German Jewish Genealogy
Do You Have German Roots? A Question For All Ashkenazi Jews
January 6, 2013
Michael Marx Lexington, MA [email protected]
© Michael Marx 2013
Germans, Germans Everywhere
Do You Have German Ancestry?
1 DNA Proves The Connection
Common Ancestor
2 DNA Proves The Connection
Common Ancestor
3 German Jewish Genealogy
• Agenda Where is Germany? Jews in Germany What is diferent about German genealogy? German records Recommended internet sites
Where is Germany?
4 Where is Germany?
Germany 1815
Where is Germany?
5 Where is Germany?
Where is Germany?
6 Where is Germany?
Germany Today
Where is Germany?
Meyers Gazetteer
7 Jews in Germany
• Earliest record of Jews - 321 C.E. in Cologne • Long history of persecution • 14th century (Black Plague) - expulsion of Jews from German lands • Peace of Westphalia (1648) - beginning of the modern era for German Jews • Napoleonic era - varying degree of emancipation for Jews • 1933-1945 - destruction of German Jewish population
Jews in Germany
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/germany.html
8 What Makes Germany Diferent?
• The Good Tradition of research and scholarship Extensive recordkeeping Permanent surnames by early 1800s Interest in Jewish history English widely spoken • The Bad Deciphering German script Archives are local Strict privacy laws
What Makes Germany Diferent? Extensive Recordkeeping
9 What Makes Germany Diferent? Interest In Jewish History
What Makes Germany Diferent? German Script
10 What Makes Germany Diferent? German Script
What Makes Germany Diferent? German Script
The Family History Library in Salt Lake City offers a number of free online genealogy courses. One is designed to teach you how to read the old German script: (http://tinyurl.com/ybd3m8t)
11 What Makes Germany Diferent? Surname Adoption
Robert Benmosche CEO, AIG Inc.
What Makes Germany Diferent? Surname Adoption
12 German Vital Records
• After 1790 Usually kept by churches . Catholic - Latin . Lutheran - German or Latin Separate Jewish records • Beginning in 1876 Mandatory civil registration Civil registration ofces
German Vital Records
13 Other German Records
Other German Records
14 ITS Records
ITS Records
15 Hamburg Passenger Lists
Where to Find German Records
• Germany Records are kept locally . City archives [Stadtarchiv] . Village records [Dorfarchiv] Older records (before 1876) . State archives [Landesarchiv] . National archives [Staatsarchiv] • Addresses of state archives: http://tiny.cc/L741R
16 Where to Find German Records
• United States Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, New York City . Extensive collection of German Jewish history . Large German Jewish genealogy library . Publishes . www.lbi.com
Where to Find German Records
• United States (continued) United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC . Holocaust library . ITS repository . www.ushmm.org
17 Where to Find German Records
• United States (continued) Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT . Largest genealogy library in the world . 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records . 310,000 genealogy-related books . Extensive holdings relevant to Jewish German genealogy . Excellent resources . www.familysearch.org
Where to Find German Records
• Israel Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People(CAHJP), Hebrew University, Jerusalem . Founded by German immigrants . Largest Jewish archive in the world . sites.huji.ac.il/archives
18 Recommended Internet Sites www.jewishgen.org
Recommended Internet Sites www.jewishgen.org/GerSIG/
19 Recommended Internet Sites http://db.yadvashem.org/names/search.html?language=en
Recommended Internet Sites Yad Vashem
Pages of Testimony
20 Recommended Internet Sites www.familysearch.org
Recommended Internet Sites www.jewishwebindex.com
21 Recommended Internet Sites wiki-en.genealogy.net
Recommended Internet Sites www.cindislist.com
22 German Jewish Genealogy
• Agenda Where is Germany? √ Jews in Germany √ What is diferent about German genealogy? √ German records √ Recommended internet sites √
Thank You For Your Attention
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