Germany Deaths and Burials - FamilySearch Historical Records (2024)

FAQs

How do I find death records in Germany? ›

Records of birth, marriage and death are generally kept at the German vital records office (Standesamt) where the event occurred. Most cities have websites at www. (nameofcity).de where you can find the contact information for the appropriate Standesamt and request a copy of your birth or marriage certificate.

The German Red Cross (”Deutsches Rotes Kreuz“) offers seeking services which might be helpful for you. The German Salvation Army (”Heilsarmee“) supports close relatives finding missing persons in Germany. Calling up a private detective agency is known as a very efficient though costly option.

Most civil registers are still located at the local civil registration offices, but some are collected in city or state archives. Since 2009 birth records have been public after 110 years, marriages after 80 years and deaths after 30 years.

German church records are the bread and butter of German research. If you are lucky enough to trace your immigrant ancestor to their German hometown and locate their parish, you will want to find their baptism record. Typically, it was the only record where their full name was recorded.

FamilySearch has placed online German census records for Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1867, 1890 and 1900; the one shown below is from 1867). The Danish National Archives has some census records online for Schleswig-Holstein (much of the area was Danish until they lost a war with Prussia in 1864).

From the hometowns of distant relatives to dates and life events, Ancestry's vast collection of records from Germany can help complete your family's story.

In the case of a person who was recently registered in Germany, you can inquire to the local registration office (”Einwohnermeldeamt“) at their last known town of residence. A specimen address is provided in the box below. You should explain that your inquiry is for private reasons and provide proof of this.

Are German court records public? ›

German Civil Court Case Files are not Public Records. U.S. lawyers do naturally assume that court files are public records and can be easily accessed and inspected by the public. Not so in Germany! As with, for instance, land registry information (see here), Germany is rather secretive when it comes to legal documents.

Discover if your ancestors were born in Germany. Search through thousands of records from the Germany birth and baptism index. The records were created through the International Genealogical Index.

Courthouse records of the community where the ancestor lived can be useful. These include records of court proceedings, deeds, wills, probates, birth records and death records. Church records in the community, primarily of baptisms and marriages, also can be helpful.

Protestant records date back to about 1524, but Lutheran churches, in general, began requiring baptism, marriage and burial records in 1540; Catholics began in 1563, and by 1650 most Reformed parishes began keeping these records.

If you have ancestors who are German, you may also be a German citizen by descent. However, German nationality laws have changed a lot throughout the years. Whether you are a German citizen by descent will depend on whether your parents or ancestors were eligible for German citizenship in the first place.

Deutsche Post issues special stamps for traditional condolence letters and death notices. Instead of or along with a newspaper obituary, the bereaved often send personal notices in the mail, notifying the reader of the time and place of a funeral or memorial service.