Where to get the records

Israeli records

For everyone in the chain born or married in Israel: a population registry extract from the Ministry of Interior, with the parents' details. Order it on the government services site or at a Population Authority office. Every Israeli certificate needs an apostille from the Foreign Ministry (or a magistrates' court for notarised documents), then a certified German translation.

Born in Israel before 1948 or before orderly registration: Mandate birth records, the State Archives, and community registers.

German records

The ancestor's birth or marriage certificate: the Standesamt of the town where they were born or married, or the state archive (Landesarchiv) for older records. In Berlin: Landesarchiv Berlin. Records from before 1876 sit in Jewish community or church registers.

Proof of citizenship: an old German passport, a Heimatschein, a residents' register entry (Meldekartei), the parents' naturalisation certificate.

Proof of persecution and emigration

Arolsen Archives, free online search: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/

Restitution files (Entschädigungsakten) at the Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten in Berlin or the relevant state, and Wiedergutmachung files at the Federal Archives: https://www.bundesarchiv.de/

The expatriation lists in the Reichsanzeiger, and Yad Vashem's victims database: https://yvng.yadvashem.org/

Forms and filing

German embassy in Tel Aviv, citizenship (Hebrew): https://tel-aviv.diplo.de/il-he/service/2515408-2515408

Bundesverwaltungsamt, the forms for Article 116(2) (Paket A) and §15 (Paket E15): https://www.bva.bund.de/

There is no fee. File through the embassy by appointment, or by registered post to the BVA in Cologne. Documents are not returned: submit certified copies plus one plain copy.