German Archives

Sunday, October 18, 2009


Seems like I just got home from my last trip but I am already deep in the planning stages for the next ones. May 2010 is going to be Northwest Germany and 2010 September we are thinking of moving east to Ansbach, Bavaria, which is a little west of Nuremberg.

But before we talk about that, I wanted to give a little information on some of the Archives we visited in Germany. First one for today is the ZentralArchiv for Evangelishen Kirche in der Pfalz. (Protestant church records for the Pfalz area). This archive is located close to the Dom (Cathedral) at one end of Maximillanstrasse.








Here is basic information about this Repository:

Basic information on genealogical research in the Central Archives of the Protestant Church of the Palatine:

The church registers from parishes of the Protestant Church of the Palatine (Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz) are available on microfilm and microfiche.
From 1 January 1876 on forward, the civil registry offices [Standesamt] are responsible for personal/marital status cases. For legal reasons, microfilms and microfiches can only be provided up to 1875.
Microfiche and microfilm readers and work stations for archive users are limited, therefore appointments are required:

Phone: 0049 6232-667-181 / e-mail: please see their site:

http://www.zentralarchiv-speyer.de/
Fees:

For the use of our archives, the following fees are charged according to the scale of charges and fees:
 Up to ½ day: 5.00 Euro
 Up to 1 day: 8.00 Euro
 Copies of microfiches and microfilms made by our staff members upon customer request are 1.50 Euro each.
 Copies of microfiches made by the customer himself/herself are 0.50 Euro each.

Orders for copies of microfiches and microfilms will be accepted only until 2 p. m. Up to 3 copies will be made immediately, orders of 4 or more copies will be sent to you by mail (fees plus postage).
At the present time, there is a waiting period for written requests. If at all possible, we therefore suggest that you do your own research.

The archive charges the following fees for written inquiries:
 15.00 Euro for each half hour of research, up to a maximum of 120.00 Euro (4 working hours)
 Postage
 The bank charges a fee of 7.50 Euro for checks from outside of Europe
 Certification of transcripts, excerpts or copies is 5.00 Euro per page

If you are interested, an archive library is available with literature in reference to local history and geography and general history (genealogical tables, citizen books, town chronicles)

Holdings:
Principal repository for the administrative and judicial records of the protestant church authority in the palatinate. The archives contain the files of various protestant organizations and clubs, private collections of prominent church leaders, twenty Dekanatsarchive, more than 300 parish archives, and ca. 3,500 parish registers and church books dating back to the sixteenth century. In addition the archives collect audiovisual materials, press files, and graphic materials that document the history of the protestant church of the palatinate. A substantial library of more than 11,000 volumes specializes in local and church history.

Here are some pictures, as you can see it is not very big but the lady we talked with was very friendly, spoke English and we are going to use her to give us a tour of this Archive the next time we are in Speyer. As always, my suggestion is to check if your German town’s records have been filmed by the LDS and try researching these at home. Only use the Archives for things you can’t get at home. Of course the Church records are a little easier to use/read than some other records, if you have had a little experience looking at them before. Plus you get to be in Speyer, Germany! Too fun.