tree so others can find you!
    Geographical area: General
  • Jewish Records Indexing -Poland
    A database to vital records held in various Polish archives. This is an index; directions are on the website to order the actual records.
    Geographical area: General
  • JewishGen Danzig/Gdańsk SIG
    JewishGen Special Interest Group for researching the Jews of Danzig/Gdańsk and its precursor communities of Altschottland, Langfuhr, Mattenbuden, Weinberg, and Danzig in der Breitgasse, as well as Tiegenhof/Nowy Dwór Gdański.
    Geographical area: General
  • JewishGen SIGs
    A collection of the many specialized research groups within the Jewish Genealogy umbrella. Join the ones which serve your own interests.
    Geographical area: General
  • JGFF (JewishGen Family Finder)
    A database of the surnames and towns being researched by others. Check your own towns and names,to see if anyone else matches. Upload your own places and names,so others can find you.
    Geographical area: General
  • KehilaLinks
    A collection of web pages commemorating the individual shtetls our ancestors grew up in. These pages are volunteer-created, and may have photos, stories, and other bits which 'bring the towns to life'.
    Geographical area: General
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Maps & Gazetteers

  • 1910 Marx's Large world table Atlas and Gazetteer
    Marx's Large world table Atlas is an adaptation of Debe's Atlas, with the placenames converted to Russian, and with the addition of sixteen plates of European Russia, Европейская Россія. This page links to scans of these sixteen plates.
    Geographical area: General
  • FEEFHS: Map Library
    Plenty of maps from Europe and Russia including Russian Empire of 1882, 1887, 1902 and 1908
    Geographical area: General
  • FHL Standard Finder
    Standard Finder is a FamilySearch Labs application which provides access to standardized information for names, locations, and dates. These databases are used by several FamilySearch applications to assist researchers in searching for exact spellings as well as for indexers who enter information used for RecordSearch.
    Geographical area: General
  • Hessen Historical Gazetteer
    Part of the Hessian Information System on Regional History [Landesgeschichtliche Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS)]
    Geographical area: General
  • Kartenmeister - Germany-Poland Town Database
    It contains more than 100,000 locations with over 50,000 name changes. All locations are east of the Oder and Neisse rivers and are based on the borders of the eastern provinces in Spring 1918. Included in this database are the following provinces: Eastprussia, including Memel, Westprussia, Brandenburg, Posen, Pomerania, and Silesia.
    Geographical area: General
  • Topographic Maps of Eastern Europe, an atlas of the Shtetl
    Topographic Maps of Eastern Europe offers a collection of small and large scale historical maps of the lands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Pale of Jewish Settlement in late Tsarist Russia. Thousands of communities can be found in these images where our ancestors lived and eventually left.
    Geographical area: General
  • WWII Aerial Photos and Maps
    The web site WWII Aerial Photos and Maps includes pre-WWII Russian topographical maps. These maps are in Russian for parts of Ukraine, mainly those in the north. To access the maps, it is necessary to use this map-based index. Move the page down with the cursor and click on the town or area of interest.
    Geographical area: General
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Military

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Miscellaneous

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Modern Jewish Communities

  • Jüdische Allgemeine
    Weekly Jewish newspaper published in Germany since 1946
    Geographical area: General
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Modern Newspapers & Magazines

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Online Databases

  • Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP)
    The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People at Hebrew University in Jerusalem has an extensive town-based collection of documents dating from the late middle ages to the eve of the Holocaust. The Central Archives also has been obtaining from various Archives in Ukraine microfilms of important collections of documents including vital records.
    Geographical area: General
  • Ellis Island Database
    The first database to include immigration to the United States through Ellis Island. This link will take you to a search form designed by Dr. Stephen Morse, computer whiz, which is easier to use and more flexible than the one provided at the Ellis Island website.
    Geographical area: General
  • FamilySearch Catalog
    The LDS Family History Library Catalog lists a large number of microfilms important for Jewish genealogy research. It is searchable by town name and by keyword for revision lists (Russian censuses), Jewish vital records, Jewish community documents and more.
    Geographical area: General
  • One-Step Search Tools
    After Dr. Stephen Morse designed a better Ellis Island search form, he realized there was a need for similar access to many databases. This link has all of them.
    Geographical area: General
  • Surname adoption and other lists
    Resource compiled by Wolfgang Fritzsche containing surname adoption list transcriptions from various towns in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hessen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz along with Lübeck-Moisling and Hohenems, Austria
    Geographical area: General
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Shoah

  • RIJO Research
    Website started by Susanne Rieger and Gerhard Jochem, containing items on Jewish history and the Shoah primarily related to Nuremberg and Fürth with additional content relating to Bavaria and the rest of Germany
    Geographical area: General
  • US Memorial Holocaust Museum (USHMM)
    The online catalog of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum has 293 documents and lists and many photos that deal with Ukraine Jews during the Holocaust period.
    Geographical area: General
  • Yad Vashem
    Yad Vashem has more than 1,000 documents, lists, photos and other datasets that deal with Ukraine Jews during the Holocaust period. Their catalog of items can be searched by town name, personal name, and keyword. This is a seriously underused resource.
    Geographical area: General
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Translation and Handwriting

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Yizkor (Memorial) Books

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Family Websites

  • A Kaminsky Family Genealogy
    Kaminsky brothers' web site including their ancestors from Baden-Württemberg and Hessen in Germany from the families Lindauer, Liebmann, Guggenheim, Wormser, Cahn, Lemle, Gabriel, Hayum, Flegenheimer, Kahn, Dreifuss, Mannheimer, Freund, Maier, Marx, Nathan, Rosenbusch, Katz, Strauss, Bernhard, Lowenstein and Lenneberg.
    Geographical area: General
  • Bachrach DNA Project
    Many families used the surname Bacharach, Bachrach, or another spelling variant in various parts of Germany, the Czech Republic, and Eastern Europe in the 17th-19th centuries, long before surnames were mandated by the governments where they lived. The project is trying to determine whether all these different families with that surname are related (they started in one place with that surname and spread out) or whether they are unrelated (they adopted the surname independently of each other). The project administrator is Rachel Unkefer.
    Geographical area: General
  • Goldberg Cohen Family
    The Cohen family of Düsseldorf and their ancestors, primarily from North Rhine-Westphalia and Hessen
    Geographical area: General
  • Jeanette Rosenberg’s blog
    Ecletic mix of resources related to German-Jewish genealogy mostly based on various presentations given by Jeanette Rosenberg
    Geographical area: General
  • Löwenhardt Foundation
    The Foundation aims to promote historical research into the Löwenhardt (Oberhemer, Germany), De Leeuw (Almelo, Netherlands), Ten Brink (Denekamp, Netherlands), and Weijl (Oldenzaal, Netherlands) families and to disseminate its results.
    Geographical area: General
  • Metzger Family Website
    The story of Norman Metzger who was born in Germany in 1936 and immigrated to the United States in 1946.
    Geographical area: General
  • Peter Lowe Family History Research
    Includes data on the Loewenheim (Lowenheim) family in the form of a worldwide one-name study and on the Herz, Krohn, Jaruslawski, Wangenheim, Dewitz, Loewe, Auerbach, Wolff and Cohn families from Prussia.
    Geographical area: General
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Alemannia Judaica - Jewish Communities

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