 | AKdFF
Archive in the Haus der Donauschwaben, Sindelfingen
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| Deutsche
Zentralstelle für Genealogie, Leipzig [German Central Office for
Genealogy] The inventory of the German Central Office for Genealogy at Leipzig (Bestandsverzeichnis der Deutschen Zentralstelle für Genealogie Leipzig) is published in four volumes compiled by Martina Wermes et al. and published by Verlag Degener & Co.
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| Institut für
Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart At the beginning of WWII the former Deutsches Auslandsinstitut (DAI) asked Dr. Friedhelm Treude to make microfilms of all Banat church records. Friedhelm Treude was born in Königsborn; he died in 1975. His son is a member of AKdFF. Friedhelm Treude studied history at the University of Münster, Westphalia. He was very engaged in researching the history of Germans in the Banat. As a student in 1938/9, he won an award for his manuscript "Westfalen und die theresianische Banatbesiedlung 1763-1772"; his dissertation has the same title. The manuscript has since been edited by his son and printed under the title: Die Auswanderung aus dem kurkölnischen Sauerland im Zuge der theresianischen Banatbesiedlung 1763-1772. 1988, 270 p (ISSN 0177-8153) and was published by Kreis Olpe - Kreisarchiv Kurfürst-Heinrich-Str. 34, D-57462 Olpe, Tel. (02761) 81664 (now out of print). In 1940 Friedhelm Treude travelled to every one of the Banat villages to microfilm the church records from the beginning (in most cases, about 1770-1790, but many from the 1720s) up to about 1830-1850 (in a few cases, even the 1870s), apparently whenever the first book of records ended). The aim was to research the origin of all settlers and to build a card index of the ancestors of all Germans in foreign countries. It is clear that it was impossible to realize this idea during the war. Dr. Treude and his staff were the only ones who microfilmed the registers of about 130 Banat parishes. These films are now owned by Institut fuer Auslandsbeziehungen All film rolls were copied for the FHL. There are no records of Batschka parishes in the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, only from the Banat area. The note "filmed by G.S. at Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg 1971" refers only to the place and time of making the films, not the ownership of the original sources. In no case were the original registers taken to Germany. All record books should be available in Romanian archives or parishes. After the war, in some areas, the church or state authorities transferred parish archives to central archives because the villages were depopulated. It is possible that in a very few cases original books or part of them were stolen and sold in other countries. Sometimes the priest or parish members took the registers when they took refuge from the partisans to leave the country. It was very dangerous and in most cases the books were destroyed. It was not the idea of the work of Friedhelm Treude to identify Germans for service in the German army. This was done by the German army itself and local authorities. Church records from the beginning of the 19th century would not help for this job. Josef Schmidt has compiled a list of the records there in the informative booklet Die Banater Kirchenbücher, eine Bestandsaufnahme der verfilmten Banater Kirchenbücher in der Bibliothek des Instituts für Auslandsbeziehungen Stuttgart, 1979, AKdFF, 86 pages. The above information is derived from that publication. The Institute does honor long-distance loan requests, even to North America. In the case of short articles, it will for an extra charge send photocopies.
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| Saarländisches Landesarchiv, Saarbrücken There also are some copies of Danube-Swabian church records at the Landesarchiv Saarbrücken. Since 1982, this archive has undertaken preservation of the Donau German culture. Included are numerous regional histories from the Banat and the Batschka as well as photocopies and microfilms from Banat parish books pre 1850. Contact this archive at: Saarlaendisches Landesarchiv although inquirers have been re-directed to the Stuttgart archive.
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| Vojvodina Archives, Serbia The Vojvodina archives hold records for parts of the former Banat, Batschka and Syrmia which are now in the Vojvodina region of Serbia. All of the archives for Vojvodina from the 16th century to World War II are located in cities in Vojvodina. Records kept at the Belgrade address are for southern Serbia and Belgrade only. State offices require a personal visit to retrieve birth, marriage and death records, and contain records only from 1900 onwards. It is best to write one or more of these archives before visiting. (See Sample Letters to an Archive.) Even so, keep in mind that here it is very rare that someone will answer your letters (sending money is not recommended) because it is very difficult to find information with the archives in their current (January 1998) state of disarray. The best plan is probably to simply ask whether the archive has any records for the place and time you need, which is likely to be answered. You would then need to follow-up by visiting personally or hiring a genealogist to do so. Listed below are the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and volumes of records (in meters) held at Vojvodina Archives taken from a 1992 (1996) reference. As can be seen from its name and the number of meters of records, the main and best archive is the one in Sremski Karlovci, (very near Novi Sad), which has records dating from 1530. However, even here records are in a mess and there is nothing on computers (as of January 1997). Records are written in Latin, old Greek, old Slavic and German (Gothic script). (See Guide to Eastern European Languages.) From outside Yugoslavia, all telephone numbers listed need to be prefixed with "381", the Yugoslavia country code. If you plan to call an archive, be prepared to be able to speak Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian or German. January 1998 Update: February 1999 Update: (note: ~ denotes ~ over following consonant.)
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| Hungarian National Archive, Budapest Write to: Magyar Orszagos Leveltar, Becsikapu ter 4, H-1250 Budapest V, HUNGARY or call 1560975 or 1565811 (Fax 2121619).
