Saaldorf-Surheim, Germany, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1876-1983

About this collection

This collection contains Civil Registry records from Saaldorf-Surheim covering the years 1876 up to and including 1983. This municipality is located in the district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, Germany. It is 75 miles east of Munich and about 8 miles west of Salzburg, Austria in the historic region of Rupertiwinkel. It was first mentioned in a document from the year 788. Because of its proximity to Austria, Saaldorf-Surheim has been shaped by the eventful history of Salzburg and Bavaria. One interesting example is the old tradition of "Aperschnalzen" (competitive whipcracking) which is only practiced in the local area. In 1994, the community was officially named Saaldorf-Surheim. During the time period of this collection, Saaldorf and Surheim were independent communities belonging to the Kingdom of Bavaria until 1918. The date ranges of the Birth, Marriage or Death records may vary.

Beginning on January 1, 1876, birth, marriage and death records in the former German Empire were created by local registry offices. The collected records are arranged chronologically and usually bound together in the form of yearbooks. These are collectively referred to as "civil registers." Complementary alphabetical directories of names may also have been created. While churches continued to keep traditional records, the State also mandated that the personal or marital status of the entire population be recorded.

What you can find in the records

Birth, marriage and death records were created using preprinted forms which were predominantly filled in by hand by the registrar. In each record the birth date and the death date usually differ from the date they were registered. Depending on the individual form or on the formulations used by the registrar, you may find:

For Births:

• Sequential or Certificate Number
• Registration Date
• Informant: Given Names, Last Name, Age, Occupation, Residence
• Mother: Given Names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Age, Residence
• Child: Birth Date, Time of Birth, Sex, Given Names
• Signatures

For Marriages:

• Sequential or Certificate Number
• Marriage Date
• Groom: Given names, Last Name, Occupation, Residence, Birthdate and Birthplace, details about his Parents
• Bride: Given names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Occupation, Residence, Birthdate and Birthplace, details about her Parents
• Witnesses
• Signatures

For Deaths:

• Sequential or Certificate Number
• Registration Date
• Informant: Given Names, Last Name, Occupation
• Deceased: Given Names, Last Name, Maiden Name, Occupation, Age, Residence, Birthplace, Spouse/Parents, Place/Date of Death, Time of Death
• Beginning in 1938, the records may also cross reference to corresponding birth and/or marriage registers
• From 1938 to 1957, the Cause of Death is often included
• Signatures

More about using this collection

After the introduction of a uniform format in 1876, each Birth or Death record comprises an entire page. The records for Marriages comprise two pages which are displayed one after the other in our images. Additional events from the life of the Child, Couple or Deceased, or corrections made later by the registrar were sometimes recorded in the margins. These notes, sometimes referred to as "narration," can contain very useful information but they have not been indexed. As a result, information from the notes will not found via the search form. The “Informant” was usually a relative. In some of the earlier records only a house number my appear as the address. That is because, in some districts, streets were not given names until a later time.

These records also document casualties (Kriegssterbefälle) from the Second World War. Records for some of the dead were made available by the "German Office for the Notification of Next-of-Kin of Members of the Former German Armed Forces who were Killed in Action" (WASt) in Berlin.

Images for individual year-ranges may be displayed by selecting the Civil Registration Office in the box "Browse this collection,” then by selecting the Register Type and the Year Range desired. The record types listed are Geburten (Births), Heiraten (Marriages) and Sterbefälle (Deaths).