15 How do I write to a German Standesamt, parish, or archive?
Description
This article is from the German Genealogy FAQ, by Jim Eggert EggertJ@crosswinds.net with numerous contributions by others.
15 How do I write to a German Standesamt, parish, or archive?
For archive addresses, see the question on archive addresses.
For most towns, the Standesamt or parish address would be simply
Standesamt "or" ev. Pfarramt "or" kath. Pfarramt
????? Town-name
Germany
where the second choice indicates Protestant, the third choice
Catholic. The five question marks need to be replaced by the
correct postal code. For larger towns, there are likely to be
several churches, but the above address will often work anyway.
For cities, you will need to know the section of the city to
find the correct Standesamt or church; inquiries at a main
office are sometimes forwarded correctly.
You should write in German and include DM10 to cover postage
and basic fees. There may be further expenses billable to you;
extensive research will not usually be performed for a small fee.
Make sure you indicate how you are related to the sought persons.
Sample letters are available from the German genealogy server at
<http://www.genealogy.net/misc/letters/>
or make use of the German genealogy volunteer translation service.
There is also an excellent letter-writing guide on the LDS site.
Many local parishes have deposited their older church records in
the corresponding church archives; in these cases communication
with the local parish may be forwarded to the appropriate archive,
answered with an indication of the appropriate archive, returned,
or ignored, all at the option of the parish office. Furthermore,
strict privacy protection laws in Germany very often prohibit
official release of personal information to individuals unless
they can demonstrate direct descendance from the person to be
researched or unless there is a legal entitlement to the
information, for example for matters of inheritance. Some
archives may also have requirements on the age of the information
before they allow release, even to direct descendants.
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