German Genealogy: Transylvania Village List

- General Information -

• an Evangelical (Lutheran) community in 1944 or 1995 (since most Saxons are Lutheran)
• a "Heimatortsgemeinschaft" (HOG)
• Ortsgenealogen
• FHL microfilms
• literature, e.g. Heimatbuch.

1. VILLAGE NAMES: If you are searching for a specific village or are unsure of the spelling of the village name, start with the index page . Here, the village names (regardless of the language: German, Hungarian, Romanian or in dialect) are given in alphabetical order without any accents or Umlauts (e.g. Schäßburg is given on the index page as Schassburg). Use the table of contents and the searching capabilities of your Web browser to find the name of your village. A click on this name will lead you to the record for this village. Of course, all different names for a village lead to the same record.
2. LOCATION: All communities are in Romania.
   The approximate distance to a larger village is given in order to facilitate finding it on maps. You may also want to have a look at some interactive maps available on-line (for example MapQuest) . Use the official name of the village as given in the list.

   You can also browse through the list. It is sorted alphabetically (using the German name). Due to the large number of villages and to reduce loading time, this list has been split into 8 smaller sections:

   A-C    D-G    H-J    K-L   M-N    O-R    S    TZ

3. POPULATION:
   • Unless indicated otherwise, numbers refer to total population of the community
   • Many of the remaining Lutheran Transylvanian communities no longer have their own minister but are served by itinerant ministers. The size of the Lutheran community on 31.12.1995 is not necessarily an indication of the number of Saxons; members can also be Rumanian, Hungarian, Roma, etc. Figures for the rest of the communties (after Reps) will be added when available.
4. GENEALOGICAL RECORDS:
   • "Village name in FHL records" does not always correspond to usual spelling of village name
     
   • Many FHL microfilms contain gaps; only first and last years are indicated
   • FHL microfilms often contain more than just christening/marriage/burial records, e.g. confirmations, family registers (a most useful source!), etc.
   • Abbreviations: B = births/christenings; M = marriages; D = deaths/burials
   • 1819/20 Hungarian Land Census ("Conscriptio Czirakyana"):
     53 microfilms containing the feudal land tenancy census records: only those villages, (about 50% of Transylvania), which belonged to a feudal lord (i.e. were located on "Komitats- or Adelsboden") were enumerated. As a very general rule of thumb, communities in the Nösnerland, (i.e. around Bistritz), as well as around Hermannstadt, were not enumerated.
     - a search by name for the village of interest is not possible on the FHL CD
     - the villages are listed according to their Hungarian names
     - be aware that though the "item number" might contain data on up to 20 villages, for the most part, these are then in alphabetical order
   • Microfilms in Leipzig at the Deutsche Zentralstelle für Genealogie are generally - but not always - identical to those available at the FHL.
   • Information for Hermannstadt archives is contained in the newsletter of the Siebenbürgen Institut, Gundelsheim/Germany: Siebenbürgische Familienforschung 1992;9(2), p. 94-96. The Hermannstadt city archives contain more than what is listed in these pages, e.g. more recent records, church registers for other communities, as well as records for Orthodox, Greek-Catholic, Roman-Catholic and Reformed (Calvinist) church communities. Apparently, personal research in the archives is possible only after first contacting the National Archives in Bucharest. Write to:
     Arhivele Nationale ale Romaniei
     B-dul Regina Elisabeta 49
     C-70602 Bucuresti, Sector 5
     ROMANIA
     
