Project Status Report II
- East European Microfilming in
GERMANY, POLAND,
BULGARIA and ARMENIA

Author's Preface: This is the second of two reports based on an intereview in July 1994 with Thomas Edlund, one of the librarian catalogers at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was published in the FEEFHS Newsletter Volume 2 Number 4 in the fall of 1994.

Part I of this Project Status Report, covering the balance of the Eastern European countires (including Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Russia, Slovakia and the Ukraine) is also available.

Persons interested in obtaining the latest filming project status are reminded that the full text of Thomas Edlund's speech on this subject (given at the FEEFHS Cleveland Conference in August 1995) is printed in the FEEFHS Newsletter Volume 3 Number 3 (for more information, see FEEFHS Publications

• Ostpreussen Kirchenbuecher -- This represents a collection East Prussian church books, originally obtained by Eric Suberlich. His collection fills 25 reels of microfilm.
  
  
• Central European Genealogy -- The Kietze Sammlung -- This card file of generic central European genealogy has been filmed. This collection fills 25 to 30 reels.
  
  
• Mappenstuecke Collection -- This is described as a "monstrous" collection of family-history pedigree charts. They could not be bound in book form, as they consist of about 30,000 envelopes, some containing published data, some not, all indexed by name. While this collection will take several more years to film, the next edition of the FHL catalog on CD-ROM or microfiche is expected to show the cataloging of some of these films.
  
  
• Saxony -- A major project in civil-record extraction is now underway in Saxony.
  
  
• Saxony Amtgerichtebuecher -- One of the major problems for German record searchers has been the lack of vital records, because of the inability of the Genealogical Society of Utah to gain approval to microfilm the many Lutheran church books in Saxony, Thringen and Hannover. Typically, all that has been available for Saxon towns has been a population register, except for a few locations covered by the Staatsarchives at Magdeburg and Weimar.
  
  A major project is underway to film the court and land records throughout Saxony. This involves going to the court house at each "Amtgericht" to film civil records. Some of these records start in the 1600's, others begin about 1768.
  
  An example of this is the town of Adorf (Oelsnitz, Saxony). Prior to the 3 Nov 1993 FHLC CD-ROM Catalog, no records were listed for this town. Now there are 47 reels of Adorf records from 1739-68 to 1839-49. They include all types of court and land records: 9 reels of contractual agreements (starting with film #1,816,660), 5 reels of inheritance and estate records, 6 reels of estate law suits, 4 reels of Superior court law suits, 7 reels of liens and leases and 16 reels of city court law suits. They are fully cataloged by year, but they are not indexed.
  
  As of September 1993, Amtgerichts in Saxony from A in the alphabet through Falkenstein were filmed, cataloged and in the Salt Lake City FHL computer catalog. This incredible project involves upwards of 15 camera crews. It may take a decade or more to complete Saxony. Estimates of the size of this project range from 10,000 to 30,000 reels of microfilm.
  
  
• Bayern (Bavaria) -- A long term project, started over 25 years ago, to film marriage banns and other civil documentation of vital data continues in Bayern this year and next:
  
  
• Bayerische Heiratbeleige -- These civil records, the marriage banns, as well as birth and death documentation related to marriages, are being filmed all over Bayern. They cover prior centuries. For example, two reels of Leimershiem, Bayern civil registrations span the era from 1816 to 1836 (starting with film #0,574,130). They are not indexed, but they are filmed in chronological order. Thousands of microfilm reels are involved and are found in the catalog under the town name.
  
  
• Brandenburg -- This is another sizable project involving Amtgericht court records:
  
  
• Brandenburg and Berlin Amtgerichts - While there are a fair number of church records on microfilm for Berlin and the province of Brandenburg, virtually no court records have been available on microfilm until this project recently came on line. Started in 1993, this involves an extensive amount of court records. Filming continues at this time. The resulting records will be similar to those described above for Saxony. Some may have been cataloged and show up in the next CD-ROM catalog, now expected out in the spring of 1995.

• Wroclaw (former Breslau): Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic church books, some dating from 1600 are being filmed. While not indexed, they are being filmed in chronological order.
  
  
• Tarnopol/Ternopol: Roman Catholic church books (1650-1900) have been filmed for this city formerly in Galicia and Poland, now the Ukraine. Greek Catholic church books to 1900 are now being filmed.
  
  
• Poznan : Filming of both the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox church books were completed here in 1992.
  
  
• Danzig/Gdansk: This is a new project to film parish records from the start of these records through 1900.
  
  
• Leslau/Wloclawek (in Bydgoszcz): This new project is filming Catholic parish books here.