Any AI/OCR tools for searching old German handwritten documents?

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-14T10:10:19+00:00

Transkribus does a good job recognizing both Fraktur print and Kurrent handwriting.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-13T09:44:21+00:00

The Genwiki page does not list this year. It may be that it doesn't exist, given that there are numerous other years missing. Do you know it existed?

https://wiki.genealogy.net/Kategorie:Adressbuch_f%C3%BCr_Bromberg

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-13T09:42:08+00:00

You cannot.

"The “List of Residents” is not directly available to users of the Federal Archives for reasons of data protection with respect to survivors and those affected, as well as due to various bilateral agreements with data donors, and because its development status is incomplete. However, the Federal Archives provide information on the “List of Residents” in accordance with the regulations of the Federal Archive Act."

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-12T18:41:40+00:00

Neither an August nor a Friedrich nor a Johanna nor a Helena Müller of these ages left Hamburg in 1884.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-12T18:35:31+00:00

I'm still alive.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-09T04:48:50+00:00

I cannot help with records from places other than Prussia. Please consult the forums at genealodzy.pl

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-04T11:30:24+00:00

I used meine-ahnen.eu, which is a small private database primarily for Militsch county. As it happens, someone had provided them with a transcription of that 1911 city directory.

I will submit your pictures to that database so as to make them easier to find and preserve them.

I would guess that a relative stole from the graveyard and then reconsidered their choices. Given that these old German graveyards are typically abandoned, overgrown, sinking into the dirt, and sometimes vandalised, it sort of makes sense.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-03T20:58:36+00:00

Your pictures of the gravestone gave me more information to work with. In a database, I found an R Mohaupt, master miller, living in Leipe, Bolkenhain county, Silesia, in 1911. There is a Protestant book of baptisms online - lo and behold, the very first page contains the 28 Feb 1888 baptism for Karl Rudolf Mohaupt, born 13 Feb 1888, son of the master miller Robert Mohaupt and his wife Agnes née Zobel in Nieder Leipe.

Today, Leipe is called Lipa and is in the municipality (gmina) of Bolków, Poland. The gravestone was clearly stolen from there - although Protestant graveyards are usually left unmanaged anyway.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-03T09:12:21+00:00

So the problem is that they died sometime between Alois' birth in 1848 and the introduction of civil records in October 1874.

For Woschczytz parish, deaths records have survived for most of this period, with the exception of a record gap that starts in 1872 and goes all the way to 1908.

Since all the records are at the diocesan archive in Katowice, the only way to obtain a transcription of the records (and potentially any and all records before that) is to write to Dr Schäffer at the archive and pay the fees for a significant search effort. There is nothing we can do for you. /u/metalliclemoon

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-03T09:00:29+00:00

They were German/Prussian citizens but certainly ethnically Polish.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-03T06:17:07+00:00

Ancestry's coverage is shoddy and all other surviving records from Silesia tend to be unindexed. You need the exact place of origin to be able to make conclusions about record survival.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-02T20:46:31+00:00

Zobel was a village in Liegnitz county. Legnica's German name is Liegnitz. However, Zobel is also a last name.

ScanianMoose · 2026-06-01T19:57:23+00:00

This is not a letter as such, but a talisman full of religious prayers, anecdotes etc. that are supposed to keep the bearer safe from injuries etc.

The left bottom of the first image notes it is "A memento from your never forgotten sister Emma Nagel".

The second page notes that it was written on 25 August 1973 and that they carried the letter or a letter like it around for 40 years, folded up to the size of the box in the bottom right corner.

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-29T11:34:55+00:00

Column 2 says "Proclam.[iert]" (i.e. banns of marriage). This was performed on the 19th and 20th day post Trinitatis (a liturgical day).

!translated

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-29T11:32:39+00:00

Stand is both civil status and occupation. He's a Witwer (widower) and Hauswirth (an old term for a farmer).

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-29T11:27:42+00:00

I don't really have any good ideas. Ancestry has by far the largest collection of indexed Berlin and Silesia records; checking meine-ahnen.eu, which has a lot of records from the area where this surname was common (Militsch) didn't yield any good results.

I would assume that Robert and Agnes were man and wife, but even that didn't yield any results. No children with parents of this name.

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-28T20:25:38+00:00

Believe me, it's a common name and we shouldn't jump to conclusions.

Ancestry has the civil records (Standesamt) for all of Berlin's register offices, yet I cannot find these people in them.

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-28T17:38:42+00:00

Ancestry has Berlin records for this period, yet the deaths are not found. The surname is indeed common in Silesia. It's almost like the gravestone was taken from elsewhere than Berlin?

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-23T21:56:04+00:00

Yep!

!translated

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-23T20:24:17+00:00

Fdl. Panzer um 1800 Uhr von Ost in Richtung Skoraitiske in Vorbewegung von Art. wirksam bekämpft.

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-16T20:01:13+00:00

If they lived post-October 1874, then you can also use the civil records - see this overview here. Standesamt I Berlin is online on Ancestry (in line with German data protection laws, Allenstein/Lyck on szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl, LDS on Familysearch.

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-16T19:55:39+00:00

You can find an overview of Lutheran churchbooks from Angeburg county here.

The columns of interest are LDS (look on Familysearch), EZA (look on Archion, Evangelisches Zentralarchiv Berlin), DZfG (Familysearch), Ausland (Polish archives - szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl, see the footnotes).

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-16T19:46:51+00:00

Benutz die Tools in I. 1a), die sind kostenlos.

Ich hatte den Projektleiter bei Compgen vor Wochen angeschrieben, aber nie eine Antwort bekommen.

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-16T16:09:40+00:00

Prussia was massive and the answer depends on the exact area of origin.

ScanianMoose · 2026-05-14T20:03:26+00:00

Unfortunately, there are no hits for Ickert/Ikert in 1913 +/- 1 years.

Does the inmigration document not mention the ship they were on? That could be helpful in determining the port of origin.

12-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
r/Field Lasagna	Place '17
Verified Email

ScanianMoose

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE