Lately, I have become very interested in genealogy research as have many other people judging from the numerous websites, databases, guides, and other resources dedicated to that topic. To get my family history research started, I interviewed my parents who directed me to our family (heritage) book.
What are Family Books?
In Germany, events like births, marriages, and deaths must be registered within a certain time frame with the local registrar. (Personal Status Act, § 15). For every marriage that was registered between December 31, 1957 and January 1, 2009, the local registrar’s office would automatically start a paper family “book” – index cards in DIN-A4 format that contained a collection of documents of several personal status events. It included the relevant data with regard to the marriage as well as the names of the parents of the couple. Subsequent events like name changes, the birth of a common child, or the dissolution of the marriage were added to the family book. When a couple moved to a different town, the family book “moved” with them, meaning that it was mailed to the respective registrar’s office in their new domicile. In 2007, there were an estimated 20 million (!) family books in Germany and the number was