Record Atlas
4 eras · 1226–2026 · 8 places

East Prussia

Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Memel (Klaipėda), Allenstein (Olsztyn). Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Where researchers lose records here

1945–2026 — THE BIGGEST TRAP OF ALL, AND IT RUNS THE OTHER WAY. The population fled or was expelled and — unusually — MANY OF THE CHURCH REGISTERS WENT WEST WITH THEM. East Prussian Protestant registers are largely in Berlin and Leipzig, NOT in Kaliningrad. Looking for Königsberg records in Russia is the classic wasted year of German genealogy.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1226–1525 State of the Teutonic Order no registers survive

Before registers.
1525–1871 Duchy, then Kingdom, of Prussia Archion · Bundesarchiv · FamilySearch

Overwhelmingly Lutheran, so the church books are Protestant and Archion is the route to them.
1871–1945 German Empire — Province of East Prussia Archion · Bundesarchiv · Szukaj w Archiwach

Civil registration by Standesamt from 1 OCTOBER 1874, as everywhere in Prussia.
1945–2026 Russia in the north; Poland in the south; Lithuania at Memel Archion · Bundesarchiv · Szukaj w Archiwach · Lietuvos archyvai (Lithuanian State Archives)

THE BIGGEST TRAP OF ALL, AND IT RUNS THE OTHER WAY. The population fled or was expelled and — unusually — MANY OF THE CHURCH REGISTERS WENT WEST WITH THEM. East Prussian Protestant registers are largely in Berlin and Leipzig, NOT in Kaliningrad. Looking for Königsberg records in Russia is the classic wasted year of German genealogy.

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1226–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

8 places on this ground

40 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

All record regions · The map