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For those persons fortunate enough to already know an exact place of origin for their German ancestor(s), research can begin immediately in German records. The Family History Library houses an extensive collection of records from all areas of the old German Empire (now part of the present-day countries of Germany, Poland, France, Russia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic).
Parish registers are available as early as the 1500's in some places, but begin one or two hundred years later in other areas. Wars and other catasrophes caused destruction of some registers (as might be expected), thus availability varies greatly from place to place.
Civil registration was instituted much later. The French introduced civil registration in 1798 in those areas of Germany annexed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Baden began civil registration in 1810, and records from Prussia are available beginning 1 October 1874. On 1 January 1876, civil registration was officially mandated in all areas of the German Empire.
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There are similar types of records for Switzerland, and their availability is more plentiful than those from other German speaking European countries.
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Much of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire was populated by German speaking peoples, and has parish and civil records like those listed above. This area includes portions of the modern-day countries of Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Italy and Yugoslavia (now broken up into smaller independant countries) Although not all of these areas are well represented in the Family History Library collection, always inquire about the availability of records in specific areas.
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