Online German Emigration Records, Lists and Indexes

Note: "Emigration" means "to leave." These are records (or indexes to the records) of people who left Germany for somewhere else (usually North America). Emigration lists can be helpful for determining place of birth or residence, and the year or date someone left Germany. Names of spouses and children are sometimes included. Here is a list of links to websites that have emigration indexes or records for various places in Germany...

Baden-Württemberg

Württemberg Emigration Index a separate webpage has been set up to explain the various ways of searching this index, both online and off

Baden Emigration Index a separate webpage has been set up to explain the various ways of searching this index, both online and off

Auswanderung aus Südwestdeutschland - Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg You can search a database for Baden, Württemberg or Hohenzollern emigration here for free. When you get there click on "English" for an English language version.

Emigrants from Kreis Heidenheim (about 50 km north of Ulm in today's Baden-Württemberg)... Emigrants from Külsheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany to America & Elsewhere

Emigrants from Kuppenheim, Rastatt, Baden

Emigrants from Weisweil, Baden

Emigrants from Neuhausen ob Eck


Bayern (Bavaria)

Bavaria and Pfalz Emigration Database has over 149,000 entries

Fürth, Bavaria Emigration and City Directories, 1805-1913 from FamilySearch; images only, not indexed; emigration records cover 1805-1874

19th Century Emigrants from Central Franconia to North America

Bremen Emigration Records, December 1833 to August 1836 mostly for emigrants from Mittelfranken, Bavaria; requires membership in the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society

U.S. Emigrants from Stockstadt am Main Alphabetical Index of 19th Century Emigrants from Stockstadt am Main to America


Brandenburg

Brandenburg, Prussia Emigration Records Index at Ancestry (free to search with registration)


Bremen

Emigration of Bremen Citizens


Hesse (Hessen)

Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt Auswanderer-Nachweise Emigration database from the Hessen State Archives in Darmstadt Gross-Umstadt [Groß-Umstadt] Emigrants

List of Emigrants from the Village of Dodenau to the USA

United States Immigrants Originating from Lorsch or Kleinhausen (Einhausen) in Southern Hesse


Mecklenburg

Names of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Emigrants, 1844-1915
Lists about 2,800 emigrants from the district of Schwerin only.

The emigration from Mecklenburg-Schwerin to overseas countries, especially to the United States of North America scanned book with some emigrants listed


Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Rostock, Germany, Emigration Lists, 1855-1900 at Ancestry/requires payment


Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony)

Niedersachsen Staatsarchive Auswanderer Search for emigrants from Hannover, Osnabrück and Wolfenbüttel, 1825-1870

Auswanderdatenbank - Auswanderern aus dem Großherzogtum Oldenburg emigrants from the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg

Emigrants from the former Amt Damme, Oldenburg (now Niedersachsen), Germany, mainly to the United States, 1830-1849

Landkreis Cuxhaven Emigrants 1830-1930

Emigrant List from the former Duchy of Braunschweig 1846-1871 except the City of Braunschweig and the County of Holzminden, by Fritz Gruhne (surnames from the book)

Melle Emigrants to America family names (surnames) of emigrants from the Melle area (Groenenberg)

List of 3600 Emigrants from the Village of Buer and Surrounding Villages (Landkreis Melle, district Osnabrueck, Niedersachsen)

Emigrants from Emsland, Niedersachsen to the American Mid-West (19th Century) mostly to Illinios and Missouri

Schaumburger Auswanderer 1820-1914

Regional Emigration Databases includes Emigration from the Former County of Delmenhorst 1830-1930, County of Cuxhaven 1830-1930, Counties of Cloppenburg and Vechta 1830-about 1875, and Bad Laer 19th Century


Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia)

Emigrants from the Rhineland, 1816-1934

Auswanderer aus Köln (Emigrants from Cologne) derived from the above database

19th Century Emigrants from Minden, Westphalia 19th Century Emigrants from Münster, Westphalia Emigrants from the City and District of Bielefeld list of emigrants from the city and district of Bielefeld to North America, 1815-1900 (PDF document); also has a list of Jewish emigrant students from the Ratsgymnasium

America Emigrants from the District of Herford also includes:
  • Emigration from Greven in Westphalia in the 19th century
  • Emigrants from Gronau and Epe
  • Emigrants from Legden
  • Stemwede Emigrant Database (also see the next section)
  • Emigration from Ostbevern to America, 1833-1899
Stemwede Emigrant Database for the present-day district of Stemwede which includes the former districts of Dielingen-Wehdem and Levern. (Villages of the former district of Dielingen: Drohne, Dielingen, Haldem and Arrenkamp; Villages of the former district of Wehdem: Westrup, Wehdem, Oppendorf and Oppenwehe; Villages of the former district of Levern: Destel, Levern, Sundern, Twiehausen, Hollwede and Niedermehnen.) The Stemwede community is part of Kreis Minden-Lübbecke so also see the Minden listing above.

Hegensdorfer Auswanderer 1824-1893 [on this website]
List of emigrants from the village of Hegensdorf in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Also includes the nearby village of Keddinghausen.

Großeneder Auswanderer List of 19th century emigrants from the village of Grosseneder in Nordrhein-Westfalen. (The German Roots webmaster has ancestors from this village.)

