MyHeritage Updates Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Death Index 1874–1938 with 9 Million Records

 

We are pleased to announce an update to the Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Death Index 1874–1938 collection in collaboration with the Landesarchiv Nordrhein Westfalen, the State Archives of North Rhine-Westphalia. In this update, we have added 9 million death records from the districts of Düsseldorf and Köln, bringing the total number of records in this collection to 20 million. The collection of civil registration death records includes scanned images of the original records. MyHeritage is the first to index these images with the full support of the Landesarchiv, the State Archives of North Rhine-Westphalia — making the information in the images more accessible and readily searchable than ever before.

Search Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Deaths 1874–1938

Civil death registration records in Germany, called Personenstandsregister, are an excellent source of genealogical information. Kept by the German Civil Registrar, they cover 98% of the population and became mandatory in all German states by 1876. This collection now includes all of the death records from the districts of Arnsberg, Detmold, Münster, and more than half of the death records from Düsseldorf and Köln. 

Unlike previous releases that were by district or Regierungsbezirke, the death records of  Düsseldorf and Köln were archived into one single record group organized in alphabetical order based on the names of the registry offices or Standesämter within Düsseldorf and Köln. This release covers records from registry offices from A–R, beginning with the “Aachen” office and concluding with the “Rheydt” office. This collection will be updated once more in the future to complete the collection with the remaining death records from Düsseldorf and Köln.

The records contain the deceased person’s first and last name, maiden name, gender, religion, date, and place at the time of death, age at death, and date and place of birth, as well as the names of spouses, parents, and descendants. 

In addition, the records include administrative information such as the certificate number, date of registration, and the signature of the person reporting the death as well as the signature of the registrar.

Summary

The Germany, North-Rhine Westphalia Deaths 1874–1938 collection makes it easier than ever before to research your German roots and discover invaluable treasures.

Searching this collection is free. To view these records or to save records to your family tree, you’ll need a Data or Complete subscription.

If you have a family tree on MyHeritage, our Record Matching technology will notify you automatically if records from this collection match your relatives. You’ll then be able to review the record and decide if you’d like to add the new information to your tree.

Enjoy the collection!