What follows is a fairly exhaustive (okay, maybe just long…) listing of German Genealogy Associations & Groups.  I have the organizations listed in alphabetical sequence (When possible their German names are used because they are, oddly enough, most are German.).  To query for groups by area name (or other key word) use control-f (your browser’s find function) to find those groups/ associations containing the place name (or other key word) you are searching for. Additional German Genealogy and History links may be found on our main Links page. Should you have additional German Genealogy Group links you would like to see here, please send them to me via our contact…

As many of you may already know, the region of the world sometimes referred to as Prussia was both large and diverse, incorporating lands far beyond East & West Prussia. My wife’s family comes from one such area, the lands between Kassel and Darmstadt in what is today: Hessen, Germany. If you, like me, are looking for genealogical search aids and portals for the region of today’s German Province (State) of Hesse, here are numerous. But be aware, you will need to use your German skills to make the sites I have provided work optimally for you. If you do not read or speak German, you may wish to download…

If you are interested in getting and sharing information, tips & pointers regarding the search for German Ancestors, Ethnic German Research may be the “perfect” LinkedIn Group for you. As many of you already know, I have a “small” but “abiding” interest in conducting German Research.  My primary areas of interest include (but are not limited to) West Prussia (today part of Poland), Prussian and Swiss/Alsatian Mennonites (Amish), and the Ostgebiete des Deutschen Reiches oder auch ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete (former Eastern German Regions).  I, also, have been and remain highly interested in researching the area(s) formerly known as Darmstadt-Hesse (in today’s Western Germany). If like me, you have discovered these regions…

Based on email traffic I have seen lately, it seems to me that all too many people think they are doomed to failure with their German genealogical research simply because they are unfamiliar with the German language (dialects) or unaware of German speaking peoples’ histories. Knowing something about German and “the history of German speaking people” can certainly be very useful in conducting research. But in all honesty, there are simply not that many folks out there, no matter their daily language skills or history knowledge, who are familiar with everything about ‘old Germany’.  The Germans, like most European ethnic groups, have a long and complex history, one which is…

Searching for missing or lost family members from the former German Eastern Provinces can be quite a challenge. As you may already know, following the WW2 defeat of Germany by the allies, almost all ethnic Germans were ‘cleansed’ from their former homes in East/ West Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia, etc. (as well as much of Eastern Europe). In both the Expulsion process and the bombardments that preceded the Expulsions much was destroyed. Churches, City and Governmental records, family bibles, photographs, keepsakes, books, notes, were almost all gone. In the case of my opa (grandfather), he was able to salvage the bottom half of a coffee can worth of keepsakes and treasures.…