Emigrant File Selfkant Emigrants from the Selfkant region along the Limburg (Netherlands) border, 1762-1934

Heimliche Auswanderung [Secret Emigration] aus 15 Orten (709 Personen)
A list of 709 people who emigrated from the Eastern part of Westfalen (today Nordrhein-Westfalen). These emigrants are from the following towns: Auenhausen, Borgentreich, Borgholz, Buehne, Dalhausen, Drankhausen, Manrode, Muddenhagen, Natingen, Natzungen, Ossendorf, Rothe, Sandebeck, Scherfede. Index to Emigrant Volumes By Dr. Heinz Marxkors: Series A and B includes...
  • Emigrants from the Former Counties of Büren and Paderborn in St. Libory, St. Clair County, Illinois
  • Auswanderer aus dem Ehemaligen Kirchspiel [Parish], im Ehemaligen Kreis [County], in der Ehemaligen Provinz Westfalen
List of 19th Century Emigrants from Alstätte (Alstaette), Westphalia to Cincinnati and Ohio
This village is now part of Ahaus.

Lippe Emigration Database - Emigration from Lippe to the USA

Emigrants from the Surrounding Area of Olpe, Westfalen, Germany to the United States of America

Rheine Emigrant List Rheine is in the Steinfurt district of Westphalia

Assorted Emigration Lists for Westphalia (from amerikanetz.de) includes...
  • List of Emigrants from Kreis Herford
  • Emigrants from Ostbevern to America, 1833-1899
  • American Immigrants from East Westphalia, 1840-1914
Also see the "MigraBase - Rheinland Emigration Database" listed in the next section.


Rheinland-Pfalz, Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate State Archives Emigration Database, 1815 to 1914 Click on the "Erweiterte Suche" (advance search) tab, then check the "Auswandererdatenbank" box

Palatinate Digital Migration Database (Digitale Migrationskartei) from the Institute for Palatinate History and Ethnology (IPGV)

Mainz, Germany, Emigration Register, 1856-1877 (at Ancestry/requires payment)

MigraBase - Rheinland Emigration Database from the Westdeutsche Gesellschaft für Familienkunde eV (West German Society for Family Studies) for the former Prussian Rhine province. Includes today's administrative districts of Düsseldorf and Köln (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Koblenz and Trier (Rhineland-Palatinate)

Auswandererdatei des Stadtarchivs Koblenz PDF list of more than 1800 emigrants from the city of Koblenz

Emigration Irscher Bürger nach Nord Amerika, 1856-1882 (Emigration of Irish citizens to North America, 1856-1882)

Emigrants from Pirmasens and the Surrounding Area

Also see the first link in the Bavaria section above for a database which includes some Pfalz entries.


Schleswig-Holstein

Emigration out of Schleswig-Holstein, 19th Century a database with over 100,000 names

Dithmarschen Emigrants, 1868-1920
A listing of about 3600 people who emigrated from Dithmarschen, Schleswig-Holstein.

Emigrants from Schleswig-Holstein to New Amsterdam (now New York) in 1636-1667


Thüringen (Thuringia)

Thüringen Auswanderer Datenbank

Rudolstadt State Archives: Emigration Database people who emigrated from the Thuringian principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen to the USA and other countries in the 19th century

Some 19th Century Emigrants from Sachsen-Coburg, Sachsen-Kronach and Sachsen-Meiningen (Coburg and Kronach are now in Bavaria)


General and Miscellaneous Databases

The Hamburg Passenger Departure Records [on this website]
Information about the Hamburg, Germany passenger departure records -- how to research them online and off.

Bremen Passenger Lists, 1920-1939
While most of the Bremen passenger departure records were destroyed, about 3000 of them from 1920-1939 (still incomplete) have survived and are stored at the Bremen Chamber of Commerce. A Bremen based genealogical society called Die Maus has transcribed these lists and put them online here.

German Immigrants, 1712-1933 at Ancestry/free with registration; includes searchable, digitized emigration lists from these six books by Clifford Neal Smith:
  • Emigrants from the Former Amt Damme, Oldenburg (Now Niedersachsen), Germany, Mainly to the United States, 1830-1849
  • Emigrants from Fellbach (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany), 1735-1930
  • Emigrants from the West-German Fuerstenberg Territories (Baden and the Palatinate) to America and Central Europe 1712, 1737, 1787
  • Emigrants from the Principality of Hessen-Hanau, Germany, 1741-1767
  • Emigrants from Saxony (Grandduchy of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach) to America, 1854, 1859
  • 19th-Century Emigration from Kreis Simmern (Hunsrueck), Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany to Brazil, England, Russian Poland, and USA
Migrabase - German Emigration Database has about 105,000 entries from miscellaneous sources

A New Land Beckoned: German Immigration to Texas, 1847-1861 at Ancestry/requires payment; scanned searchable book

Emigration from Banat
This database is taken from US Customs and Immigration passenger ship records prior to World War I. The mostly German settled Banat area was once part of the Austrian Empire and is now divided among Romania, Yugoslavia and Hungary.

The Old Lutheran Emigration at the Middle of the 19th Century by Wilhelm Iwan scanned book



Finding Emigration Lists in the FamilySearch Catalog

The Family History Library (FamilySearch) has microfilmed (and digitized) some German emigration lists. To find these records, do a place search for the area you are interested in and then look for the "emigration and immigration" topic. Start with the smallest place (name of town or village) and then work your way back to the kreis (county), state or region. Many of these emigration lists will have a variation of the German word "Auswanderer" in their title. Some items may be viewable online -- look for the camera icons in the catalog listings. Some may be restricted and viewable only at LDS Family History Centers, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, or some FamilySearch affiliated libraries. You can use the link below to start your search.