Working group of East German family researchers
The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ostdeutscher Familienforscher e. V. (AGoFF) is a genealogical association that deals with family research in the former German settlements in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe employs and its roots in 1927 in Breslau constituted Lower Silesian Association for genealogy has. With about 1000 members it is one of the largest genealogical associations in Germany. It is based in Herne .
Research area
The geographical research area deals with all areas in eastern and south-eastern Europe populated by Germans for a short time or longer and extends as far as the Urals. Research interest is not only the German population at the time, but all residents living in the region and their relationships with one another. Since in the final phase of the Second World War or shortly after the end of the war of around 18 million Germans in the eastern provinces around 14 million fled or were expelled westwards, today - two to three generations later - ancestors from these areas can be found in many German families . The largest in numbers include Silesia , East and West Prussia and Pomerania .
The association maintains a number of research centers and groups that coordinate the work of the members in the respective research areas.
history
Members of the Silesian Special Circle Wroclaw of the Central Office for German Personal and Family History, founded in Wroclaw in 1920 (today: Central Office for German Personal and Family History ) in Leipzig founded the Lower Silesian Working Group for Family Research in Wroclaw on March 24, 1927 as the first genealogical association in the province Silesia. As early as 1930, the magazine Der Schlesische Familienforscher was published, an important issue with genealogical information, archival finds and smaller editions, which was discontinued in 1944 due to the war. In 1935 the association was renamed the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Schlesische Kippenkunde . At the end of the war in 1945, he stopped working. Under the leadership of the last chairman, Curt Liebich , a new working group of Silesian genealogists was founded in 1948 , which in 1949 became a founding member of the German umbrella organization German Working Group on Genealogical Associations (DAGV). In 1953 it was renamed to its current name and on May 4, 1958, the group was constituted as a registered association in Herne. After Liebich, the chairmen Rudolf Schönthür (1962–1974), Fritz Modler (1974–1982) and Detlef Kühn (1982–2010) followed in long terms of office , until 2010 Jürgen Frantz was elected as chairman.
Members
The German-Baltic Genealogical Society is a member of the AGoFF and has the function of the "Baltic Research Center" there.
Library and archive
The literature collected from 1948 to 1980 is on permanent loan in the library of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus Foundation in Düsseldorf. More recent additions and the association archive are stored in the Martin Opitz Library in Herne.
Publications
- Archive of East German Family Researchers (AOFF), anthology for ancestral and family lists as well as source editions, has been published since 1952 (from 2010 in annual volumes, previously as booklet delivery)
- Zeitschrift für Ostdeutsche Familiengeschichte (ZOFG) (before 2010: Ostdeutsche Familienkunde ), for scientific genealogical representations and book reviews, has been published since 1953
- Guide for genealogical and historical research in formerly German settlement areas in Eastern Europe , archive and source guide , has been published since 1978 (6th edition 2009)
- Series of publications sources and representations on the personal history of Eastern Europe , ed. by Peter Bahl , individual volumes have been published since 2010
- Work reports (quarterly) for members
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jochen Oltmer: Migration. Forced migrations after the Second World War
- ↑ This and everything else according to: AGoFF website: History of AGoFF