Finding Former Eastern German Place Names
One of the great challenges in researching areas like the former German Eastern Provinces
is that they are all gone- governments, people, Churches, libraries, Universities, and yes, in many cases, houses and villages as well. In an effort to help me, and perhaps others, identify place names, I am creating this document with its eclectic cross reference materials.
Hopefully these documents, websites, etc. will prove useful to those of us who have difficulty in finding ‘our family’s’ former German places and locations.
Former Prussian Places & Locations
(Westpreußen u. mehr/ West Prussia & more)
Documents
Errata for 9000 Village Names in Prussia document:
- Zeyersvorderkampen = Kępiny Małe
- Zeyersniederkampen = Kępiny Wielkie
- Zeyer = Kępiny
Web Sites
- Atlas des Deutschen Reichs
- GenWiki.de has many pages covering former German Lands. The following are particularly relevant to my searches:
- Kartenmeister
- Map Archive of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 – 1939
- Mapa topograficzna Messtischblatt
- SGGEE Villages & Maps
- West Prussian Mennonite Villages (G.Penner)
- Westpreußen
Should you have any additional pointers or corrections you’d like to contribute, please either leave a comment on this post or send me a note via our Contact form.