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***** 6.0. SECONDARY SOURCES *****


Latest Update: 11 March 1997 (Links updated)

***** 6.0. SECONDARY SOURCES *****
keyword: FindSecondary

Secondary sources include those gleaned from original records by third parties, such as compilations of names of immigrants to the Banat.

*** Dorfsippenbuecher and Ortssippenbuecher are books collating data from various parish registers by family relationships. This is an improvement on the chronological arrangement by category (separate registers usually exist for Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths). For a fuller description and list of available "Buecher", please consult:

Volume VII, Number 2 German Genealogical Digest 245 North Vine Street #106, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103-1948. Back issues are for sale.

A very full list of these may be found on the World Wide Web (see FindWeb).

*** Heimatbuecher are German local history books, similar in style and content to American town and county history books, but written in German about German villages. Typical topics usually include a short history of the village, industry, agriculture, business, and lists of elected and appointed officials. Banat Heimatbuecher were often written by the local teacher, or another educated local citizen. Their usefulness in genealogy is to provide local "flavor" and corroborating evidence. Heimatbuecher were written for many Banat villages, and a list can be found within the German Genealogy World Wide Web pages (see FindWeb).

*** (1) Familien Geschichtsforschung [Family History Research] by Ribbe and Henning, paperback, 422 pages, 9th Edition published in 1980 by Verlag Degener & Co. This book is very detailed and covers all of Europe. The 11th edition was published in January 1996

*** (2) Wegweiser [Signposts] prepared by Arbeitsgemeinschaft ostdeutscher Familienforscher (AGoFF), 157 pages, second edition, released in 1982. This is a companion book to the above. The subject matter covered includes all of Central and Eastern Europe German settlements including Russia (USSR).

The purchase price (in 1986) for book #1 was DM 49.80; book #2 was DM 27.50 The publisher's may be written at : Verlag Degener & Co., Nurenberger Strasse 27, Postfach 13 40, 91413 Neustadt (Aisch), Germany. Telephone: 091 61 2028.

*** Donauschwaebische Familienkundliche Forschungsblaetter [Danube Swabian Family Notices Research Newsletter] is an essential resource for those seriously interested in Donauschwaben genealogy. These are published and mailed to AKdFF members (see FindSocieties to find out how to join the AKdFF) four times per year. Issue, Number 76, June 1995, features on page 262 (second page of this issue) a brief outline of what is obtainable for researchers from the AKdFF Library.

The archivist of AKdFF, Josef Schmidt has compiled in a 36 page brochure regarding research activities and literature selection specifically pertaining Donauschwaben research. All indexes, Ortssippenbuecher (books published after WWII on all communities in the Batschka and Banat) are listed, as well as Microfilm copies such as church records in the archives at the AKdFF. This information can be obtained from the address: AKdFF Library
Josef Schmidt
Goldmuelhlestrasse 30
71065 Sindelfingen, Germany

This information was published in 3 sets: Set or Heft I and II cost DM 3, Set III just released, costs DM 5. All 3 volumes combined cost DM 12. You will also need to know the mailing cost. For Germany the cost is DM 3. In summary, the Donauschwaebische Forschungsblaetter are rich with interesting and valuable information; On page page 280 (last page) of publication no. 76, you will find a listing of 27 books ranging in price from DM 5 to DM 80 which are also obtainable from Josef Schmidt at the Sindelfingen address.

*** Quellen zur Deutschen Siedlungsgeschichte in Sudosteuropa[Sources of German Settlement History in Southeast Europe] (Im Austrage der Deutschen Akademie und des Gesamtvereines der deutschen Geschichts und Altertumsvereine) by Franz Wilhelm und Josef Kallbrunner, 1936, Ernst Reinhardt Verlag Muenchen ISBN # 3-89433-005-3 This book is indexed. It is available on inter-library loan and also available as Family History Center microfilm #0897413.

*** Index card compilations by the Ausland Institut in Germany in the 1930's are also available on numerous microfilm rolls through the LDS Family History Centers. Similar index cards are available from the Oesterreichisches Staatsarchiv Wien in Finanz u. Hofkammer Archiv Wien "Ansiedlerorte Batschka-Ungarn circa 1686-1830" (LDS microfilms 1326491 and 1326493, for example).

