Troisdorf, Germany, Deaths, 1811-1968

About this collection

This collection contains death records from Troisdorf covering the years 1858 up to and including 1968. Troisdorf is located in the Rhein-Sieg District in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated along the Sieg river, a tributary of the Rhine, about 10 miles northeast of Bonn and 15 miles southeast of Cologne. Sieglar, now part of modern Troisdorf, was first mentioned in a document from the year 832. The city's notable attraction is Burg Wissem which since 1982 has been home to Europe's only Picture Book Museum. In this collection, Birth records for Sieglar begin in 1811. The community was part of the Grand Duchy of Berg until 1813. Up to 1927, Sieglar had its own mayor. The municipality of Troisdorf, however, fell under the mayorship of Siegburg until 1899.

On September 20th 1792, the French National Assembly passed a law governing the documentation of civil status in France. The French model for recording Births, Marriages and Deaths was officially introduced when French troops began the occupation of the left bank of the Rhine on May 1st, 1798 and established new departments of France. After the establishment of the German Enpire, civil registration was taken over and performed by local registry offices beginning on January 1, 1876.

The civil registration records are usually arranged chronologically and bound in yearbook form. Occasionally, alphabetical directories of names were also 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

Civil registry death records were German-language forms that were filled in by hand. Beginning in 1876, standardized preprinted civil registry forms were used. In each record the date of a death 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 (sometimes including family relationship): Given Names, Last Name, Age, Occupation
• Deceased: Given Names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Occupation, Age, Residence, Birthplace, Spouse/Parents, Place/Date of Death
• Beginning in 1938, the records may also cross reference to corresponding birth and/or marriage registers
• From 1938 to 1957, the Cause of Death is often included
• Signatures

More about using this collection

Additional events from the life of the deceased were sometimes recorded later on in the margins of the record. 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. The “Informant” was usually a relative of the deceased. These records also document casualties (Kriegssterbefälle) from the Second World War. Occasionally, records for some of the dead were also later made available by the "German Office for the Notification of Next-of-Kin of Members of the Former German Armed Forces who were Killed in Action" (WASt) in Berlin. Between 1943 and 1945, this institution was temporarily located in Saalfeld.

Under "Browse this collection,” select the Civil Registry Office and Year Range for the desired records. If name directories, "Namensverzeichnis" are included," they may be located at the beginning or at the end of the respective register.