In Search of Your German Roots

This updated edition of In Search of Your German Roots is designed to help you trace your German ancestry; not only in Germany but in all the German- speaking areas of Europe, from the Baltic to the Crimea, from the Czech Republic to Belgium. Like all books by Angus Baxter, it shows you how to conduct your research by correspondence and e-mail; how to work in your own home, at your computer, using the resources of libraries and archives or the records of church and state.

Thanks to the Internet, it's much easier to search for your German ancestors today than when the book was originally written. All of the major archives and many of the smaller ones, as well as church parishes, have websites containing contact information and information on their holdings. Correspondence can now often be handled more quickly and less expensively via e-mail. An ever increasing number of databases with information relevant to German ancestor-hunters--passenger lists, cemetery records, surname directories, etc.--has greatly improved opportunities for research.

While these developments in no way alter the nature of the records or the research techniques described in this work, readers should be aware that the growing list of websites, online databases, and CD-ROMs devoted to German genealogy have made the task of locating your German ancestors immeasurably easier.

This edition of the book includes website and e-mail addresses whenever possible, covers the newest facilities and records available to researchers, and lists the online resources that will be invaluable in your search.

For example:

• The Hamburg Passenger Lists 1850-1934 are now available online.
• Microfilms of the most comprehensive collection of Nazi files are available for public search at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.
• Digitized copies of the International Tracing Service's records pertaining to Holocaust Victims are in the process of being transferred to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
• In 2005 the German Emigration Center opened in Bremerhaven, and in 2007 it won the prestigious European Museum of the Year Award.

The late Angus Baxter is also the author of In Search of Your British & Irish Roots, In Search of Your Canadian Roots, and the prize-winning In Search of Your European Roots.