Find German Ancestors! Bridge the Gap with New International Network

A new international resource can help those with German roots bridge language and information gaps to find German ancestors.

Recently I heard from Timo, a longtime Genealogy Gems fan and fellow genealogy podcaster whom I’ve met on the road before. He wrote to tell me about an exciting new international partnership to help those with German roots–wherever they live now–to reconnect with their German ancestors.

The partnership is called “Bridging the Gap between North America and Europe for Genealogists.” It’s a joint effort of the Germanic Genealogy Society, a German genealogy umbrella organization called Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft genealogischer Verbände, and the Pommern Regional Group of Minnesota.

According to the partnership webpage, “This partnership forms a German-American genealogy structure between countries and organizations for sharing contacts and genealogical research. This partnership is open to all organizations interested in Germanic genealogical research.” Their plan is to develop contacts between members and organization and pool their collective knowledge of research strategies, resources, websites, guides, experts and speakers. They may eventually host conferences.

The partnership is between organizations, so to participate you’ll need to belong to one of the member societies. In addition to the founding partners listed above, several other societies have joined and others are in the process (see the partnership webpage, above). If you already belong to a society that has enough members with German roots, why not encourage your society to join the partnership?