What you see  is the largest database of its kind in the world. It contains over 71120 locations with over 30000 name changes. 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 (Ostpreussen), including Memel, Westprussia (Westpreussen), Brandenburg, Posen, Pomerania (Hinter-Pommern), and Silesia (Schlesien).  It currently list most towns or points, points being : Mills, some bridges, battlefields, named trees, cenotaphs, railroad stations as long as they had people living int them etc. At this point and time it is more a question of adding renames to this list. Also missing are some Güter and individual farmyards. Parishes and Standesämter are added up to 20 villages or towns each day. As more  information will be available, (books, maps, your input  etc) this database is updated almost daily. I would also ask to advise me of any mistakes you may find at:

ukrickha+memlane.com

Please substitute the + sign with an @ when sending an email

 How is everything arranged ?

What you see is,  firstly a German townname. Below it are none or several alternative name slots. Most towns or villages went through several name changes in their history. You can enter any of a potential  name a town may have had and it will lead you to the alternate names. With other words, a town may have as many as eight individual folders with the same information. Some of the additional name changes beyond the three are listed for now in the remark section. County (Kreis) .All Kreise have  a countyseat (Kreisstadt) and the Kreis is usually named after this city. Next Parishes and Diozeses.  Polish Province. Polish provinces are smaller then a former German Provinz. The accuracy of the borders are not guaranteed since I’m working with a larger scale map and given for reference only. Polish provincial names are those prior to 1999. Change over will be gradual. lGlobal position in degrees and minutes. Arranged east - north. Distance to next larger town which you may find on an ordinary roadmap, angle from this town to the searched town. Remarks are just that. Mostly a short explanation of abbreviations. It MAY contain some of the following: The towns history, administration district, teachers, Bürgermeister, Schulzen.  Basically anything which came across my desk and is relevant to the town. Please leave your email address and family name in the spaces provided.

A village or town with a number behind it ? For example: Bönkwohl 1785, means the village was called this way in 1785. Please note : It does not give you a time frame either way.

  A minute in north-south is always 1852 meters or 1 nautical mile. In east-west direction it is about 1000 meters in the northern part of Memel and 1200 meters in the southern part of Silesia.

PLEASE NOTE: All 100000 and 300000 maps are in stock. About 30 % of all 25000 maps are in stock. Total maps needed to cover the area covered in this database are 1550. Orders for missing maps are placed once every 3 month. Due to poor shipping habits of the Geo Center ILH in Germany delays of up to additional 8 weeks in your map order may happened.This could mean a total delay in a order of up to 5 months for 25000 maps if a map is NOT in stock or 4 months if on backorder from Germany. Please let me know if this is acceptable if shipping is delayed.

The basis of this databank are the Gemeindelexikons of December, 1, 1905.

Last Update: May 14, 2008