Adalbert Goertz (goertz@cyberspace.org)
Back to Regions
Contents:
Q1: Where is Boehmen (Bohemia)?
Q2: What was Boehmen's recent history?
Q3: What were the administrative areas of Boehmen (Bohemia)?
Q4: Is there a listserv for Boehmen family researchers?
Q5: Are there maps available for Boehmen before 1945?
Q6: What books discuss hints and sources for East German searchers?
Q7: Any websites of interest to Boehmen researchers?
Q8: When were civil registers introduced in Bohemia?
Q9: What type of land records are available?
Q10: Are there links to dictionaries on the web?
=================================
Q1: Where is Boehmen (Bohemia)?
A1: Boehmen was an Austrian crownland. Its capital was Prag (Praha).
Q2: What was Boehmen's recent history?
A2: Boehmen was the base of the German kings since the middle ages.
The German Kaiser in Wien (Vienna) also was King of Boehmen (Bohemia)
until 1806, when Napoleon abolished the title of German Kaiser and
dissolved the German Empire.
At the close of the 30-Years-War Boehmen had an estimated population of
800,000, in 1772 it had 2.3 million, in 1800 exceeded 3 millions,
in 1890 had 5.8 million.
In 1890 the population was 96% Catholic, 2.2% Evangelical with more than
half of the Helvetic denomination, 1% Jews.
In 1891 Boehman had 4972 public elementary schools (2178 German and
2794 Czech) and 71 highschools (31 with German, 40 with Czech instruction).
In 1918 the Austrian monarchy was dissolved, and Boehmen became the
heartland of the new Czechoslovakia.
In 1938 Germany annexed the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
In 1939-1945 Boehmen was declared part of a protectorate of Germany.
Boehmen was cleansed of its ethnic German population in 1945.
The Western powers were silent on the ethnic cleansing.
CZECH REPUBLIC:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HISTORY:
Formed in 1993 when Czechoslovakia divided. Comprised
of the former Austrian provinces of Bohemia and Moravia.
Q3: What were the administrative areas of Boehmen (Bohemia)?
A3: In 1890 Boehmen (Bohemia) had the following Bezirke (administrative
and court districts):
Prag-Stadt,Reichenberg-Stadt;
Asch,Aussig,Beneschau,Bischofteinitz,Blatna,Boehmisch-Brod,
Boehmisch-Leipa,Braunau,Bruex,Budweis,Caslau,Chotebor,Chrudi n,Dauba,
Deutsch-Brod,Eger,Falkenau,Friedland,Gabel,Gablonz,Graslitz, Hohenelbe,
Hohenmauth,Horowitz,Jicin,Joachimsthal,Jungbunzlau,Kaaden,Ka plitz,
Karlsbad,Karolinenthal,Klattau,Kolin,Komotau,Koeniggraetz,Ko eniginhof,
Koenigliche Weinberge,Kralowitz,Krumau,Kuttenberg,Landskron,Laun,
Ledetsch,Leitmeritz,Leitomischl,Luditz,Melnik,Mies,Moldautei n,
Muehlhaus,Muenchengraetz,Neubydschow,Neuhaus,Neustadt,Pardub itz,
Pilgram,Pilsen,Pisek,Plan,Podebrad,Podersan,Policka,Prachati tz,
Prestitz,Pribram,Rakonitz,Raudnitz,Reichenau,Reichenberg,Rum burg,
Saatz,Schlan,Schluckenau,Schuettenhofen,Selcan,Semil,Senften berg,
Smichow,Starkenbach,Strakonitz,Tabor,Tachau,Taus,Tepl,Teplit z,
Tetschen,Trautenau,Turnau,Wittingau.
Q4: Is there a listserv for Boehmen family researchers?
A4: There is a GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L genealogy list for anyone with a
genealogical interest in Boehman and Maehren (Bohemia and Moravia,
now the Czech Republic)
Mailing address for postings is
GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L@rootsweb.com
To subscribe send the word "subscribe" (without the
quotes) as the only text in the body of a message to
GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L-request@rootsweb.com (mail mode) or
GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-D-request@rootsweb.com (digest mode).
Q5: Are there maps available for Boehman before 1945?
A5: A Generalkarte von Mitteleuropa, 1:200,000 and a
Spezialkarte der Oesterreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie,1:75,000
may be purchased from
Bundesamt fuer Eich und Vermessungswesen in Wien (Vienna)
(Landesaufnahme)
A-1080 Wien VIII
Krothenthallergasse 3, Austria.
Q6: What books discuss hints and sources for East German searchers?
A6: Wegweiser fuer Forschung nach Vorfahren aus den Ostdeutschen und
Sudetendeutschen Gebieten sowie aus den deutschen Siedlungsraeumen
in Mittel-,Ost- und Suedosteuropa (AGoFF-Wegweiser):
Verlag Degener &Co, 91413 Neustadt, Germany (1991 and later)
(The out-of-print English edition is being revised presently)
Germanic Genealogy (by Edward R.Brandt et alii), 2nd edition.
1997, St.Paul MN, 517 pp.,1st edition, 1995.
W.Krallert: Atlas zur Geschichte der deutschen Ostsiedlung,
Velhagen &Klasing, Bielefeld-Berlin-Hannover 1958.
There have been some calls recently for books in English on
the German exodus and ethnic cleansing in East Germany and
Eastern Europe:
Thorwald, Jurgen: Es begann an der Weichsel. 1951
Das Ende an der Elbe. 1952.
English: Flight in the winter;
[New York] Pantheon [1951] 318 p. 22 cm.
CALL #: 940.542 T52F
De Zayas, Alfred M.
