„Ahnenforschung macht frei“

in the last third of the nineteenth century, genealogy in germany was clearly on the rise. in 1869, a national genealogical society Herold, Verein für Heraldik, Genealogie und verwandte Wissenschaften was established in Berlin and began laying the foundations for genealogical research and popularizing its results amongst the german public. one year later, a parallel society Adler, heraldisch-genealogische Gesellschaft was founded in Vienna. Both societies viewed themselves as non-profit organizations whose main task was to promote research in historical genealogy, heraldry, and related fields such as sigillography (the study of seals) and vexillology (the study of flags). During the 1870s, in registered societies all around germany, descendants of common remote ancestors gathered and established archives devoted to the documentation of their particular familial histories. the interest in genealogical investigations intensified at the beginning of the twentieth century, when local organizations for the promotion of genealogical studies appeared all around germany. 1902 saw the foundation of the Central Office for German Personal and Family History (Zentralstelle für Deutsche Personenund Familiengeschichte) in leipzig and Roland in saxony; local branches of the national organizations soon followed. these societies published journals dealing with various methodological aspects of genealogical work and brought to the fore the results of genealogical inquiries. During the first decade of the twentieth century, several german universities included genealogy as a course in the curriculum of historical studies. At the same time, popular textbooks and guides on how to personally conduct a search into family roots were published and garnered enough public attention to justify further editions and publications.