Weimar, Germany, Births, 1876-1903

About this collection

This collection contains birth records from Weimar, Thuringia. It covers the years from 1876 up to and including 1903. It also includes some records from Tiefurt, Oberweimar, Ehringsdorf and Kleinkromsdorf which were formerly independent neighboring communities. Not all years may be covered for these communities. At the beginning of each year's register, you may find handwritten notes by the registrars that provide additional information. The historical designation, "Weimar Republic," for Germany, arose from the German national assembly held there in 1919. Grand Duchess Anna Amalia was a patron of writers, musicians and artists whose lives and works became the foundation of the cultural movement known as Weimar Classicism and resulted in numerous significant cultural institutions. The Goethe-Schiller Monument in front of the German National Theatre celebrates two of the best-known representatives of the movement. Weimar is located about 13 miles east of Erfurt. Starting in 1815 and during the time period of this collection, it was the capital of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach. In 1901 it became the Free State of Weimar and in 1920 it became part of the Free State of Thuringia, now a federal state of Germany.

Beginning on January 1, 1876, birth, marriage and death records in the former German Empire were created by local registry offices. The collected records are arranged chronologically and usually bound together in the form of yearbooks. These are collectively referred to as "civil registers." Complementary alphabetical directories of names may also have been created. While churches continued to keep traditional records, the State also mandated that the personal or marital status of the entire population be recorded.

What you can find in the records

Birth records were created using preprinted forms that were filled in by hand by the registrar. In each record the date of a birth usually differs from the date it was registered. Depending on the individual form or on the formulations used by the registrar, you may find:

• Sequential or Certificate Number
• Registration Date
• Informant: Occupation, Given Names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Residence/Address, Denomination
• Mother: Given Names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Denomination, Residence/Address
• Child: Birth Date, Time of Birth, Sex, Given Names
• Signatures

More about using this collection

Each record comprises one page. Additional events from the life of the child were sometimes recorded later on in the margins. These notes, sometimes referred to as "narration," can contain very useful information but they have not been indexed. As a result, information from the notes will not found via the search form. In cases where the child had not yet received a name at birth, the name was usually added later in the margin notes. However the name field in the search results will be empty. The “Informant” was often a midwife or the child's father. Under "Browse this collection,” select the Record Type, either Geburtsregister (Birth Records) or Namensverzeichnisse (Name Directories), and then the Year Range for the register desired.