Anmerkungen zur Vertreibung der Deutschen aus dem Osten.
English: The German expellees : victims in war and peace /
Alfred-Maurice De Zayas ; [original German version
translated by John A. Koehler].
New York : St. Martin's Press, 1993.
xlii, 177 p., [24] p. of plates : ill., map ; 22 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [161]-169) and
index. CALL #: DJK 28.G4D413 1993
De Zayas, Alfred M.
Anmerkungen zur Vertreibung der Deutschen aus dem Osten.
English: A terrible revenge : the "ethnic cleansing" of the east
European Germans, 1944-1950 / Alfred-Maurice de Zayas ;
[original German version translated by John A. Koehler].
1st pbk. ed. with additions.
New York : St. Martin's Press, 1994.
xlii, 179 p. : ill., maps ; 21 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [153]-171) and
index. CALL #: DJK 28.G4D413 1994
Germans Europe, Eastern History 20th century.
World War, 1939-1945 Refugees.
World War, 1939-1945 Atrocities.
Population transfers Germans.
Helfert, Erich A.:
Valley of the shadow : after the turmoil my heart cries no
more-- / Erich Anton Helfert.
[S.l.] : Donald S. Ellis ; Berkeley, Calif. :
Distributed by Creative Arts Book, c1997.
xxiii, 343 p. : ill, maps, port. ; 24 cm.
CALL #: 940.548243 H474v
World War, 1939-1945 Personal narratives.
World War II, 1939-1945 Refugees.
Refugees Sudeten Biography
http://www.iolaos.com/scriptorium/english/archives/whitebook /desg00.html
http://www.rollenhagen.de/Pommern/maps/saatzig.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~radde/FlightDanzig.html
http://members.tripod.com/~radde/ProcessExpulsionStolp.html http://memb
http://www.meaus.com/Expulsion_of_Germans.html
http://www.codoh.com/incon/incontrans.html
Q7: Any websites of interest to Boehmen researchers?
A7: Check the websites
http://www.genealogy.net/gene/reg/rindex.htm
http://w3g.med.uni-giessen.de/gene/reg/rindex.htm
http://www.iarelative.com/czech/
http://www.genealogy.net/gene/reg/SUD/sudet_en.html
http://www.qrz.com/gene/reg/SUD/lit-hb.html
http://www.qrz.com/gene/reg/SUD/sudet.html
http://www.qrz.com/gene/reg/SUD/sudet_en.html
http://www.adnc.com/web3/lynnd/gfaq.html
http://www.rootsweb.com/~gbhs/*
http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/go/feefhs/gbhs-fdb.html
http://www.netway.at/ihff/indexa.htm/ in deutscher Sprache
http://www.netway.at/ihff/index.htm/ in English
http://www.feefhs.org/ger/gbhs/frg-gbhs.html
Oesterreichisches Staatsarchiv:
http://www.oesta.gv.at
Microfilmed parish books of the Sudetenland area at Leipzig:
http://www.genealogy.com/gene/reg/SUD/kb-leipzig.html
Stiftung Martin-Opitz-Bibliothek Herne.
(ehemals B|cherei des deutschen Ostens)
Inhalt: \ber die Bibliothek. Die Martin-Opitz-Bibliothek....
e-mail: charly@charly.ping.de
http://w3g.med.uni-giessen.de/~geneal/kp/fome/andere/mob.htm l
Herder -Institut Marburg e.V. Gisonenweg 5 - 7, 35037 Marburg/Lahn
Telephon: 06421/184-0, Telefax: 184-139
e-mail: herder@mailer.uni-marburg.de....
http://www.uni-marburg.de/herder-institut/bibliohp.html
http://w3g.med.uni-giessen.de/~geneal/kp/fome/andere/herderm b.html
http://www.uni-marburg.de/herder-institut/klassi.html
If you have no access to the Web (www), you can direct web files to
your email box by sending a request to
getweb@usa.healthnet.org
or to
getweb@unganisha.idrc.ca
with the message HELP or
get http://.....
Q8: When were civil registers introduced in Bohemia?
A8: They were introduced in 1939.
LDS MICROFILMS:
Czech records have not been microfilmed by the LDS, and
there are no current plans, due to the Czech government.
Q9: What type of land records are available?
A9: Some land records go back to pre-1500 times and are usually
deposited in the district court archives.
Modern land deed books were introduced in 1874
Czech: POZEMKOVE KNIHY or GRUNTOVNI KNIHY
For summary of archives see
http://www.genealogy.net/gene/reg/SUD/crarch-list.html
http://www.qrz.com/gene/reg/SUD/sudet_crarch_en.html
http://feefhs.org/frl/czs/dg-arch.html
ARCHIVES:
Statni Ustredni Archiv v. Praze; Malastrana, Karmelitska 2;
118 01 Praha 1; CZECH REPUBLIC. Tel. 531 551.
BOOKS:
"A Handbook of Czechoslovak Genealogical Research", by
Daniel M. Schlyter. (GenUn, 1985, 1990). 131 pages.
($15). ISBN 0-912811-06-4. {Excellent in-depth guide
to research, detailing record types, archival addresses,
microfilms available, translation helps, etc.}.
OUT OF PRINT. A revised version, entitled "A Handbook
of Czech and Slovak Genealogical Research" is planned.
Q10: Are there links to dictionaries on the web?
A10: Links to Dictionaries to Estonian, German, Hungarian, Latin, Slovak,
Slovene, Russian, and others are found at:
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~pedro/dictionaries.html
http://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/~st5004/dictionaries.html
Suggestions for improvements are appreciated.
Adalbert Goertz (goertz@cyberspace.org)
Sponsored by the VU German Study Group Page
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