*** A series of books by Werner Hacker has also been microfilmed and is available for loan through the LDS. These are organized in volumes concerning emigration from specific areas of present-day Germany. Titles include:

1) Auswanderung aus dem fruheren Hochstift Speyer
2) Auswanderung aus Baden und dem Breisgau
3) Auswanderung aus dem Sudostlichen Schwarzwald...
4) Auswanderung aus Oberen Neckar...
5) Auswanderung aus dem nordlichen Bodensee...
6) Auswanderung aus dem Raum der spateren Hohenzollerischen Lande...
7) Auswanderung aus Oberschwaben
8) Auswanderung aus dem Territorium der Reichsstadt Ulm...

*** The Suffering of the Germans in Communist Yugoslavia, Volume 4. (in German),
Leidensweg Der Deutschen Im Kommunistischen Jugoslawien, Band IV) This series, written in German, documents the treatment of the Donauschwaben by Tito's Partisans from the closing days of World War II.

Band IV is a list of the names of the approximately 69,000 Donauschwaben victims of the war, detention/expulsion camps, and shipment to the Soviet Union as war reparation/slave labor. This book is intended as a memorial to the victims, but is also useful as a genealogical source. Names are listed by village in the various regional sections. However, this book and the other volumes of this series are concerned only with the Donauschwaben in Yugoslavia in the 1940's and early 1950's.

If a surname is found in the same village in both the 1828 census (see FindPrimary) and in 1944 (the Leidensweg book), your ancestors were rooted to their home and probably other records exist to fill in the timeline. These sources contain some genealogical data, but their primary usefulness is an index to surname/village links.

This series of four "Leidensweg" books (bands) is copyrighted by Donauschwaebische Kulturstiftung and is available through the:

Arbeitskreis Donauschwaebischer Familienforscher (AKdFF)
Goldmuehlestrasse 30
71065 Sindelfingen
Germany

They also can be purchased through:
Heimat Publishers
1 Lyme Regis Crescent
Scarborough, Ontario,
CANADA M1M 1E3
Telephone: 416-267-8425

*** The Fate Of The Germans In Hungary, a selection and translation from Dokumentation der Vertriebung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa, published by the Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees and War Victims, Bonn. Book printed 1961 by Schwarz & Co., Goettingen, Germany.

*** Documents on the Expulsion of the Germans from Eastern Central Europe sub-titled The Expulsion of the German Population from Hungary and Rumania. A large map pinpoints German settlement areas in Hungary. Much of this book is in the form of interviews of former occupants of Hungary and Rumania.

*** There is still a great deal of unexplored information to be found in the archives in Vienna. There are reports bundles of information in dark corners sitting there to be explored and that no human has touched in over a hundred years.

*** 6.1 Libraries ***
keyword: FindLibrary

If you find a book is out of print or unavailable at your local library, consider use of Interlibrary Loan. This program allows you to borrow books from remote libraries simply by applying through your local one. Usually there is a nominal fee and sometimes there are restrictions on what you can do with the book, for example, not being allowed to remove it from library premises. Ask the Reference Desk at your local library for more information.

One tip for using Interlibrary Loan is to get the ISBN (a number which uniquely identifies a book) of the book you want. This tends to make searching easier for your local library.

Some researchers have reported trouble getting loans from the Library of Congress. There appears to be some variance in the rules on what can and cannot be loaned out. One researcher reports that writing a letter to their local U.S. Representative (Congressman) has been helpful in freeing up books.
*** 6.2 U.S. Federal Census Records and Census Abstracts ***
If the final destination of a Banat emigrant to America is known, sometimes Federal Census records will show the birthplace of that immigrant back in the Banat.

Example: Some of the 1900 and 1910 Federal census records for the southwest part of North Dakota have been extracted by David Deyer. He has identified over 840 perosns born in the Banat living in Stark, Dunn, Hettinger and Morton counties of North Dakota during this 1900 to 1910 and has confirmed the spelling of most of them against two other contemporaneous sources.

Research Strategy: Using Federal Census and Homestead records to locate Naturalization Records Immigrants usually settled where good homestead land could be developed into farmland. Most adult male immigrants (and a small number of female immigrants) homesteaded property.

Dreyer has employed a record research strategy of taking the census location and converting it into a property description through BLM (Bureau of Land Management) records to access the correct homestead record at the National Archives. These homestead records often contained naturalization and other information of importance to a family history record searcher.

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