Memorial tablet for the soldiers killed during the War of the Sixth Coalition (prootestant church St. Ägidius, Hergisdorf, Saxony Anhalt)
Data of baptism, mariage, and death of military personnel and often their families were kept in regimental and garrison church registers. For genealogical research in this kind of sources it is helpful to know the place or region of enlistment, the approximate dates of service, and the exact regiment.
A printed directory of the 4087 preserved military church records available in about 156 different archives or rectories in Germany can be found in:
Wolfgang Eger: Verzeichnis der Militärkirchenbücher in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Neustadt an der Aisch, 2 Bände, 1993/96
The archivist, writer and filmmaker Rick Prelinger founded the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by the Library of Congress in 2002. Prelinger has partnered with the Internet Archive to make 1,970 films available online for free viewing, downloading and reuse.
Our tip for the month of April is the German-speaking webpage sonderarchiv.de about the Central Military Archive in Moscow. This archive containes mainly repositories of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) and subordinate administration departements. The records were produced by these institutions themselves or transferred to them by other communal or public authorities. Also materials confiscated by the Reichssicherheitshautpamt either in Germany or in the occupied territories belong to the Moscow archive.
