Lübeck, Germany, Personal Index Cards, 1300s-1850

About this collection

This collection contains index cards recording vital events such as births or christenings, marriages, and deaths extracted from genealogical sources for the city of Lübeck. The collection covers the years 1300 up to and including 1850. The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is an independent city situated on the Trave River near the Baltic Sea, about 40 miles from Hamburg in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It was one of the most important cities of the Hanseatic League in the Middle Ages. Lübeck is known for its medieval landmark, the Holsten Gate and as a producer of marzipan. It was the implied setting of Thomas Mann's novel, “Buddenbrooks.” Its well-preserved old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lübeck is known as "The City of Seven Towers" because of the Brick Gothic churches that dominate its skyline.

Since 1914, about a million index cards have been created in order to improve access to numerous genealogical sources. Primarily, they reference church, civil registration and citizenship records compiled between 1842 and 1848 by Hermann Schröder. The index cards list the names of persons mentioned in the originals and summarize the most important information to be found. They are organized alphabetically according to the first letter of the last name, then by first name, and then by date.

What you can find in the records

The index cards are handwritten or typewritten and may contain the following information:

• Last Name and Given Names of the person referenced
• Date and type of vital event
(including information on births, baptisms, parents, marriages, deaths, citizenship applications, homeowners, wills)
• Cross reference to the source in which the person is mentioned (usually an abbreviation)

More about using this collection

To browse images of the index cards availalable, under "Browse this collection” select the first letter of the last name desired. Then browse alphabetically to find the grouping in which the desired last name would occur. Archiv der Hansestadt Lübeck has published a list of abbreviations used in this collection along with extensive source information in the following publication:

Kruse, Meike: Wo finde ich was? Handbuch zur Familien-, Personen- und Hausforschung im Archiv der Hansestadt Lübeck. In: Kleine Hefte zur Stadtgeschichte, Heft 18, Lübeck 2005.