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| Archives
of Hungary (D)
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| Romanian
Government Archives, Timisoara
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| Consulate of Hungary, USA According to Dr. Katalin Doby, a legal advisor at the Consulate of Hungary, all vital data in Hungary are registered at the place of occurrence. Researchers can apply for a birth certificate, marriage certificate, or death certificate through the consulate. The fee is $15.00 for each search requested (payment should be in the form of a money order or cashier's check). The procedure requires approximately three months. In the United States, Hungarian consulates may be contacted at one of the following locations:
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| Consulate of Yugoslavia, USA Some researchers have been able to get birth certificates from villages in the Yugoslavian Banat and Yugoslavian Batschka by writing to the Yugoslavian Embassy in Washington, D.C. Requests must be made in writing and be prepaid. You may wish to call first to find out the amount of the fee. In the past it has been approximately $25.00 per certificate and required a year for the information to be sent. Requests only seem to be satsified if the birth occurred during the period following Yugoslavian control, i.e. after the end of the First World War. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 2410 California Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008-1679 Tel: 202-462-6566 Fax: 202-797-9663
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| Österreichisches
Staatsarchiv, Vienna Before deciding to contact the Austrian State Archives for its list of original settlers, you may wish to consult their records on microfilm via your local Family History Centers. Records are handwritten, and some of the handwriting is hard to read. The address of the archive is: Oesterreichisches Staatsarchiv The State Archive has a separate subdivision called the Vienna War Archive which holds all the personnel records of the former Austro-Hungarian army, navy and air force. If you have an ancestor who served and wish to research this, please consult this summary from our Austrian pages. It is advised that you send everything you know regarding your Banat-born ancestor, e.g. name, birth date and place, parents' names, and the name of the military regiment in which the father served. There is no fee involved. It is advised to enclose two International Reply Coupons and write your letter in German. The reply will also be in German. Should you be in Vienna, Austria: 1. The archive is located on U-Bahnlinie 3, Endstation Erdberg 2. Hours open to the public: Monday and Thursday, 9:00 - 17:00, Tuesday and Wednesday, 9:00 - 18:00, Friday, 9:00 - 13:00 3. Anyone can visit and search in the archives. (In other words, you can hire somebody in Vienna to search in the archives for you. The archives itself however do not offer such a service beyond answering basic mail inquiries).
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| Archdiocesan Archives
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| US National Archives, Washington, DC Contains the Einwanderungszentralstelle (EWZ) Anträge, records of ethnic Germans applying for German citizenship during the period 1939-45. |
| AKdFF Library in the Haus der Donauschwaben,
Sindelfingen The AKdFF maintains in the Haus der Donauschwaben a large genealogical library as well as an archive. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bibliothek im Haus der Donauschwaben, Sindelfingen Independent of and separate from the AKdFF library is another extensive library in the Haus der Donauschwaben with materials mostly about Donauschwaben folk culture. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bibliothek im Institut für
Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart A unique and very extensive library with around 400,000 volumes about German colonies, land records, culture, emigration, etc. In the area of general history, its collection is probably even more impressive than that of Sindelfingen, which however exceeds it in its collection of local histories. The Donauschwaben-related material concerns mostly the Banat. The Institute does honor long-distance loan requests, even to North America. In the case of short articles, it will, for an extra charge, send photocopies. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bibliothek
im Institut für donauschwäbische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Tübingen The library comprises close to 10,000 volumes on various topics; there is also a large collection of Heimatbücher. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus, Düsseldorf 50,000 volumes, 3,100 maps. 5 volume catalog as well as a special catalog for Donauschwaben. Borrowable: 1,300 volumes of the AGoFF Since 1963. Bismarckstr. 90, 40210 Düsseldorf, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Johannes Künzig-Institut für ostdeutsche
Volkskunde, Freiburg 15,000 volumes, 1,200 periodicals (cataloged). Donauschwaben catalog. No loaning. Since 1953. Silberbachstr. 19, 79100 Freiburg, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bibliothek
des Herder-Instituts e.V., Marburg 300,000 volumes, 23,000 maps. Complete catalog for East-Central Europe. Picture archive. Since 1950. Gisonenweg 5-7, 35037 Marburg, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Haus des Deutschen Ostens, Munich 50,000 volumes, 2,800 maps. Since 1970. Am Lilienberg 5, 81669 Munich, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bibliothek und Archiv des Südostdeutschen
Kulturwerks, Munich 30,000 volumes. Since 1951. Leo-Grätz-Str. 1, 81379 Munich, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Bibliothek des Südost-Instituts, Munich 90,000 volumes, 1,100 periodicals, 2,400 maps. Six volume bibliography for Southeast Europe. Since 1951. Güllstr. 7, 80336 Munich, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Institut für Heimatforschung, Rottenburg/Wümme 6,500 volumes. Since 1964. East German library. Gerberstr. 12, 27356 Rottenburg/Wümme, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Immigrant
Genealogical Society, Los Angeles The IGS library has a shelf of Donauschwaben books including:
The library is open three days a week: Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, except holidays, and visits are free for members, $2 for non-members. (Sorry - They don't do Interlibrary Loans). Dues are $20/year. The IGS will do some searching for you for a price. Send a SASE to them giving specifics of what you are after.
Library address: Mailing address:
1310-B W. Magnolia Blvd. P. O. Box 7369
Burbank, California Burbank, CA 91510-7369
Phone: (818) 848-3122 USA
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