Finding People and Places in the USA and Germany


Online Telephone Books and People Finding Tools

People Searching - Finding Living and Recently Deceased People in the USA online tools for adoptees, genealogists and other missing persons searchers

Das Telefonbuch
German telephone book

German Phone Directories, 1915-1981 (at Ancestry/requires payment) for Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich (München) coverage varies by city

Berlin Address Books, Telephone Books and Yellow Pages, 1707 to 1991/1992

Historic German Address Book Search



Cities and Places

Google Maps
Here you can type in a place name and you will be shown its location on a map. Google Maps can be helpful for locating German, European, USA and other cities, towns and villages.

Michelin Map of Germany Online
On the left side, click on "Maps," then you can search for German villages or specific addresses

Geographic Nameserver (USA) from MIT; Enter a town and state, and the county it is in will be given.

German Town Locator [this site is in German]
An online database that gives the location of German towns.

German Postal Codes

Meyers Orts- und Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs by Raymond S. Wright III
Commonly know as the Meyers Gazetteer, these books describe approximately 210,000 cities, towns, hamlets and dwelling places in the German Empire prior to World War One. Originally published in Leipzig, Germany in 1912-13. You may be able to find it on microfiche at some LDS Family History Centers (FamilySearch). It can now be searched online (see links below). Please be aware that the Meyers Gazetteer is printed in the old German Gothic font which can be difficult to read. Prussia, Municipality Gazetteer, 1905 at Ancestry/requires payment (Gemeindelexikon für das Königreich Preußen, 1905)

Kartenmeister
An online database with more than 105,000 locations for places East of the Oder and Neisse Rivers. The following provinces are included: Eastprussia, Westprussia, Brandenburg, Posen, Pommerania and Silesia. You can search by current Polish, Russian or Lithuanian name, or the former German name.

How to Get Aerial Photos of Your German Ancestral Home [on this website]
Instructions on how to order aerial photographs of German towns from the U.S. National Archives.



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