Where Are They Now?
The town, kindom, principality or duchie where your ancestor lived in Germany may be hard to find on a map of modern Germany. To help you find your way around German records, this list outlines the states (bundesländer) of modern Germany, along with the historical territories that they now contain. Germany's three city-states -- Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen -- predate these states created in 1945.Baden-Württemberg
Baden, Hohenzollern, Württemberg
Bavaria
Bavaria (excluding Rheinpfalz), Sachsen-Coburg
Brandenburg
The western portion of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg.
Hesse
Free City of Frankfurt am Main, Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt (less the province of Rheinhessen), part of Landgraviate Hessen-Homburg, Electorate of Hessen-Kassel, Duchy of Nassau, District of Wetzlar (part of the former Prussian Rheinprovinz), Principality of Waldeck.
Lower Saxony
Duchy of Braunschweig, Kingdom/Prussian, Province of Hannover, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (less the principality of Ratzeburg), western portion of the Prussian province of Pomerania.
North Rhine-Westphalia
Prussian province of Westfalen, northern portion of Prussian Rheinprovinz, Principality of Lippe-Detmold.
Rheinland-Pfalz
Part of the Principality of Birkenfeld, Province of Rheinhessen, part of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Homburg, most of the Bavarian Rheinpfalz, part of the Prussian Rheinprovinz.
Saarland
Part of the Bavarian Rheinpfalz, part of the Prussian Rheinprovinz, part of the principality of Birkenfeld.
Sachsen-Anhalt
Former Duchy of Anhalt, Prussian province of Sachsen.
Saxony
Kingdom of Sachsen, part of the Prussian province of Silesia.
Schleswig-Holstein
Former Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein, Free City of Lübeck, Principality of Ratzeburg.
Thuringia
Duchies and Principalities of Thüringen, part of Prussian province of Sachsen.
Some areas are no longer part of modern Germany. Most of East Prussia (Ostpreussen) and Silesia (Schlesien) and part of Pomerania (Pommern) are now in Poland. Similarly Alsace (Elsass) and Lorraine (Lothringen) are in France, and in each case you must take your research to those countries.