5. MISCELLANEOUS:
   
   • Most Transylvanian communities were founded prior to written records, (and sometimes even these haven't survived natural [earthquakes, flooding] and human [war, fire] catastrophes), therefore the use of the term, "Documented", which refers to the first documented evidence of the village name. Often though the area was settled centuries earlier as archeological findings will attest.
   • Kirchenburg/church fortress: some are in good condition, some are being renovated, some are in a deplorable state, but often only the ruins remain
   • The Heimatortsgemeinschaften (commonly abbreviated as HOG), which are organizations of expatriat Transylvanian Saxons, are located in either Germany (where the majority reside today) or Austria. Many regularly sponsor trips to Transylvania, publish newsletters, hold dances and other cultural events, as well as get-togethers ("Treffen"). Dates, locations , and programs are generally published in the Siebenbürgische Zeitung.
   • To keep in touch many of the HOGs publish newsletters (called Heimatblatt, Heimatbote, Nachrichtenblatt, etc.) for former and present inhabitants of many Transylvanian communities on a fairly regular basis; [year] = the first year of publication. Further information can be obtained from the respective HOG
     
   • Ortsgenealoge (=village genealogist(s))
   • Ortsgeschichten (=village histories) as well as websites are predominantly in German
   • "Spelling with diacritics" refers to current name of community.
     For Romanian names, the cedilla under the letter s (which makes a sh out of it) and under the letter t (which makes a ts out of it) is missing. They are not reproducible with the commonly available character sets of the Web browsers. The breve (accent: "half a circle open upwards" over the letter a representing a short (brief) vowel) has been represented as a tilde over a, i.e. ã.
     After 1990, in many cases Romanian orthography was changed for the vowel î: it is now spelled â (as it was before 1950 or so). The pronunciation remains unchanged.
6. HEIMATBÜCHER:
   • The library in Gundelsheim, Germany , (abbreviated as: G) has a copy of most of these; some as well can be found in the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart (IfA) and Martin-Opitz-Bibliothek, Herne, Germany (MOB).
   • "SZ+date" = date of review or mention in the Siebenbürgische Zeitung.
   • Format: Place. Title. (author). Place of publication, publisher, year of publication. Number of pages, and other info. (Series [usually: Schriftenreihe der Siebenbürgisch-Sächsischen Stiftung]). Price (generally in DM). Holdings. Order address/Bezugsadresse: unless otherwise indicated, these are all in Germany.

• Heltmann, Heinz, Gustav Servatius. Reisehandbuch Siebenbürgen . 1992, Würzburg, Kraft Verlag. 570 p. ISBN 3-8083-2019-2.
• Mittelstrass, Otto. Ortsnamenbuch. 1992, Gundelsheim, Arbeitskreis für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde e.V. Heidelberg. (Historisch-landeskundlicher Atlas von Siebenbürgen; 1) ISBN 3-929848-00-7.
• Myß, Walter (ed). Lexikon der Siebenbürger Sachsen / Siebenbürger Sachsen Lexikon: Geschichte, Kultur, Zivilisation, Wissenschaften, Wirtschaft, Lebensraum Siebenbürgen (Transsilvanien). 1993, Würzburg, Kraft Verlag / München, Edition Wort und Welt. 624p.
• Newsletter: "Siebenbürgische Familienforschung"
• Nussbächer, Gernot. Aus Urkunden und Chroniken: Beiträge zur siebenbürgischen Heimatkunde. 4 Bd./vols. Bd. 4. 1994: Brasov, Aldus Verlag. 176 p.
  
• Series: "Die HOG stellt sich vor" published in the Siebenbürgische Zeitung; full texts are available on the SibiWeb .
• Wermes, Martina, Renate Jude, Hans-Jürgen Voigt. Bestandsverzeichnis der Deutschen Zentralstelle für Genealogie Leipzig Teil II : Die archivalischen und Kirchenbuchunterlagen deutscher Siedlungsgebiete im Ausland Bessarabien, Bukowina, Estland, Lettland und Litauen, Siebenbürgen, Sudetenland, Slowenien und Südtirol. 1992, Neustadt/Aisch, Verlag Degener. 189 p. (Genealogische Informationen; Bd. 25). Location: Salt Lake City: Europe book area 943.21/L2 K23w pt. 2.
  CONTENTS: Inventory of holdings of the German Central Office for Genealogy in Leipzig for former German settlements in Bessarabia, Bukowina, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Transylvania, the Sudetenland, Slovenia and south Tirol. Shows microfilm holdings for towns in each area. Indexed.