What if my Heritage is gone?

Question

Ok I'm german and am trying to find out more about my family, i know about my Mom's side, which is Spanish, but my Grandfather imagrated here from germany during world war 2, and i know that hitler burned down some libraries, and what if my hamily history was burned? How would i find out if it was, or find out about my family. My Grandfather,would be no help, he forgot his native languge to forget the war.

Answer 1

Many of my family records were burned in courthouse fires in the Civil War and the archives fires.  It's not a dead end though. Those are just civil official records. Chances are there's still good newspapers, wills, ship lists etc. out there. While the n***s did destroy some things, they were also meticulous record keepers. Start by checking the records for his birthplace if you know it.

Answer 2

Right now you don't know that your history is lost.  Your grandfather could help a lot more than you can know. See where he came from and who his parents were. Start there. You can then see where he was born and what it is called now, then look for genealogy societies, libraries, etc that would hold the type of record you are looking for.

Answer 3

Start by finding out where he lived in Germany, then start tracing any historical documentation you can find.  You may be able to find out his birthplace and year, find his immigration/naturalization records, etc.

The "what if?" worries you have may not be legitimate worries at all, you'll only know by doing the research.

If you get stuck, just let us know.  We'll need some details (such as his name and birthdate) in order to get started on trying to help you.