Welcome to the most comprehensive database of its kind in the world. It contains 109515 locations with over 45.115 name changes once, and 5,500 twice and more. All locations are EAST of the Oder and Neisse rivers and are based on the borders of the eastern provinces in Spring 1918. Included in this database are the following provinces: Eastprussia, including Memel, Westprussia, Brandenburg, Posen, Pomerania, and Silesia. It currently list most towns or points, points being: Mills, some bridges, battlefields, named trees, cenotaphs etc. As more information becomes available, (books, maps, your input etc) this database will be updated. I would also ask to advise me of any mistakes you may find at:

ukrickha@memlane.com

You have several ways or criteria to search.
1. German name
2. Older German name
3. Kreis/County
4. By the next larger town, (this is a proximity search.)
5. Today's Polish, Russian or Lithuanian name.
6. by Family Name

For my Polish visitors: No consideration is given to any accents of the Polish language.

Any language evolves over time. Below is a list of letters and words which may have been changed and you may consider in entering these changes into your search.

C with G or K, CK with K, CZ with SCH, DT with T, F with W, FF with W, IE or I with Ü,.

PH with F, T with D, TH with T, Tsch with SCH, X with CHS, Y with I.

Thal with Tal, Torf with Dorf, Guth with Gut, Louise with Luise, Hoff with Hof

The word Torf may not be confused with today's word Torf which is peatmoss.

Also consider the possible misreading of the old German writing of C which looks like a L . M which looks like a W or vice versa and B which looks like an L as well. Please refer to the alphabet in the map section.

How to use Database:
In order for you to find the name of the town that you are looking for, we have allowed the use of wild cards. Either * or ? can be used instead of a letter.The following examples will demonstrate how to use the wildcards.

Ex. If you know that the German town you are looking for starts with an A, but you do not know any other details you do the following:

• Place an A followed by nothing.

Ex. If you know that the German town you are looking for ends with the letter TEN, but you are not sure of what the city name begins with you could do the search as follows: *ten, but enter the province as well, since you are going to have too many returns.

If it contains the syllable: ten, place *TEN* in the search field (This would return entries like Altensiedel, Entenfang, etc.) which contain both the syllables - ten - within.

The ? wildcard is a pattern matching card and is best used when you know more about the town that you are looking for.

Ex. As in the first example you are looking for a German city that starts with an A, but this time you also know that there are 4 letters in the name and it ends with an N. So you would place the following in the German Name text box:

• A??N. ( This would return entries like ARUN,ATON etc) Each question mark will return a town with one more letter.
   
• A???N five letter town like: Abken, Alben.
   
• A????N six letter town beginning with A and ending with N like: Ammern,Adrian,Alexen.
   
• A?? will return all three letter towns beginning with A: Like Abo, Alk.
   
• A??? will return all four letter towns beginning with A: like Abow, Auer.
   
• NOTE More information will NOT increase your chance finding your ancestral home, but enter your province if possible it will reduce the amounts of returns. Keep it brief. Bitte Eingabe kurz halten, dann haben Sie eine größere Chance den Ort zu finden.

Good Luck in your research. Viel Glück in der Forschung

Uwe-Karsten Krickhahn
239 Second Street S.W.
Medicine Hat, Alberta
Canada
T1A 4B1
ukrickha@memlane.com

Last Update: November 7 - 7 November - Listopad 7, 2023

Dauersuche, permanent search für/for:.. KRICKHAHN, Westpreußen, Ostpreußen. DETLEVS, DETLEFS,DOOSE, Heide, Stellingen, Rellingen, Schleswig-Holstein and Iowa, USA

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