FAQ's
How to find relatives and friends in Germany and German ancestors
Everybody who is a legal and permanent resident in Germany is registered with a "Meldestelle" (registration office) and has to notify this office when he or she moves. It is thus theoretically very easy to find somebody. However, the "Meldestelle" does not have the right to pass information on to a third party unless there is a well-founded reason such as legal persecution, death or illness of a close relative, inheritance or child support payments. Addresses of registration offices (Meldestelle) can be requested from telephone inquiries in your own country.
There are a number of other ways to find somebody without having to involve an official body. There is a very good chance to find somebody via the online telephone directory and other internet resources. Here are some of the most reliable ones:
German White Pages
www.telefonbuch.de
German Email Search Engines
listed at www.emayl.de/inhalt_emailadressen-suchen_v2.php#D
German Ancestors and Genealogical Research
If you are interested in genealogical research, visit the following links:
- About the USA: Genealogy
- Genealogical Research (U.S.Consulate General Hamburg)
- Genealogical Research (U.S.Consulate General Frankfurt)
- Tracing German Ancestors (German Embassy in the U.S.)
- www.genealogienetz.de/
- www.ancestry.com/
- www.familyhistory.com/
- www.familysearch.org
- Federation of Genealogical Societies (www.fgs.org/)
- http://discover-your-roots.com
